COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (May 20, 2001) - The weather improved by leaps and bounds from Saturday's soggy start to the U.S. Cycling Federation's (USCF) Collegiate Road Cycling National Championships. Sunday's road race marked the second day of competition for more than 300 collegiate cyclists.
The Division I and II women's field took off first, with a familiar face at the front. Saturday's criterium winner Sarah Konrad (U. of Wyoming) made her way to the front of the pack quickly, with Carolyn Donnelly (U. of New Mexico) and Karen Bockel (Colorado State University) in tow.
Just two laps into the five-lap, 45-mile race, the trio established a 30 second lead over its closest threats and never looked back. The course, modeled after the 1986 World Road Cycling Championships (950 feet of climbing per lap at altitudes more than 7,000 feet), made tough work for the women, but they staved off any possible attacks and put more than one minute between themselves and the remainder of the field.
In the final lap, Donnelly and Konrad agreed to work together to drop Bockel and share the work on the climbs.
"The three of us traded pulls and that really hurt people," Donnelly added. "Cal-Davis attacked and we attacked. On the first climb of the last lap, I attacked and Sarah went with me. I attacked to drop Karen (Bockel). It was my race to win or lose."
In the end, Konrad and Donnelly crossed the finish line at the same time, raising their clasped hands. Konrad said that the three leaders were a perfect group and worked well together.
"The three of us moved to the front of the pack and pushed the pace from the beginning. I really thought I had a chance to win this thing and felt really confident. Everything went according to script out there today," Konrad said. "Carolyn (Donnelly) and I decided to cross the finish line together because we like each other and helped each other out all day. It was almost like having a teammate out there."
The Division I men started fast, averaging 27 minutes per lap. After a few laps, the pack broke up and University of New Mexico's Gareth Jones took a 30 second lead after the first climb. On the fourth of seven laps, Jones retained the lead with 10 seconds on Jeff Pink of Colorado State University and Jeff Angermann of the University of California-Davis. Pink attacked on the fifth lap and continued to lead until the last lap when the University of California-Los Angeles' (UCLA) Alex Smith pushed himself to the front.
Smith said he wanted to push himself so he didn?t have to sprint at the end.
"My strengths are the time trial and climbing, but I'm not a sprinter," Smith said. I wanted to cross the finish line with no one around me. I thought this was a great course because it suits an aerobic rider."
University of Kansas' Jed Schneider proved to be Smith's most dangerous threat, putting the heat on the UCLA rider in the last climb. Smith, who rode most of the second half of the last lap with a broken spoke in his front rim, punched it hard and took charge over Schneider.
"My wheel blew up with five miles to go, but I couldn't stop for a wheel change. I knew it would have put me out of first place and I'd rather lay it on the line and go for it," Smith said.
Schneider pointed to the Colorado altitude as a factor in his second-place finish.
"I thought I really had a chance to win today and it would have been nice to add another championship jersey to go with my cyclo-cross title. I knew that Alex (Smith) had mechanical problems and on the last climb I tried to shorten the gap between us. He took off and is such a strong rider that I couldn?t go with him."
Rounding out the top three was Patrick Sullivan of the University of Colorado-Boulder.
The Division II men's race got underway only five minutes after the Division I men left the start line. After two laps, the field broke up, leaving 20 riders at the front. USAFA's Brad Ames made his move on the third lap and kept the lead until the pack reeled him in on the fifth lap. Ames' teammate Sam Troge took the lead on the next lap until Tyler Wren from Princeton and Emory University's Robert Gannini pushed themselves to the front.
Gannini said that he and his only other teammate didn't have a whole lot of strategy, but decided to just sit back and let the bigger teams pull on the leaders.
"We just stuck with the front guys and eventually their lead got smaller," Gannini said. "When I saw Brad (Ames) go off in the middle of the race, we stuck with him and closed the gap. After I knew who the strongest riders were, I figured I should just stay on their wheels."
At the finish, Wren kicked it into high gear and crossed the line first.
"I didn't want to have to be chasing anybody down so when Brad (Ames) took off, Rob (Gannini) and I went to chase him down," Wren said. "We caught him and had about 2 km to go when we were all jockeying for the lead. I really felt confident about the race today. I've never won any race before -- I always come in second or third. So to win a national championship feels really good."
Troge and Gannini were attacking to take second. They collided with one another, sending both crashing to the pavement. The two quickly grabbed their bikes and ran to the finish line. Bloodied and bruised, Troge beat Gannini in the foot race to take second, leaving Gannini with third.
"I felt good and wished that the race hadn't ended in a crash," added Gannini, who was racing in his first event since a bout with Lyme disease. "We were fighting to get to the front on the back flat before the finish and Tyler (Wren) jumped out. I pulled to the left to try to get in his draft and Sam (Troge) came up on my left side and we crashed. I blame the fact I didn't win on that my shoes don't have very good traction. These cleats just aren't made for running."
The three-day championship event wraps up Monday, May 21 with the team time trial. The race runs on a 10.5-mile out-and-back course. The women's Division I and II event takes off at 9 a.m., followed by the men's Division II race at 9:30 a.m. and the men's Division I competition at 10:15 a.m.
2001 USCF NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ROAD CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIPS, MAY 20, ROAD RACE, COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.
Division I Men: 1. ALEX SMITH (University of Calif.-Los Angeles) at two hours, 56 minutes and 20.7 seconds; 2. Jed Schneider (University of Kansas) @ 0:08:60; 3. Patrick Sullivan (University of Colo.-Boulder) @ 1:36:40; 4. Peter Knudsen (University of California-San Diego) @ 1:36:40; 5. Jeff Angermann (University of California-Davis) @ 2:15:00; 6. Evan Ruzanski (Colorado State University) @ same time; 7. Gareth Jones (University of New Mexico) @ 2:22:10; 8. Ian Dille (University of Texas) @ same time; 9. Jeff Johnston (Texas A University) @ same time; 10. Mike Wilk (Fort Lewis College) @ same time.
Division I Women: 1. CAROLYN DONNELLY (University of New Mexico) @ two hours, 17 minutes and 12.1 seconds; 2. Karen Bockel (Colorado State University) @ 2:22:30 back; 3. Alice Pennington (Oregon State University) @ 6:06:30; 4. Lara Kroepsch (University of Colorado-Boulder) @ same time; 5. Megan McQuaid (University of Calif.-Davis) @ same time.
Division II Women: 1. SARAH KONRAD (University of Wyoming) @ two hours, 17 minutes and 12.1 seconds; 2. Kate Sherwin (Dartmouth) @ 9:24:30 back; 3. Alison McNulty (Washington University) @ same time; 4. Mary Rudy (USAFA) @ 18:56:30; 5. Amanda Lawrence (Yale) @ 20:53:20.
Division II Men: 1. TYLER WREN (Princeton) at three hours, three minutes and 48 seconds; 2. Sam Troge (U.S. Air Force Academy) @ 0:36:00; 3. Robert Gannini (Emory University) @ same time; 4. Kyle Wamsley (Millerville University) @ 2:22:00; 5. Aric Hareland (NDSU) @ 2:33:00; 6. Robert King (Colorado College) @ 2:37:00; 7. Matthew McCorkle (USAFA) @ 2:42:00; 8. Bradley Ames (U.S. Air Force Academy) @ 5:40:00; 9. Todd Yezefski (Dartmouth) @ same time; 10. Jeff Dickey (Washington & Lee University) @ same time.
For complete results, visit www.veloresults.com.