Criterium de Bethel, April 2, 2006

Pro-1-2-3
1.  Chris Jones,
2.  Robert Giannini, Sakonnet Technology
3.  Peter Horn
4.  Phillip Riggio, Tokeneke Road Club
5.  Bryan Haas, Bethel Cycle
6.  Barry Miller

M30+
1.  Fernando Ferreira, TargetTraining
2.  Zane Wenzel, Benidorm
3.  Kyle Wolf, Unattached
4.  Scott Bodin, TargetTraining
5.  Ed Angeli, Benidorm
6.  Brian Girard, Stage One Cycling

3-4's
1.  Bryan Haas, Bethel Cycle
2.  Peter Morgan, Anthem-CCCC
3.  Franciso Liuzzi, CRCA
4.  Aki Sato, Carpe Diem Racing
5.  Jairo Ballesteros, Cafeteros
6.  John Mattio, TargetTraining

M40+
1.  Joe Straub, Skylands
2.  Tom Officer, Hudson Valley Velodrome
3.  William Thompson, Bethel Cycle
4.  Curtis Eastin, TargetTraining
5.  Joseph Regan, Bethel Cycle
6.  Scott Bodin, TargetTraining

Women
1.  Heather Lavance, Team Advil-Chapstick
2.  Mimi Boyle, TargetTraining
3.  Cheryl Wolf, Bethel Cycle
4.  Mara Miller, Team Advil-Chapstick
5.  Christy McArdle, Unattached
6.  Caitlin McVarish, CT Coast Cycling

Juniors
1.  Filip Capala, Unattached
2.  Ryan Barlow, Cuevas
3.  Kyle Foley, Cuevas
4.  Alex Cropley, Cuevas
5.  Tommy Bibliowitz, Unattached

4's
1.  John-Paul Kaminiski, miyashoji.com
2.  Douglas Schwartz, Target Training
3.  Chris Uglietta, Jonathan Adler Racing
4.  Jay Dailey, CT Coast Cycling
5.  Don Catlin, Tokeneke Road Club
6.  Brian Wood, TargetTraining

5's  !st race
1.  Jonathon Warchol, Miyashoji.com
2.  Chad Dalles, Unattached
3. Jay Vincent, Cycle Center Racing
4.  Bruce McGalliard, Unattached
5.  Todd Gay, Bethel Cycle
6.  Mario Smith, Unattached

5's, 2nd race
1.  Shaun Berard, Unattached
2.  Simon Bennett, Unattached
3.  Gabrielle Gentile, Cafeteros
4.  Steven Felix, Yale University
5.  Glen Babikian, Skylands Cycling
6.  Christopher Connelly, Yale University
 

Race Reports.  These are compiled from various reports sent in and may in fact be total fiction.  If you would like to contribute to the race reports, please email me your experiences and observations in your race/s and your report will be anonymously included in the appropriate race reports.


Pro-1-2-3:
A strong wind on the backstretch along with a tailwind up the hill meant the pace would be slow on the second half of the course with serious acceleration up the hill, especially if things were strung out.  Defending leader McGinley last week showed signs of vulnerability when he and his Anthem-CCCC team didn't dominate like usual.  The others smelled blood and rode an extremely aggressive race.  After a series of attempted breaks, one finally stuck.  It contained overall threat Robert Giannini (Sakonnet Technology), Chris Jones (?), Peter Horn (?), last week's solo winner Philip Riggio (Tokeneke Road Club), and Barry Miller (?).  The break seemed like it would stay together for the finish but the hot pace combined with the warming temperatures cooked Miller and he came off after one of a few cash primes.  Behind Anthem-CCCC put their riders at the front of the field but with almost no one else willing to help, the gap grew.  A few riders were willing to help but with Sakonnet Technology

Inside the last 5 laps the situation changed in an unusual way.  Leader McGinley suddenly found himself in a group gapped off the back, seemingly unconcerned as the group was talking amongst each other.  Up front, the ever aggressive Tim Unkert (Unattached) and Ed Angeli (Benidorm) had launched an attack that dangled just in front of the main field.  The field split into two pieces when the pace hotted up in response, leaving three groups (chase, field, McGinley) chasing the Angeli/Unkert duo.

A small group caught the Unkert/Angeli chase and it included the Cat 3-4 winner Bryan Haas, his teammate Stephen Gray, a revived Miller, Verge rider and former overall winner Kurt Scheerer, Stage One's Mattt Inconiglios, and Marc Risigo.  The break, in the meantime, sprinted for their finish.  Chris Jones capped a great ride with a win, while Giannini took second and tightened up the overall race.  Horn took third and Riggio fourth.  Behind them, the small chasing group came steamrolling in with Haas taking the fifth place after teammate Gray set up the rest of the group with an early sprint.  Gray eventually took seventh as his move blew apart the chase group.  Miller had a great ride to take a point in sixth after working desperately hard to close the gap to Gray.

M30+:
The racing started right away when TargetTraining's Fernando Ferreiro launched himself off the front in a patented early move.  He won a couple road races last year like this so the riders should have responded, but after a couple laps, only one made the full out commitment to bridge up to him - Wenzel Zane (Benidorm).  After a very hard 3 to 4 lap chase (Ferreiro rode like a pro - they typically don't wait for chasers, they make them earn every meter), Wenzel finally latched and and the duo started to ride away from the field.  Ferreiro took the win.  Behind the field disintegrated at the end of the race.  Kyle Wolfe (Unattached) took third just ahead of Scott Bodin (TargetTraining).

3-4:
With Bryan Haas's (Bethel Cycle) win on March 26th, all of a sudden there was a new overall challenger on the block.  Peter Morgan (Anthem-CCCC) had a slew of teammates at his disposal ready to defend his overall lead.  TargetTraining and Cafeteros were two teams that were just a touch off from last year but individually there were a lot of strong legs on those teams.  Carpe Diem Racing fielded their whole active team of four as one member was visiting from his home in Taiwan.  The jokers in the field were the Skylands racers who looked to disrupt the "sit and wait" attitude of most of the field.

With moderate temperatures and the sun shining, the field started off on casually for the first 20 meters when the first attack went off.  Immediately the field was strung out - the race was on.  Although the field bunched almost every lap just before the hill, it was often single or double file from the first turn till then.  Particularly active were the orange and blue of the Skylands Cylces team, riding with a presence much greater than their actual count of three racers.  Also extremely active were TargetTraining, Bethel Cycle, and Anthem-CCCC.  But with over 90 racers, there were always racers ready to close the gap.  Miyashoji's John-Paul Kaminiski, having wrapped up the Cat 4's overall, was extremely active and could be seen chasing, bridging, and attacking throughout the race.

As with last week, Bethel did a dry-run of their leadout with William Thompson taking Haas quickly to the front.  And when the field hit 5 to go all together, there were two teams fighting for the right to lead out the field - Bethel and Anthem.  The most commited was Bethel Cycle when they put something like 8 or 10 racers in the front 20 of the field at the bell.  They ramped up the speed even before that until it was virtually single file for the last lap.  With such a leadout and a strong headwind down most of the backstretch, it was all anyone else could do to move up.  Haas capped another brilliant ride with a clear victory, just ahead of overall leader Morgan.  Skylands put a rider up there to get third while Aki Sato (Carpe Diem Racing) managed to hang onto fourth.  Jairo Ballestro (Cafeteros) took fifth and TargetTraining's John Mattio swept up the last point.

M40+:
A large field took to the course and immediately the racing started.  With 20+ women dispersed among the M40 and Jrs, it was tough to hold things together.  With big attacks going off the front and then coming back to the field, it was just a matter of time before tired legs would allow a break to go.  Everyone wanted to be in that winning move but it took strength, tactical astuteness, and luck to get up there.  Ultimately it was Joe Straub (Skylands Cycles), racing vetern Tom Officer (Hudson Valley Velodrome), a TargetTraining racer, and overall contender William Thompson (Bethel Cycle).  Thompson knew he had to keep the break alive to score points and gave it all he had.

Behind, there were moves made by a few but with the big teams up front represented, the break gained some time.  Then a critical point in the race - TargetTraining's racer came off the break.  Immediately word went to the team and they started chasing in earnest.  Ultimately they were unsuccessful and Straub took the win ahead of Officer and Thompson.  Curtis Easton (TargetTraining) took fourth, Joseph Regan (Bethel Cycle) fifth, and Scott Bodin (TargetTraining) sixth.

After this critical race, Thompson holds the coveted yellow jersey with teammate Stephen Gray one point behind.  Officer shot up the rankings to third, three behind Thompson, and is tied with Curtis Easton (Yale University).  With nine racers within 6 points of Thompson, the last week promises to be an exciting race.

Women:
The dominant team the whole series has been the Team Advil-Chapstick women, led by Heather Labance and Emma Nelson.  Notable absentees were Anna Milkowski (Gearworks) and Kathleen Billington (CT Coast Cycling).  For the rest it was an opportunity to score big points.  The women contested their sprint just after the M40 finished, and the women who were up front managed to gap the rest.  This group came cruising up to the line, led by Labance.  TargetTraining's Mimi Boyle took second with Cheryl Wolf (Bethel Cycle) taking third.  Mara Miller (Team Advil-Chapstick) took fourth, followed by Christy McArldle (Anthem-CCCC) in fifth.  Rounding out the top six was Caitlin McVarish (CT Coast Cycling).  Labance's win leapfrogs her into the lead with Nelson second, five points behind.  Milkowski is another point down, Billington another one on that.

Juniors:
Filip Capala (Unattached) has shown that he can read a race well enough to take three wins and two seconds, including today's win.  With that he clinches the overall GC title.  However, second and third placed Cuevas teammates Ryan Barlow and Kyle Folew are second and third and tied at 20 points.  Alex Cropley, also a Cuevas rider, took fourth, and Tommy Bibliowitz (Unattached) finished fifth.

Cat 4:
Miyashoji.com has totally and utterly dominated this race with their ace rider John-Paul Kaminiski.  With a few teammates who have been working super hard for Kaminiski, he has been able to finish off his sprints almost perfectly.  Today was no exception.  Even with a few breaks and a few laps working at the front on his legs, he came up to the line with time to look around to see if anyone was close.  He took his fourth win of the Series and ties up the overall with a 12 point lead.  Douglas Schwartz (TargetTraining) has tried everything to take a win or two but has had the misfortune of being up against an on form Kaminiski.  He took second and with a 13 point gap to third, ties up second.  The fight is for the final podium spot on April 9th, and Chris Uglietta took third in the sprint to pop himself up into third overall.  Jay Dailey (CT Coast Cycling) took fourth to bump himself up into contention.  Don Caitlin put points on the board with fifth, and sixth for the second week in a row was Brian Wood (Target Training). Andrew Hackel (Bethel Cycle) is in fourth overall with his 8 points and Timothy Thayer (CT Coast Cycling) fifth with his 7 points.  The race for the 3rd place trophy remains tight and will be decided in the final week.

Cat 5's First race:
When the first wave of 5's went off, it looked like it was going to be a finish like most of the other 5 races - gruppo compacto, all together.  But with the vicious headwind on the backstretch, when the strongest riders started to put the hammer down in the last few laps, fatal gaps opened up all up and down the field.  By the end of the race riders were scattered all over the course.  The rider who took best advantage of the situation was winner Jonathan Warchol (Miyashoji.com) who has taken the Cat 5 overall lead with his win.  Chad Dalles (Unattached) took second with Jay Vincent (Cycle Center) third.  Unattached racers Bruce McGalliard and Mario Smith took fourth and sixth while Bethel Cycle's Todd Gay finished 5th.

Cat 5's Second race:
Anyone observing the first race would have realized that something was up with the backstretch, and that hard riding will disintegrate the field.  One astute rider was Simon Bennet (Unattached) who launched himself off the front immediately after the start.  He built up a 20-25 second gap before realizing he had another 30 minutes of time trialing ahead of him.  The field was led by a group of Yale riders and their pressure over the hill started to take its toll on the pack.  Soon a small group split off the front and with two Yale riders working hard, the started to gain ground on Bennet, who by this point was sitting up and waiting for the chase.  Still it took two laps of Bennet sitting up sporadically before the half dozen or so riders made contact with him.  The rest of the field was shattered into three groups - a "field", a "second group", and a whole lot of scattered individuals.

Up front the break stayed together and it was Shaun Berard taking the sprint from Bennet.  Gabrielle Gentile (Cafeteros) took third while Yale racers Steven Felix and Christopher Connelley, apparently too willing to work, ended up fourth and sixth.  Glen Babikian (Skylands Cycling) split the Yale riders in fifth