Nature Valley Grand Prix Recap

The yellow train rolled in to Minneapolis last week for the pinnacle event of our 2010 calendar. Fresh off solid rides in St. Louis, Missouri at the Tour de Grove, we were all anxious to get started. Wednesday morning’s short 10km individual time trial featured a steep final kilometre after a flat out and back in the most aerodynamic position we could muster as this year’s organizers decided to outlaw time trial bikes for convienence and travel cost purposes. Mike headed out first and posted an impressive time of 13.34, thirty nine seconds back for 15th place. Roman slotted in at 28th, 14seconds back of Mike while Ben and Taylor finished 59th and 61st respectively.

After a short afternoon nap, high temperatures in St. Paul’s downtown core made for a difficult evening criterium when the gun went off at 7.45pm. Seventy five minutes later after an average speed of 48.2 km/hr made for a stressful race packed with incidents along the 7 corner course (featuring 300 metres of cobbles), Roman, Taylor and Ben finished in the lead group while a crash hindered Mike Northey’s chance at the stage sprint. Jason and Mike were both stuck in the second group but Northey drove the pace through to the line, limiting the damage to a 30 seconds. After the event, everyone was so gassed that some of the guys had trouble finding the right parking lot. At the end of the day Roman sat 3rd in the Young Rider’s competition (Taylor 6th), with Ben and Taylor sitting 5th and 6th in the Amateur competition respectively.

Thursday road race in Cannon Falls was a bit of a drive and featured a late start (5pm) with strong winds in the forecast for the 60mile event. The wind acted up as anticipated and placed a few of the peloton’s riders in trouble through the various cross-wind sections; however Yellow was able to stay at the front and mark the few moves that attempted early escapes. But at 15miles, race officials stopped the race as black clouds rolled overhead and tornado warnings blanketed the area. We turned back towards town and with the tailwind, cruised back in Gran Fondo style at 30mph. By the time we got back to Cannon Falls the air was heavy and still, definitely the calm before the storm. We got out of there fast and avoided the multiple tornados that landed just 8km from the start/finish!

With the cancelled road race stage, we all knew that Friday’s criterium in Minneapolis’ Uptown was going to be fast. Known as the biggest spectator event of the tour, the riders were not disappointed. It was a party! The entire 1.2km course was lined with fans, on both sides, sometimes deeper than 1 layer! It was a huge event. The field was spread out in a long line for most of the evening as Kelly Benefit Strategies rode to protect their GC ambitions; but Roman, feeling great and knowing there were many good looking ladies in the crowd, took off in an early breakaway. Sporting the Yellow, he helped the break establish upwards of fifteen seconds. Around the halfway mark however, the break came back to the peloton. Near the end, despite Roman and Ben’s best efforts to move Mike up for the sprint, the high pace at the front and choppy moves by riders in the bunch forced breaks in the line to occur so in the end Yellow would have to be content with pack time today.
Saturday’s Menonomie road race loomed ahead and as a new event in the 2010 tour, we knew it was going to be hard as the GC remained very tight after Friday. Featuring six steep climbs ranging from 1-1.6km topping out at 15%, the 100 mile course wound its way through smooth and scenic county roads which made for a great ride when coupled with the high number of twists, turns and small towns. Mike and Roman jumped in a bunch of early moves but unfortunately none stuck. At mile 50, riders were greeted with an unmarked gravel section that threw a curveball at the race. Some riders flatted which placed the Shimano neutral service off the back of the race when Ben’s brake came loose 5km later. Rubbing against the tire, Ben had to stop and although he chased for the remaining 40miles, his top 5 amateur position was gone. Once in the final circuits around town, Roman and Taylor helped Mike snag 7th in the bunch kick to the line. Going into the final day at Stillwater, Roman and Taylor remained 3rd and 6th in the Young Riders while Taylor moved up to 4th in the Amateur (Roman and Mike could not be classified as Amateur in 2010 because LandRover-Orbea was a licensed pro team in 2009. Amateurs must be unaffiliated with a proteam for three years before they can race in the amateur classification).

Stillwater, the stage of all stages. The 1.2 mile circuit featured the infamous Chilkoot Hill every lap and at 20 laps the 400metre grind at 22% shattered the race. Jason and Ben held on for 8 and 9 laps respectively, getting popped just at teammate Northey launched a vicious solo attack following the 2nd KOM sprint. Northey build up a lead of 25 seconds and held off the pack until 6 to go (totalling 8 laps / 30minutes off the front). In the finale, Taylor Gunman absolutely crushed himself and finished 11th on the day, ahead of the Stage 5 Yellow Jersey Scott Zwizanski (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and just seconds behind the stage winner and tour winner Rory Sutherland (United Healthcare). With his impressive ride, Taylor turned a lot of heads and moved up to 2nd in the Amateur competition and 3rd in the Young Rider’s classification. Mike Northey also snagged the most Aggressive riders jersey for the final stage.

The team’s ride at the 2010 Nature Valley Grand Prix turned out well and we greatly appreciate the assistance of all those who made our appearance at the 2010 event possible. Special thanks goes out to the Owens Family who housed us, cooked for us and went to great lengths just to get us into the event. Thank you John, Pat, Jess, Abra, Joe and Miles. We are all looking forward to seeing you again next year.