Rory Sutherland came from behind, with the help of his OUCH teammates, to win the Nature Valley GP. Here’s the press release from OUCH, sorry I was gone all weekend making updates scarce.
June 14, 2009
Sutherland waits until the last minutes
to earn the overall at Nature Valley.
Stillwater, MN – Since the end of the opening stage time trial Wednesday morning, Rory Sutherland of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis had been chasing race leader Tom Zirbel (Bissell), needing to close a gap of 0:13 to repeat as champion of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Finally, in the closing minutes of the final stage Sunday, Sutherland caught and passed Zirbel to erase the last seven seconds of his deficit, and take the overall title of the six-stage race by a slim, three-second margin. And there was no way he would’ve done it without a full team effort propelling him.
“We put everything into one late attack,” Sutherland said. “We’ve had race plans and been trying to execute them all week and we just weren’t quite there. Today, everything went right. The guys rode great, executed well and I had the legs at the end.”
Sunday’s two-pronged plan was quite simple, and took advantage of the strength on OUCH Presented by Maxxis, and tried to replicate the scenario that played out at the end of Wednesday night’s St. Paul Criterium.
“When things got really fast and crazy near the end on Wednesday night,” explained team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo, “gaps started to form and Zirbel was caught out of position. That allowed Rory to make the front group and pick up those six seconds. We wanted to try to create the same situation again today and open some gaps to see if we could catch Zirbel out.”
But first, Tamayo said, they wanted to make Zirbel’s Bissell teammates work. “We sent the one guy on our team who has the capacity to ride away from guys on this course out on the attack,” he said.
That was Floyd Landis, who initiated an attack with 14 laps to go, that forced Bissell to ride a hard tempo at the front until reeling him back in with seven trips remaining around the notorious Stillwater circuit, which featured the painfully steep Chilkoot Hill at its end. For his efforts, Landis earned the day’s Most Aggressive Rider jersey.
OUCH Presented by Maxxis also got a little indirect help from the Colavita-Sutter Home squad, which had their sprinter, Lucas Sebastian Haedo sitting 3rd overall coming into the stage, just 0:10 behind Zirbel.
“Colavita raced really well today,” Tamayo said. “They were also attacking constantly trying to get their guys free and wear down Bissell. At one time or another, they had five different guys off the front. Between us and Colavita, Bissell had a lot to do. Give those guys credit. Zirbel’s a strong rider, and Bissell rode really well in defense of his lead.”
When it came down to the closing few laps, it was all OUCH Presented by Maxxis doing the damage. With three laps to go, the team lined it up on the front of the pack and drilled it as hard as they possibly could, up the hill and down the other side.
As the OUCH Presented by Maxxis train came through the last corner before the second to last climb up Chilkoot, the pace had caused the desired gaps, and the team launched Sutherland, who drilled it as hard as he could up the climb. He jumped across to Anthony Colby (Colavita) and Phillip Mamos (Amore e Vita) to form the decisive move. The duo hung on as Sutherland continued to apply pressure on the descent and return to the foot of Chilkoot for one last climb to the finish.
“I had the clock on Rory and he picked up four seconds the first time up Chilkoot, and another two on the descent,” Tamayo said. “On the final trip up, he picked up the last four seconds.”
Mamos and Colby both took advantage of Sutherland towing them around the last lap, with Mamos sprinting ahead to win the stage by two seconds, while Colby got ahead of Sutherland on the line to take 2nd.
But Sutherland was content with 3rd place. His goal wasn’t to win the stage. It was to get to the line far enough ahead of Zirbel to take the overall title.
“It was just a fantastic end to the day and the week,” Sutherland said.
Here’s what VeloNews had to say about it:
The first big shot of the race was taken by Floyd Landis (Ouch), who made a solo move about five laps into the race, much to the delight of the crowd. Bissell maintained a steady tempo at the front, but Landis was able to grow his lead to around 20 seconds over the next several laps. On the climb, Landis was spurred on by a raucous crowd chanting, “Floyd! Floyd, Floyd!”
In the meantime the beat goes on….
I live in a suburb of St. Paul, and was able to attend three of the six stages of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d get to see Floyd Landis race. I had hoped he would come to the Mall of America for a book signing when Positively False was released, but no luck. Then he joins a domestic team and races in my hometown–much more exciting.
The criterium in downtown St. Paul on Wednesday evening had perfect weather and lots of very happy cycling fans. Forty laps around the course, it took the men 57-58 minutes to complete the race. The speeds they reached on these city streets around 90 degree corners, and the strong wind they create, racing by in a blur just inches away from us behind the barriers, amazed me (my first race obviously). There was a breakaway of three riders who led the race. Floyd made a breakaway from the peloton after 30 laps, making them chase him. On only three laps, he brought his teammates and the peloton 6 seconds closer to the three leaders before dropping back again. Very exciting to watch, with the spectators cheering him on and the race announcer going crazy.
I also went to the Minneapolis Uptown Criterium on Friday night, and I’ll tell you the ONLY person who could make me go anywhere near downtown Minneapolis on a Friday night is Floyd. Much crazier traffic-wise than quiet St. Paul, I avoid it like the plague. But I’m so glad I went. Again, 40 laps aroud the course, no real breakaways during this race that I saw, and Floyd stayed in the peloton, which stretched out to a great length. The race was great fun to watch, but my real excitement happened before and after the race itself.
When I got there, I found a place to stand near the start line, and watched the women begin their race. I glanced across the street and there, in a parking lot, was the OUCH team van and team car. And bikes. AHAH! I made my way over there, and, with several other fans, just hung around. About a half hour before the men’s race was set to begin, the team members starting trickling in, and Floyd appeared out of nowhere and slowly rode his bike through the crowd on the sidewalk. The team sat around talking and laughing, and Floyd looked very relaxed and happy. When the race was over and they came back to the van, Floyd toweled himself off and went into the van and, sitting in seat in the middle, changed from his racing kit into a very stylish light colored sweatsuit. How do I know this? He didn’t realize that the back doors of the van were thrown wide open. Luckily for him, he didn’t stand up at any point!
There were many fans waiting for him when he emerged, and he spoke to and signed autographs for the children right away, and posed with everyone who wanted a photo taken with him. I don’t own a camera, but I did get an autograph, and said that it was great to watch him race again. He smiled and thanked me for coming to the race to cheer them on. He is every bit as gracious, polite, friendly and modest as others have described him. He very gladly stayed until everyone got an autograph or photo, and only then did he make his way across the street to the team bus. One of his teammates was watching all this and joked, “Who IS that man, and why does everyone want his autograph?” And, yes, his big burly bodyguard was right there, protective, but he didn’t restrict any access to Floyd.
Sunday in beautiful Stillwater on the shore of the St. Croix River. The Birthplace of Minnesota in 1844. Beautiful Victorian homes, good restaurants, antique shops, and, oh yes, the nastiest little hill to climb in any North American crit. And not just once, but 20 times around this course. The men’s race started at 1:30pm. I got there at about 11:30am, and was able to watch both the women’s and men’s races from what I think is the best vantage point, the barriers at the very top of Chilkoot Hill, in the middle of the intersection of 2nd Street and Pine. I had no idea they’d have barriers for spectators right in the middle of this intersection, but it was the best possible view: watchng them painfully climb up that hill, turn left on Pine and disappear on up the course and descend around and down behind us, turning left right behind us before diving down 3rd street. When the race started Floyd was near the front for the first four laps. When he made his break, the first we saw of this was when the lap car and motorcycle started down 2nd street behind us, and then there was a lone cyclist barrelling down that hill, all alone. Even fom that distance, with his form, you could tell who it was. It was Floyd and he was flying. Everyone was cheering loudly as he raced past us and then stood pedaling for acceleration before turning down 3rd street. And when we saw him coming back up Chilkoot Hill, still all alone, the cheering he got was tremendous. And he did this three times, getting as far ahead as 22 seconds from the peloton and making the Bissel Team ride harder than they wanted to catch him. On a normal road race, that’s nothing, but on this course, that’s a good lead. He was riding hard and fast, and all I could think about was when he went “apeshit” at the Tour. This time his hard effort paid off for his team.
Iknow he wants to race the Tour again, but I’m selfish and hope he stays with OUCH and races here again next year. Maybe I’ll have a camera by then! It was wonderful watching him race and getting to meet him.
Barbara
Barbara, great writeup. Thanks. Keep that up and we’ll draft you to be our Minnesota correspondent for next year’s NVGP! 🙂