Fitchburg Longsjo Classic

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

1 comment July 5th, 2007