The racers line up at the start of the 2010 Cherry Pie Criterium

The Cherry Pie Criterium was the first race of the season for the Yahoo! Cycling Team and we had a full complement of excited Yahoo! Cycling Team riders there. It felt spring-like out in Napa with some sun hitting the course. It was quite windy as well. It was a 60-minute race and it looked like a relatively large and strong field ready to tackle the 2010 season. The Yahoo! Cycling Team pre-race meeting went well and the boys all seemed excited to go race their bikes.

After a few requisite early season interviews and formalities prior to the start, the race went off.

Filip bridges the gap to the break.

A Wells Fargo racer attacked immediately as the group rolled down the hill the first time, covered by a Yahoo! Cycling Team rider Filip Vanacht. After a few more attacks that felt out the group’s bravado, an initial permutation of a breakaway formed on the tail end of lap 2 with representation from the Yahoo! Cycling Team squad in the form of Phil Mooney, Tyler Dibble and Filip Vanacht, soon to be followed by Dirk Copeland. The break that settled was quite large, and hence unruly at times, alternating between organized and disorganized with 10 riders in it. The break held a consistent gap of 20 to 30 seconds over the field. The break’s 10 riders broke down as follows: 4 Yahoo! Cycling Team, 2 California Giant, 1 Z-Team, 1 Wells Fargo, 1 Clif Bar and 1 Lombardi Sports.

Patrick Briggs patrols the front of the field.

The layout of the hill on the course was conducive to being able to see the chasing field when it comes up the hill while the break descends the same hill on the other side. This allowed the break to continually assess the gap as well as keep an eye on potential bridging racers coming across. The Yahoo! Cycling Team squad seemed well represented at the front of the field which allowed the squad Yahoo! Cycling Team in the break to relax and focus on riding and controlling the break.

Probably due to its size and the lop-sided team representation in the break, things continued to be hectic and dynamic with various attacks even before the halfway mark and the Yahoo! Cycling Team riders focused on covering every potential move or making moves that bettered the odds for the team. Though asserting any type of control over the situation just described seems difficult, it certainly felt that the Yahoo! Cycling Team members, having both the numbers and organization in the break, controlled the situation well. Specifically Phil Mooney, Tyler Dibble and Filip Vanacht covered a variety of moves while attempting to keep Dirk Copeland as fresh as possible. Unfortunately, there was no free ride for Dirk due to not only the cross winds and hill but also the constant barrage of attacks from the other teams in the break and the resulting splits that invariably occurred. Overall, the Yahoo! Cycling Team riders rode as a team, each member understanding and executing to their respective assignments, working the break yet metering out its efforts with purpose.

Switters goes up-and-over and attacks the break

Eventually a California Giant rider attacked and Yahoo! Cycling Team’s Tyler Dibble went up the road and both established a gap best described as “uncomfortable to bridge solo”; approximately 20 seconds between break 1 and break 2. Z-Team’s rider did the majority of the chasing from break 2 but the gap to break 1 remained. Over halfway through the race now, it is at this point that the break 2 grew from the remaining 8 to 10 with a Specialized rider and Yahoo! Cycling Team’s Adam Switters making it across in a hurry. As both riders reached break 2, Yahoo! Cycling Team’s Switters went up-and-over, attempting the bridge across to the lead two in break 1 to give the Yahoo! Cycling Team the better odds in a 2-out-of-3 situation. Yahoo! Cycling Team’s Phil Mooney was up next with a similar bridge attempt. The gap between break 1 and break 2 hovered but remained with the California Giant rider and Yahoo! Cycling Team’s Dibble rolling their two man train smoothly but hard. Throughout, communication among the Yahoo! Cycling Team riders in the breakaway occurred consistently and often in spite of a very dynamic and tenuous situation.

Vincent Owens surveys the gap

Once again, Z-Team’s rider put in some big efforts to chase down break 1 assisted by Clif Bar, Lombardi Sports, Wells Fargo and now Specialized. Eventually the gap to break 1 was whittled down and two-up break 1 was absorbed right around the time the lap cards came out…5 to go. With break 1 and 2 combined, 12 riders made up the move now: 5 Yahoo! Cycling Team, 2 California Giant, 1 Specialized, 1 Z-Team, 1 Clif Bar, 1 Lombardi, 1 Wells Fargo.

Laps 5, 4, and 3 to go, Yahoo! Cycling Team’s Filip Vanacht rode at a hard tempo at the front to discourage further attacks with Yahoo! Cycling Team’s Mooney, Switters, Dibble (in spite of his Herculean efforts in break 1) and Copeland patrolling the situation. With 2 laps to go, the pace picked up and some wicked attacks were launched by most every team represented in the break, first on the hill, then through the sweeper, again and again. Each time a Yahoo! Cycling Team rider covered. The group stayed together now until the bell lap when the second California Giant rider and Yahoo! Cycling Team’s Dirk Copeland got clear of the rest of the group. It was a small but noticeable gap of about 10 seconds which held down the hill, through the right hander, through the sweeper, then through the two left-handers. Z-Team then threw down a final chase on the run-in to the hill. The gap shrunk to about 5 bike lengths approximately 1/3 of the way up the hill when sensing it was time to go, Yahoo! Cycling Team’s Copeland jumped and launched his sprint to the finish line at the top of the hill.

Dirk Copeland Sprints for the win.

This violent effort left the chase short and also gapped his California Giant compatriot. Yahoo! Cycling Team Copeland’s final sprint finish looked smooth, though assuredly it was an all-out effort, clearing the line by 10 bike lengths or so for Yahoo! Cycling Team’s first win in its inaugural race! The rest of the group’s sprint was marred by a crash in the middle of the road with the Specialized rider going down and Yahoo! Cycling Team’s Switters and Vanacht respectively having to veer left and right to not go down.

In the end, the Yahoo! Cycling Team wins the race, takes 5th (Switters), 6th (Vanacht), 7th (Mooney) and places 4 in the money. The cherry on the pie was the Yahoo! Cycling Team taking the field sprint with the lead-out executed by Yahoo! Cycling Team’s Owens, Briggs, Parnes, Bosch, Huffman and Hunt and Kevin Klein finishing 1st in the field sprint! What a great way to start the season for the Yahoo! Cycling Team with this team win. A big thank you and congratulations to the sponsors and team management and all the Yahoo! Cycling Team’s riders in the race, each contributing to the win. And to the fans, screaming “Yahoo!” around the course, thank you also, and keep it coming!

By Filip Vanacht
Photos in article courtesy of Hors Categorie Photography