By Ryan Parnes

Daniel Holloway takes the win in a 3-up sprint against Ryan Parnes (2nd) and Chad Gerlach (3rd)

11 members of the Yahoo! Cycling Team lined up in a field of 120 for the Snelling Road Race today. The course offers 76 miles of bad pavement and strong winds, and I like to think of it as the opener of the NorCal Classics. Toss in four sections where the entire road was flooded and you have yourself a very interesting, dirty race.

Unfortunately the day was marred by a nasty crash within the first five miles. A bunch of our guys hit the deck or got held up, but Tyler Dibble and Brian Bosch got the worst of it. They’re okay, but their bikes are in pieces and they were out of the race.

The race seemed like a series of attacks from beginning to end. Our riders did a great job of firing off attacks and covering moves ensuring that we were represented in every break. On lap three of six, Vince jumped into a group of five that got a decent gap. Working in fits and starts, Patrick Briggs, Evan Huffman and I got ourselves into a chase group of roughly 12 riders that managed to make its way up to the front five.

The group had some strong riders in it, but with 17 guys it was just too big to work fluidly. We had only a minute and a half on the field, but no one wanted to drive the pace. As we turned into a long tailwind section beginning our fifth lap gaps started to open. I wound up with Evan in a stacked group of 10, including Mike Sayers, Chad Gerlach, Roman Kilun, Daniel Holloway, and two Cal Giants. We were working well, but with 1.5 laps to go I heard that unmistakable pop and hiss. I was hoping the flat might improve the team’s odds in the break, but when I looked back I saw Evan Huffman dropping back. Rats!

Things got pretty hairy on the last lap, with rider after rider snapping off huge attacks trying to establish the winning move. With just a few miles to go Cal Giant’s Talansky finally got a decent gap and Gerlach quickly joined him. The rest of us were looking around, waiting for someone else to make the move when Daniel Holloway jumped away. I was still with Sayers, Kilun and Moore, but I figured the race was up the road and it was better to go out in a blaze of glory than sprint for fourth. I kicked with everything I had and then nestled down in the pain cave chasing the three leaders.

I managed to catch them with maybe two miles to go. The cat and mouse at the end of a long, hard day is one of my favorite things in cycling, and the finale of Snelling was one for the books. Talansky didn’t like his odds in the sprint and kicked hard before the final turn, but couldn’t hold it. I found myself on Holloway’s wheel pulling past Chad Gerlach and though I gave it everything I had I just couldn’t come around him, and finished a close second. Philip Mooney worked his way into a chase group and finished a strong 8th.

Our guys rode hard today, one and all, and despite some bad luck with the flats and crashes we narrowly missed the top step in a strong field. It keeps looking better and better for the Yahoo! Cycling Team.