Twilight Criterium

Results

Damiani, Cliff-Ryan Capture 2011 Terrapin Twilight

Race announcer Chad Andrews interviews Luca Damiani following Damiani's victory in Athens.

Photo: CarolinaCyclingNews.com

Athens, GA – In front of huge crowds of enthusiastic fans, Luca Damiani (Kenda/5-Hour Energy Pro Cycling presented by Geargrinder) and Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita/Forno D’Asolo presented by Cooking Light) took the first victories in the 2011 USA CRITS Championship Series by winning the Terrapin Twilight Criterium in downtown Athens, Georgia.

“It’s just unbelievable.” Damiani said after taking a victory lap around the city’s main street. “All last year we were chasing the big wins, and this year we’ve started great and (already) we’ve got a big one. This is the one people will remember for years.”

Damiani was part of a four-man breakaway that emerged from a larger group of 12 riders with approximately 30 minutes left in the 80 lap race. Along with Damiani, were Boy Van Poppel (UnitedHealthCare), Christian Helmig (Elbowz Racing), and Bissell’s Andrew Dahlheim. Six laps later, the quartet had lapped the field and essentially sealed a victory for one of them. With UnitedHealthCare’s strength evident throughout the event, the smart money was on Van Poppel.

It was Van Poppel’s team that brought back a troublesome two-man escape early on in the race made up Carlos Alzate (Team Exergy) and Eric Marcotte (SKLZ-Pista Place).

“There was a prime (that got it started) and then Carlos and I just began rotating thought and got about a 15 second gap pretty quickly.” Marcotte said afterwards. “He’s got a good motor and we just kept it nice and easy.”

With only 16 laps of racing completed the duo were dangerously close to lapping the main field. Marcotte would eventually receive the CyclingNews Most Aggressive Rider jersey for his efforts, but it was at that point that UnitedHealthCare began the chase in earnest. The squad team time trialed their way around the 1 km course until the breakaway was shut down.

Not long afterwards a crash created enough disruption in the field that approximately 12 select riders were able to split off on their own. With 23 laps to the Damiani group had lapped the field and quietly settled waited for what was sure to be a sprint finish. UnitedHealthCare set up a strong lead out train for Van Poppel, but Damiani was able to surf the remains of the field out of the final turn and find a fast enough wheel to lead him to the finish line. Van Poppel took a close second, and Helmig out-paced Dahlheim for third.

62 riders began the women’s race, but the competition came down largely to two teams (Colavita/Forno D’Asolo presented by Cooking Light and Rouse Bicycles) and a handful of criterium specialists.

Early protagonists included past Twilight winner Rebecca Larson, perennially strong veteran Laura Van Gilder (Mellow Mushroom), and Robin Farina (Rouse Bicycles).

“Our sprinter Christina Gokey-Smith motivated us to animate the race, go for primes and sprint points.” Farina said later.

Just after the midway point through the race, however, a crash occurred that took its toll on Team TIBCO. Their sprinter Sam Schneider went down along with another teammate and Rebecca Larson. Once things settled down again, Colavita made last minute efforts to separate themselves from the field. But with the laps ticking down, it was clear that a sprint was in the offing. 2010 USA CRITS champion Erica Allar (RideClean) set herself up to make sure she was in the right position.

“I knew Theresa was a hot wheel (to follow).” Allar said afterward. “I found her in the closing laps.”

But Cliff-Ryan’s leadout from her Colavita teammates was not to be denied. “I like to sprint, so I wanted to it to come down to a sprint. But if one of my teammates can get up the road solo and then I can finish up the sprint and we can come in first and second that’s always the plan. Rushlee (Buchanan) and Lauren (Hall) tried to get up the road solo a couple of times, but it didn’t work out.”

Following the Terrapin Twilight Critierium, much of the men’s and women’s fields begin a tour through the Southeast for USA CRITS Speed Week – the richest week of bicycle racing in the U.S. The national USA CRITS Championship Series picks up once again with the Tour de Grove (St. Louis, MO – May 14th). Other races in the series include Giro d’ Grafton (Grafton, WI – June 18th), Hyde Park Blast (Cincinnati, OH – June 25th), Iron Hill Twilight Criterium (West Chester, PA – July 9th), Boise Twilight Criterium (Boise, ID – July 16th), Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium (Charlotte, NC – July 30th), Evanston Grand Prix(Evanston, IL – August 21st), Chris Thater Memorial (Binghamton, NY – August 27-28th),and finish on America’s Main Street, Pennsylvania Avenue with the USA CRITS Finals: Capital Criterium (Washington, DC – October 2nd).

2011 Terrapin Twilight Results

Men's Pro-Am
1. Luca Damiani, Kenda-5-Hour Energy, in 36:57.0
2. Boy Van Poppel, Unitedhealthcare, s.t.
3. Christian Helmig, Elbowz Racing, at 0:01
4. Andrew Dahlheim, Uci Ct: Bissell, at 0:01
5. Carlos Alzate Escobar, Team Exergy, at 0:01

Women's Pro-Am
1. Theresa Cliff-Ryan, Colavita/Forno D’asolo at 55:13.5
2. Erica Allar, Rideclean-Patentit, s.t.
3. Christina Gokey-Smith, Rouse Bicycles, at 0:01
4. Laura Van Gilder, Mellow Mushroom, at 0:01
5. Samantha Schneider, Team Tibco-To The Top, at 0:01