Madera Stage Race

Above Category Racing headed down to Madera County, CA, for the Madera Stage Race last weekend. Friday was an uphill time trial; a crit and flat time trial followed on Saturday, and the race wrapped up with an 85 mile road race on Sunday.

Not much can be said about the uphill time trial, except that it hurt. Ben Jacques Maynes of Bissell won it and set a new course record. Top AC placings were set by Kris Lunning in 19th and Chris Turner in 23rd.
Tuttle
Harless
Turner

The following morning we geared up for the flat time trial. Another 20 minutes of pain with an afternoon criterium following.
Tuttle approaches the finish line of Saturday's flat time trial with Turner right behind him.

The Crit was fast with a strong 6-man break forming early. With no AC riders in it, we worked to limit the gap, planning setting Turner up for the final sprint. Within the last five laps, the gap came down to almost nothing, 2 riders bridged up, and Turner got a flat tire!! Bad luck had thwarted our efforts.

Sunday's road race kicked off with perfect weather and a field ready to ride fast. Lunning dug deep to get himself in an early break, but each attempt was brought back, and on the very next one a gap did form, and Turner got himself into it. The mix was right with good team representation and the field let it get up to a three minute lead. Here's the breakaway working together:
Turner in the breakaway rotation.The break wasn't meant to last, however, as one member flatted out and then the webcor rider suffered a mechanical that literally launched him over his handlebars and out of the race. When the main field passed him his team mates saw that he was out of the breakaway and they rallied up front to bring it back together. With 3 17-mile circuits down and 2 to go, the race was all back together.

Things got fast just before 1 lap to go on a rough back stretch with a cross-wind, and the pack strung itself out long and sinewy. With a half-lap left the speed slackened to a crawl as everyone thought of saving up for the sprint and the race was decided on the line when Bissell got their guy Sheldon Deeny in for the win. AC's Turner and Lunning came in around top-20.

We'll have more pictures up when they're available. For now, enjoy the shots from Veronika Lenzi (click here for her site).