This year marked my third time racing the "Claw", and although the saying goes "third times the charm" this time the "charm" had little to do with it being my third time at the race and everything to do with my Trek Red Truck Racing p/b Mosaic Homes teammates. In case you haven't heard WE won the race ! Now I guess I'll tell you how we did it. It all started Friday with a large Mexi feed after our post travel spin, which we used to recon the TT course. The TT was the first race on the agenda Saturday morning, and with the burrito rocket fuel ready to burn we took to the start. Craig Ritchey was our first man off at 10:44, and his time of 12:52 over the 6.5 mile course put him in the hot seat. I started a minute behind Craig and was able to go just a little faster putting us 1-2. With quite a few guys left to go we weren't sure if we would stay on the podium, but when all was said and done only Jelly Belly Pro Serghei Tvetcov was able to go faster. Although we didn't win the TT we were in good shape with Craig and I within 20 seconds of the race lead and lots of racing still to come. Bailey and Cody also had excellent rides and were in the top 12, meaning we had lots of cards to play going forward ! I also have to give a HUGE shout out to Dustin for letting me borrow all his aero gear, and B-rad for volunteering to sleep on the pullout bed, thus letting me sleep in the real bed. Thanks guys !
The TT was only the beginning and after various amounts of food, sleep, and bike adjustment we headed to downtown Enumclaw for our 5:10pm crit start. Our plan; be aggressive, and win time bonuses. With the minimal time gaps in the TT it was possible for us to take the GC lead if we played our cards right. To make a longish story shortish we played our cards right. I think Bailey attacked ten times in the first 15 laps which meant he pretty much was setting the pace for a quarter of the race. Unfortunately the pack didn't want to let him get away. Cody, Dustin, Adam, and Craig did an excellent job of covering attacks, attacking and just keeping the pace high at the front. So I pretty much had a lead out train the whole race which enabled me to win two of the 3 second time bonus primes. Inside the last five laps the boys were still keeping it fast on the front, and with a lap to go Cody helped me move up into top 10 wheels. Cody also gave me that little extra reminder between corners 6 and 7 on the last lap that it was now or never and I charged corner 7 hard. I was first wheel out of corner 8 and with only about 150 meters to the line I was able to take the win clear of the hard charging bunch. With the win came a 10 second time bonus, and when combined with the time primes moved me into the GC lead by 7 seconds.
Sunday morning again dawned rather ominously with the clouds threatening to rain on our TRT Parade. And I mean that in the most literal sense as there was a TRT parade at the front of the race all day ! Going into the RR we knew we had our work cut out for us defending the GC lead against a strong field. Which included several Pros, who were only a few seconds down. The pre race plan was to let a small break go with either Cody or Bailey in it and then control the pace and keep it within reach. Henry, Brad, and Dustin were going to be the guys doing most of the work at the front in the early goings. Craig and Adam were my lieutenants, tasked with helping me out towards the end when things would undoubtedly get quite spicy. That was our plan and to say things went according to plan would be a bit of an understatement because I don't know how they could have gone anymore to plan.
The course for the RR is comprised of 6 laps for a total of 86 miles. The lap consists of flat road criss-crossing fields, you then enter a wooded area for a few kms before starting the twisty undulating 3km climb. When you reach the top there is a left hand turn and a few more kms before starting the highway decent back to fields below. The Start/finish is just a couple kms and a couple turns off of the main lap at the bottom of the hill. Now that you have a vague picture of the course lets get back to the race. Seconds after the start Steve Fisher of Hagens Berman attacked and Bailey jumped on his wheel. Having a break that we liked go so quickly was awesome. Brad, Henry, and Dustin set up shop and started doing work on the front, with the rest of us close behind. Its pretty cool to be the team controlling the race. As the laps ticked by Cody and Adam pitched in setting the tempo and keeping it steady on the climb. After two laps the boys started picking up the pace and with two to go Bailey and Steve were almost back in the bunch. Steve decided to give it another go and attacked Bailey right before they were caught and took off solo. Which was again a good situation for us as one guy isn't that hard to bring back. I haven't done justice to how hard the guys were working though, it was windy up front and although there was a break up the road, attacks were still happening. Some of them by serious GC contenders. The guys turned themselves inside-out covering and bringing back the moves, I only had to stick my nose in the wind a once or twice. With one lap to go Steve was brought back, the group was all together. The attacks were hard and serious now with both Ian Crane of HB and Morgan Schmitt of Jelly Belly firing every thing they had. Adam and Craig did an amazing job shutting them down, and allowing me to save my legs for the last time up the hill. After Adam had covered multiple attack in the kms before he strung the group out at 45km/h for 5km into the base of the climb on the last lap, a herculean effort to say the least. This allowed Craig and Cody to take a breather before the climb and make it over in the front group and close down more attacks over the top. They also got me to the front at the end and I was able to win the bunch sprint for second on the stage.
To sum it all up every single one of the guys did everything they could to help me defend the jersey, and I couldn't be more proud of them ! We won the GC, and had 4 stage podiums ! The weather held off so there was no rain of any kind on the TRT parade. We had a loaded deck and we played our cards very well. I want to say thank you to everyone on the team, it was a true team effort this weekend that I am really proud to have been a part of. Also last but not least thank you to everyone involved with making this team a success we the riders wouldn't be able to win races without your support ! Also I guess a true last but not lease thank you to our fearless, people loving manager/director Dave Vukets.
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