Fitchburg Cat 3 - part 2 - Roy Van Cleef -7-1-07
Fitchburg Cat 3 race report part 2 – Roy Van Cleef – 7-1-07
Day 2 Thursday – 28 Mile Circuit Race
Thursday’s race featured a short, 3 mile, loop with one significant climb to the finish each lap. It was another perfect day for racing with clear skies and relatively cool temps for the beginning of the summer. Before the race began the team established our major goal, which was to put Roy in the green points jersey. I also wanted to try and go for the stage victory as I thought the uphill finish suited me.
The start was fantastic. Both Roy and myself received call ups to the front of the start due to our positions on GC. The very first time across the line would also be when the first sprint points would be awarded. With the two of us at the front right from the gun we were able to set up a nice lead out where other teams were fighting to get through the pack. Roy took the first sprint. There is something so great about launching a team mate up the road and have them take the sprint. Roy went on to dominate the points race winning all but one sprint in which he took second.
For the finish I managed to get great position and an absolutely blazing leadout from Jay. I tried to take the stage, but started my sprint a little too early. I faded in the last few meters and finished 7th.
We were really pleased with how the race went and with Roy’s work in the primes. Pretty much every one was given the same time on the stage, so there was little movement in the GC. When the green jersey points were tallied Roy had twice the points of the rider second place! He was well set to keep the jersey through the weekend, but that competition would heat up severely in the days to come…
Roy Van Cleef: 8th
Peter Bradshaw: 10th
Chris Hong: 24th
Jay Francis: 36th
John Broussard: 53rd
David Rizzo: 82nd
Peter Chiu: 85th
Julian Gent: 111th
Still looking great on GC….