Joe Martin U23 Recap
This past weekend three members of the U23 Team headed down to Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Joe Martin Stage Race. Matt Pence, Alex Grman and Martin Lang made the trip down, with Matt Brandt at Collegiate Nationals and Zack Stein still finishing up school in Colorado.
The race began with a 2.5 mile uphill time trial on Thursday. Martin pulled out a 23rd at a little under a minute back, Alex was twelve seconds back in 30th and Matt only 30 seconds back from Alex in 52nd. The U23 Team was also joined by junior, Tony Wieczorek who had a strong time trial and finished in 32nd.
Going into Friday’s 110 mile race, with a 9 mile climb up Mt. Gaylor, the strategy was to lose as little time as possible, and spend the least amount of energy possible. At around 85 miles in, at the top of Mt. Gaylor, a group of twenty or so had made it away from the rest of the 99 rider field. Alex had suffered an inopportune flat near mile 60, and an incredibly slow wheel change and hadn’t made it to the climb with the front group. Matt, Tony and Martin, who also suffered an early flat, found themselves in the second group on the road, about 30 riders strong at the top of the climb. Matt, Tony and Martin rolled in with the second group 8 minutes down to the lead group, and Alex soldiered in with two other riders, after spending 50 miles chasing, and made the time cut for the next day.
Saturday brought a 90 mile road race with a similar 5000 feet of climbing to the first day. The team rode strong, and smart and finished easily in the front group, although plagued by their light weight in the downhill sprint finish.
Sunday was a brutal 12 corner criterium, similar to Snake Alley in that half of the race is the first lap. Matt was riding very strong, having made the front group, when he was taken out about halfway through the race, in the nastiest of the 12 corners. Martin and Tony were further back in the second or third group, and Alex finished close behind. The team had a solid GC performance as well. With Matt, Martin and Tony finishing 36th, 37th and 38th respectively in the overall, and Alex holding down the Lantern Rouge spot at 57th (Keep in mind his 50 mile chase, and the fact that the race started with 99).
Meanwhile, in his home state of Wisconsin, Matt Brandt rode a great criterium to take the Bronze in the Collegiate National Criterium! ALl in all, it was a great first out-of-town race weekend for the team, and only promises to get better as the season goes on and Matt and Zack join up with the team.
Category: Racing
