It was a great weekend of racing for the Nerac Pro Cycling team winning two local New England races. On Saturday a small team took part in the downtown Claremont Criterium. The race started fast from the gun and Pat Walsh was able to ride away from the field with three others.  The foursome quickly lapped the field and then it was all kept together by the work of Adam Myerson and Alec Donahue. Going into the last couple of laps Pat took an unfamiliar role as the sprinter for the day. To everyone’s surprise he not only one the race but also won the field sprint behind the great lead-out from Adam and Alex.
On Sunday the team took part in the Naugatuck Criterium. Again the race was fast from the gun and a group of 14 riders went off the front including all three of the Nerac boys who were in the race. With about 15 laps remaining the rain started falling and this played into the hands of Adam who was able to utilize his strong bike handling skills to easily navigate the course. In the end he was easily able to drop his breakaway companions and won the second race of the weekend for the team.
This weekend the team will be heading to the Mt. Holly Invitational on Saturday followed by the start of the Tour de Toona on Monday. This starts the final push of the season. Hopefully the good form the guys showed this past weekend will carry through the next few weeks.
July 18th, 2007
It was a good week of racing for the guys at the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. The event is a four day stage race with a TT, Road Race, Curcuit Race, and a Crit. The team starte the race off well placing Chris Jones in 6th and Patrick Walsh in 19th after the stage one TT.Â
Stage 2 is genearlly not very exciting as it usaually comes down to a field sprint. The race held true to character this year and did again come down to a sprint. We managed another 6th place on the day with Dan Holt sneeking in there.Â
Stage 3 is the big day of the race. The road race which finishes on a big climb up the ski mountain. Our plan for the day was to send Patrick in the early move hoping it would stay away until the climb and then in the closing laps of the race try and bridge Chris up the the front group. Our plan worked to perfection and Pat made the early move of 8 riders allowing Chris to sit in all day long. With two laps remaining Chris made a huge attack over the feed zone climb and broke away from the field with 6 riders. The gap to the break quickly came down and at the entrance to the final climb the gap was at 30 seconds. Patrick was able to pace himself well up the climb and Chris caught him right at the top. The two Nerac riders finished 6th and 7th on the day.Â
This great finish moved Chris into 4th place and Pat into 6th in GC. The final day was the criterium so not much happend with GC but we still managed a good result and our first podium of the race. Adam Myerson finished 3rd on the final day in a photo finish. It was a great week of racing for the team.
July 5th, 2007
