OUCH’s Rory Sutherland hung on to his slim lead in the overall and OUCH did its job for him yesterday as he won his third consecutive JMSR in Arkansas. OUCH sent out this press release:
Fayetteville, AR – Rory Sutherland of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis came into the challenging final Stage criterium of the Joe Martin Stage Race with a nine-second lead over Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell). It was the same margin he held following Stage 2, thanks to the work of his teammates during a hectic Stage 3 on Saturday.
“The guys pulled it together and did their jobs again today,” Sutherland said. “The were on the front from the get-go. They’d let little groups go, but kept everything under control.”
For the second consecutive day, Bissell threw repeated attacks at Sutherland and his OUCH Presented by Maxxis teammates. “We did what we’ve done here the last two years,” said Sutherland, who finished 7th in the final stage. “The other teams threw down again like yesterday, but the guys weathered it.”
While Sutherland won last year’s opening prologue and then held on for the three road stages, this year he finished 2nd by one second to Jacques-Maynes in the prologue. But he showed his versatility by taking 2nd in the sprint finish in Stage 2 to earn a 10-second time bonus and a nine-second lead in the general classification, which he and his teammates held to the end.
“It’s a big win for the team and a big win for the organization,” he added.
The win, in fact, is the fifth consecutive overall victory of Joe Martin for the organization.
VeloNews sums up yesterday’s final stage of the JMSR.
And, the NWAOnline gives its take on Rory Sutherland’s threepeat in this year’s JMSR. NWA mentions Floyd Landis’ contribution to the victory in the piece:
Landis, who was in 114th place and more than 18 minutes behind Sutherland heading into the final stage, didn’t speak with reporters following Sunday’s race. But he said during an interview last week that he was still trying to work his way back into shape. He hoped the Joe Martin Stage Race would be another step forward in his comeback.
“I don’t know if this is going to be the race, but one day I’ll make some progress and I’ll be back at the top level,” Landis said. “It’s just going to take a few races.
FL listed as DNF on the official results. Anyone know what happened?
Sorry I took so long to respond, I have been in a coma since school let out 🙂 I thought he was listed at 114th or some such thing. Perhaps he was outside the time limit? Don’t know, I MAY check into it later, then again I may not…
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Just a thought, based on other races I’ve observed (and once upon a time, been a part of) and not based on talking with FL. Supposing he’d accomplished what he was supposed to (tactically) for the crit, sometimes the prudent thing to do in the final laps if you’re not in contention is to just ride off the course and let the daredevils slug it out at the end. Maybe that was the case here? Don’t know if that’s what happened in this particular case, but it seems likely.