July 12/09 22:35 pm - Tour de Delta: Stage 2

Posted by Editoress on 07/12/09
 

Pinfold, Anderson, Jazz Apple continue to shine at BC Superweek

A lot of things changed for Andrew Pinfold at BC Superweek this year.

The final result at the Tour de Delta Road Race wasn’t one of them.

Pinfold put himself in a four-man break early in the last 8-kilometre lap, then sprinted to victory down the long final straightaway to claim his third-straight White Spot Road Race on a windy Sunday, completing the 140-kilometre race in three hours, 18 minutes and 57.9 seconds.

“I went as hard as I could over the top and was cramping a little bit but was able to get rid of it and was able to take the kick,” said Pinfold, a North Vancouver native racing for California-based Ouch Pro Cycling.

Pinfold finished just ahead of Ryan Anderson (Kelly Benefit Strategies), reversing the order from a photo finish in the Brenco Criterium Saturday night. American Morgan Schmitt (BISSELL Pro Cycling), who led the break early in the last lap, was third, while Will Routley (Jelly Belly Pro Cycling), who started the Tour de Delta by winning Friday’s Prologue, was fourth.

“The last lap everyone put their heads down,” said Pinfold, who also won a $2,500 crowd prime lap in Saturday’s Criterium. “Ryan, Will and myself were top-3 in the overall, so we weren’t interested in screwing around, and Morgan was looking to move up so we worked really well together.”

While the face atop the podium was familiar, the path Pinfold took to get there was a lot different. After winning the last two races as part of a deep Symmetrics team that dominated BC Superweek before folding after last year, Pinfold returned as part of California-based Ouch Pro Cycling.

Instead of a full team, Pinfold only had Ouch teammate Roman Kilun for support. Instead of Anderson working for him, he had to go head-to-head against him in a sprint. And then there was the gusting wind.

“It was so windy. We’ve never had a Tour de Delta like this,” said Pinfold.

Neither has Anderson, who worked hard for his Symmetrics teammates in past years. This time he had Zach Bell, a Canadian Olympian who also moved from Symmetrics to the Minneapolis-based Kelly Benefits team, working for him. The result was Anderson winning Tour de Delta’s overall title ahead of Pinfold and Routley, another ex-Symmetrics teammate.

“Last year with Symmetrics we won the overall but I was the workhorse,” said Anderson, a Vancouver native. “This is a new feeling for me. To get the victory and the stage win (Saturday), it’s a great feeling. I do a lot of work for the team so when I get to win like this it is awesome for me.”

Not that there weren’t some anxious moments.

Early in the race, which started with four and a half laps in North Delta, a strong group of 16 riders that included Pinfold, Bell and ProTour rider Dominique Rollin (Cervelo TestTeam) broke away. They stayed ahead as the race made its way through nasty crosswinds in the flats, and crossed into Tsawwassen to finish with 10 laps of the final 8-kilometre circuit.

Two laps later that gap was bridged, but a group of five counterattacked quickly. With five laps left, the breakaway, which included two-time New Zealand Olympian, Peter Latham (BISSELL Pro Cycling), Jim Camut (Land Rover-ORBEA) and locals Tim Abercrombie (Garneau Evolution), Steven Villalobos (Specialized Dizzy Cycles), and Justin Kerr (Liquid Fitness) had opened a two-minute gap on the chase group filled with top names.

“I was definitely worried, we were at 40 kilometres to go and it was about two minutes and I didn’t realize they were that far out there,” Anderson said. “So Zach had to calm me down and assure me we could get it back.”

Led by Bell, Pinfold and Rollin, the chase group knocked 30 seconds off the lead each time around the course, and everyone was back together for the final lap. When Schmitt took off towards the big hill just as that bell lap started, the 21-year-old Anderson knew he had to stay with him.

“We knew it was going to be fast,” said Anderson, who also won Top Young Rider. “I just had to bury myself to stay on his wheel.”

Rollin, who was making his return to competitive cycling after getting mononucleosis in late-April, won a bunch sprint among the chase group to finish fifth. The Quebec native and six-time Canadian National champion is returning to his Swiss-based Cervelo team and the European racing circuit this week.

As for that five-man break, Camut can console himself with winning King of Mountain, a points-based award for the top riders each climb up the grueling hill just past the finish line. Kerr was rewarded with the Top Sprinter jersey, and retaining his lead in the ongoing BC Cup series.

There was no such variety among winners in the 85-kilometre women’s race as New Zealand-based Jazz Apple Cycling swept the podium, a repeat of their 1-2-3 finish in the Brenco Criterium the night before.

Sunday it was 28-year-old Kiwi Marina Dubnjak who broke away from the group about 800 meters away from the final corner, sprinting to victory down a long final straightaway despite a fierce headwind.

“It just sort of happened,” Dubnjak said of her long break. “(Team leader) Susy (Pryde, a two-time New Zealand Olympian) bridged a gap and I just counterattacked. I didn’t look back. All I could hear was my team yelling in the radio ‘go, go, go’ and I went so hard I thought I was going to pass out. But it was so worth it. I can’t believe I pulled it off. It was cool.”

Dubnjak finished in two hours, 29 minutes and 31.3 seconds, less than two seconds ahead of teammates Steph Roorda and Dotsie Bausch, who won a sprint just ahead of 25 other riders to complete the sweep.

Jazz Apple’s Lauren Ellis, who won Saturday’s criterium ahead of Bausch and Roorda, finished in the group to protect her Tour de Delta overall title. Duvnjak also won the Queen of the Mountain competition, while Jazz Apple teammate Malindi MacLean was the top women’s sprinter.

The only thing Jazz Apple didn’t win was Friday’s Prologue, which was claimed by Calgary native Laura Brown (Local Ride Racing), who finished third in the overall and also took the lead in the BC Cup series.

After that, it was all Jazz Apple, including Ellis winning Top Young Rider.

“I am absolutely stoked to be a part of it,” said Duvnjak, who has been racing for 13 years, including recent stints in Europe, but is in her first year with Jazz Apple. “We worked extremely well together. Although I’ve been around the sport a long time, just to go with a plan, make it work and actually come out with it, this is the first year I’ve had a chance to do this. We’re all absolutely buzzing. I’m going to smile all night tonight.”

Duvnjak’s first taste of BC Superweek has something to do with that too.

“For me this is the best I’ve been at,” she said. “Europe is huge but the excitement about the riders is nowhere near close to this, nothing, unless you’re in the Tour de France. The crowds were just amazing here. I heard about BC Superweek in 2001 when I raced in America for three months. The girls spoke about it being so much fun and heaps of money, so I’d heard about, it but I’m so glad I got the opportunity to experience it.”

BC Superweek continues is the 30th anniversary of the historic Tour de White, another three-stage race running from July 17 to 19.

Report by Kevin Woodley, Media Relations coordinator, Tour de Delta, Tour de White Rock

Stage 2: White Spot Road Race

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Tour de Delta July 10/09 - July 12/09, Delta BC