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   June 12, 2009 Nature Valley Grand Prix - Stage 3 After a fantastic showing at the first two stages of the Nature Valley Grand Prix, Webcor arrived at the start of the Cannon Falls Road Race ready to have another stellar day. The road race began with a roaring fast neutral start because the first Queen of the Hills (QOH) sprint was at 3.6 miles into the race. Webcor was at the front, ready to pounce when the opportunity presented itself, and more importantly, ready to jump on moves that happened immediately following the QOH sprint. Paces were high all day, especially between miles 14 and 45 when there were no sprints on the line. Attacks came fast and furious, and our riders were on all the moves. Yep, that’s right… all the moves. With a rolling course, some winds to fight, and quite a few motivated teams, nothing stuck. As we approached the 3rd and final QOH sprint at mile 45, things were still together. At that point, we would have preferred the race to end. At that point, every Webcor rider was in the peloton, up near the front, and we had all contributed to the effort. There is no doubt that we were racing our bikes really well as a team. Unfortunately, every once in a while, luck goes in the wrong direction, and in the last ten miles of the race, we had a bad luck streak that will (hopefully) never be duplicated… While all of our riders were skillfully positioned near the front of the pack, a crash happened and five of our riders went down, including Alexis Rhodes who was holding 3rd place on GC and Erinne Willock who was in 4th. Katheryn Mattis, Amy Dombroski, and Gina Grain were also a part of the mayhem. With more bikes to replace and riders to tend to then our mechanic, Dave, has ever had to deal with at once, there was a scramble to assess the situation and get the girls rolling. Meanwhile, Nikki, Rebecca, and Janel were still in the front, nearing a turn from the main road to the dirt road. While Nikki & Janel were ultra-focused on the lead motor bike (as were the majority of the front riders), the motor bike went straight, and at least 40 girls missed the turn! As Nikki & Janel blasted through the dirt section, summoning their European cobble riding skills, Rebecca flatted on the gravel and had to wait (and wait) to get a wheel from race support. We entered the circuits, and Nikki caught back on to the front group by riding fearlessly through a technical circuit and putting everything she had into the effort. Janel was in a group behind the leaders. Putting in a heroic chase, Alexis caught up to that 2nd bunch and using her TT skills, and a little help from Janel, she worked her tail off to minimize time losses. Nikki rode strong and represented in the finish with a top ten placing (official results are yet to come in). Friday is a new day and all eight of our riders are strong; we will pull through. The results are not what we were hoping for, but there is no doubt that Webcor will show up to Friday’s criterium ready to race. At least now, luck has no choice but to be on our side! Janel |