Rock Racing's Santiago Botero wins the first stage of the Cascade Cycling Classic, Leipheimer is fifth
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There’s no arguing that this year’s Cascade Cycling Classic is filled with world-class talent. Two world champion time trialists took the men’s and women’s wins in Wednesday’s stage 1 Prineville Road Race in Bend, Oregon: Colombian Santiago Botero (Rock Racing) and Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo Lifeforce). Both part of large breaks in their respective races – Botero in a group of 12 and Armstrong in a group of 7 – they each left their competition behind on the final climb to the finish on Pilot Butte.
Botero, whose last race was the Tour of Colombia, was followed by Chris Baldwin (Toyota United), who finished second place overall last year, with Jeff Louder (BMC) in third, while Chris Jones (Team Type 1) squeaked out fourth place just ahead of Levi Leipheimer (Astana) who had bridged up to the breakaway at the foot of Pilot Butte.
Twenty-year-old Julie Beveridge (Aaron’s), a Canadian who won the overall and Best Young Rider at Mt. Hood, came across the line seconds after Armstrong in the women’s race, followed by Webcor’s Christine Thorburn, Katheryn Mattis, and Janel Holcomb.
While a variety of minor crashes occurred along the course in both races, a serious crash in the men’s field sent Ben Brooks (Team Type 1) away in an ambulance at roughly mile 50, and led to the neutralization of the women’s race – they had started just five minutes after the men – for nearly 35 minutes in temperatures that reached as high as 95 degrees. Brooks was reported to be in stable condition at a local hospital.
Men: Botero keeps the jersey
With serious contenders in the field that include Astana’s Leipheimer and Chris Horner as well as Tom Danielson (Garmin-Slipstream), the men’s race was fast from the start. Steven Cozza (Garmin-Slipstream) and Curtis Gunn (Successful Living) initiated the first of many short-lived breaks right after the start, and were joined by Ken Hanson (California Giant-Specialized) around mile 13. The peloton, largely driven by Garmin-Slipstream, kept them close, allowing no more than a 26-second gap before they closed in at mile 17.
Riders from teams such as Toyota-United, BMC, Ride Clean, and California Giant-Specialized tried launching attacks before a break of 12 finally succeeded around mile 38. It included Matt Cooke (Health Net-Maxxis); Caleb Manion (Toyota-United); Bissell teammates Ben Jacques-Maynes, Burke Swindlehurst, and Jeremy Vennell; BMC riders Jonathan Garcia and Brent Bookwalter; Team Type 1 teammates Glen Chadwick and Chris Jones; John Hunt (California Giant-Specialized); Justin Rose (BobsBicycles.com), and Chad Beyer, an U23 National Team member.
Just before the KOM at mile 50, some shuffling occurred in the main break, with Cooke, Manion, and Rose falling off the pace. In the meantime, one by one, Botero, Louder, and Baldwin bridged up, keeping the break at 12 men.
By mile 62, the dozen riders had established their largest gap at 2:15, but the peloton began reeling them in, closing that to just under one minute by mile 67. The majority of the break worked well together, and for the remaining 15 miles, never let the gap get below 44 seconds.
As soon as the break hit the bottom of Pilot Butte, Botero, who won the KOM jersey at the Tour de France in 2000, powered away from his companions, and momentarily 21-year-old Beyer was able to hang onto his wheel. “I just blew up halfway up,” he gasped at the finish line.
In his fourth year with the U23 National Team in Belgium and home from Europe on a brief break, Beyer decided to do Cascade because it looked like “a really cool race with a good field.” He said he was surprised he could catch Botero’s wheel as he surged, and “Two seconds later, I was like, ‘I’m gonna blow up!’ I just tried to maintain a good pace the rest of the way up.”
Botero was out of his saddle almost the entire two kilometers up to the finish, looking back periodically to see if anyone was with him. Baldwin passed Beyer as he fell off Botero’s wheel, and seemed to nearly match Botero’s pace, but never quite reached him, and crossed the finish six seconds down, followed by Louder 14 seconds later.
Of the final climb, Louder explained, “It’s such an all-out effort. It’s basically just man-on-man, and the better man won.”
While Leipheimer was not part of the original break, he bridged to the escapees at the bottom of the climb and passed everyone, reaching Jones just before the finish. Jones crossed first, and they both received the same time, 25 seconds off Botero.
Asked if he was concerned about where Leipheimer was on the climb, Botero nodded with a smile, and said, “He’s so strong now, the best rider in the United States.” Referring to Astana’s lack of an invitation to the Tour de France, he continued, “It’s sad because I am 100 percent sure he could win the Tour. But I’m happy with him, Chris Horner, and Tom Danielson here – it makes the racing good.”
Women: Armstrong again
The Cascade Classic was cancelled last year for the women due to a conflict with Nationals, but Wednesday’s first stage saw its return with a vengeance. In years past, the women have only done five stages, so this was their first time doing the Prineville Road Race and the peloton rose to the occasion in spite of being faced with unusually difficult circumstances.
The 90-strong field started their race just minutes after the men, following the same course. After the first feed zone around mile 22, Sarah Barber (Bobs-Bicycles.com), a life flight paramedic from Boise, Idaho, attacked and gained a gap immediately. She increased it to 3:20, but was caught just prior to the QOM by a small group driven by Armstrong’s hard tempo that included Beveridge, Felicia Gomez (Aaron’s), Thorburn, Mattis, and Holcomb. Just after the climb, though, the break of seven, and then numerous splintered groups behind them and the peloton, were neutralized in order to allow time for emergency workers to assist the injured Brooks (from the men’s race) off the course.
Dr. Kathy Moore of Desert Orthopedics was on the scene and said that they called for a helicopter, which was too far to respond, and an ambulance arrived in roughly 20 minutes. The women were neutralized in the 95 degree heat – without any shade – for roughly 30 minutes before starting again at gaps based on their arrival times at the QOM. The break of seven, then, started first, and “started working right away together,” according to Armstrong.
When asked how the interruption in the race impacted her and the other racers, Armstrong said, “It doesn’t feel so good, but it was a good working group [the break of seven], and as far as affecting us, yah, we had to all reset our minds, but you know, that’s bike racing.”
Mattis added, “Between the heat and the altitude and that ‘intermission’ that we had halfway through, you never want to have an experience like that. I hope that the Team Type 1 rider is ok, and my thoughts are with him and his team.”
The group of seven built a gap that expanded to over two minutes. “Immediately all seven of us started working,” Mattis said. “We knew it was advantageous for us to put as much time on the peloton as possible. And everyone rolled through.” With about 5K to go, the Webcor trio started attacking and Armstrong was able to respond each time, helped, she said, by the fact that they were riding into a headwind.
“Katheryn [Mattis] took a good attack at the bottom of the climb” to Pilot Butte, she said, “and I kinda came off of her, and then Julie [Beveridge] stayed with me for a little bit. Then I separated by myself.”
Armstrong powered to the finish, followed by former swimmer Beveridge at just three seconds back. Thorburn led her Webcor teammates, Mattis and Holcomb, in next to round out the top five.
Armstrong is coming off her third consecutive win at Nature Valley, where she won with just one Cervelo Lifeforce teammate, and is riding at Cascade alone. “Teams out here were really nice,” she said. Despite the hot and dry conditions with no team car, she said that “I always had girls coming up to me asking if I needed a bottle, and they were super supportive when they knew that I was by myself.”
Even with the difficult first day conditions, Mattis seemed to express the sentiment of the women’s peloton regarding the return of the women’s race. “I’m glad that it’s on again this year, and for him [race director Chad Sperry] to add another stage for the women is phenomenal. It’s good hard racing and that’s what I love.”
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