By Ryan Parnes
Ryan Parnes takes the win as Yahoo! Cycling Team goes 1-2 at the Mendes Crit
On Sunday the Yahoo! Cycling Team trucked out to the Joseph Mendes Criterium in Pleasanton, CA. The course was a wide open, pan-flat rectangle with one long sweeper and three 90 degree turns. It was a toasty 85 degrees outside, but a good breeze saved us from the heat and from the negative racing we saw at the Wente Crit last week. In fact the wind was strong enough that we were confident we could put people in difficulty and snap a break off the front.
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By Brian Bosch
Brian Bosch took the win at Apple Pie
With cold gusty winds and the threat of rain, the fearless crew of Filip, Kevin, John, Patrick, Vinny and myself saddled up to try to win some pie at the Apple Pie Criterium in Santa Rosa last Saturday. With teams such as Webcor, Clif Bar and the berries (Cal Giant) present, it wasn’t surprising the 90 minute race started off fast. There were several attacks and counterattacks in the first third of the race, all being covered by the hard working trio of Filip, John and Patrick. But nothing could get more than a few seconds up the road and would last no more than a lap or two. Kevin came up to me and asked how I felt and I said that I had good legs, so he says, “Let’s attack together!”
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By Filip Vanacht
Filip Vanacht mixes his Cytomax endurance drink before the road race
After two individual time trials, a cross-wind firefight at the criterium the evening before and an additional hour of sleep deprivation due to Daylight Savings, the 2010 Madera Stage Race’s final obstacle was the stage 4 road race. At 35 degrees, it was nippy at the start of the 5 lap, 85 mile affair. And with the clicking in of the pedals in unison and accelerating pulses, the race was on. There is a slight and short neutralized climb that parades the pack to the official race start, but which really serves as an ideal warm-up. Each 17 mile lap consisted of essentially 3 unique and almost compartmentalized sections: a flat to rolling fast section with some crosswind but fast pavement, a very bumpy section, then a section with a set of 3 steep punchy rollers leading to the start finish with a final roller to the feed zone.
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