LaGrange Race Report

Congratulations to Bill on a well-deserved road race podium (2nd). He surged off the front after the 2nd KOM and gelled with a group of four to stay away for the remaining 10 or so miles. I was very glad to finally see a breakaway stick in one of our races, and even happier that it included a teammate.

I didn't race Saturday, but I know Drew took 2nd in the prologue and Todd took 4th. Jake had about the same time in Elite, taking 10th, I think. Jake took 4th GC.

As we approached the KOM on the 1st lap, I didn't intend to contest it. But I looked around at about 3/4 way up and there were fewer than 10 guys in front of me, so I hit the gas and took 2nd with a wheel throw at the top. The 2nd time around we were more spread out and I took 3rd.

About 3 miles from the finish I tried an attack, but didn't have the legs to stay away for very long.

With 300 meters to the finish I was positioned exactly where I wanted to be (Bill and 3 others were up the road), about 3rd or 4th man back in the left center of the right lane. I felt great and was winding it up to catch a sprinter's wheel and open it up in the left lane and have a good finish. Then someone decided to try and shoot through a very narrow gap up front. He took down the guy in front of me and I went over the top of him. It felt like I flipped end over end a couple of times. I felt a few bodies and bikes go over me. I remember two things: hearing my helmet hit the asphalt and thinking, "wow, that's loud!" and thinking "damn, there goes the Rome weekend." Ron can probably give you a much better description of what happened; he was right behind me. Luckily, I got away with some fairly minor elbow, knee, and hip road rash, a black eye, and a sore hip. My bike fared a little worse: a broken handlebar (carbon), a broken right brake lever (carbon), and some other scrapes (carbon). Amazingly, my helmet seems to be OK. Looks like Nate will have a little extra work to do before Rome.