"This past weekend Jeff, Curtis, Karel and Ryan headed up to Perry, Georgia to represent Lindner Capital in the Perry – Roubaix race weekend. There was a time trial and circuit race on Saturday and a road race with a dirt section on Sunday. The format was an omnium, not a stage race meaning the overall placings were not based on time, but rather points earned for placing in the top 15 of each race.
Time Trial
The time trial route was mostly on a Georgia state highway in an out and back configuration. The course was rolling with one fairly long climb near the turn around.
Circuit Race
The circuit race was later in the day and the weather remained stable with no rain but plenty of wind gusts to make things difficult. Toshiba controlled much of the race covering the breakaways that they didn’t initiate themselves. While Lindner Capital was able to stay in the mix of most of them, eventually one slipped away and within a couple laps it was obvious that they were not coming back. More attacks ensued to create a chase group. Jeff and Curtis remained active and were able to get in many of these. Finally, Curtis got in a strong chase group with Mike Niemi (Metro Volkswagen) and two Toshiba riders including Frank Trevieso. The field slowed to a crawl watching these four ride away. It didn’t take long and the original breakaway ended up lapping the field despite the relatively long lap. Additionally, Curtis’s chase group was also about to take a lap from the field and caught the field/breakaway. This brought the number of people who lapped the field to about a dozen riders. After getting some reprieve in the group, Curtis was ready to take on the sprint and found his way up to Jeff Kopp’s wheel who took him up near the front of the group. Curtis unleashed his sprint and was able to beat all but 4 of the dozen who lapped the field. It was a great finish in a tough race. Karel again showed his sprinting prowes s and also finished near the front of the group taking about 4th place of the lapped riders.
Road Race
The road race saw clear skies and cool but not cold weather. The course was rolling with two fairly tough hills to hurt the rider’s legs. Additionally, there was about a 2 mile long dirt (clay) section the racers had to traverse every lap of the 8 lap, 100 mile race. With a hard rain the night before the race however, the dirt had a gummy feel but was not loose sand as it was in 2007. It wasn’t long into the race before the attacks started to fly. Ryan got into a break of 6 riders eight mile s into the race. The break included 2 Myogenesis riders (one of the larger teams in the field) as well as Daniel Vaillancourt, a Toshiba rider (formally of Colavita/SutterHome), which seemed like a good mix. The break stayed away for close to 40 miles and despite a steady and fairly balanced workload, the 6 riders could not keep the field away and were caught half way through the race. More attacks followed and two riders, Australian Tommy Nankervis (Toshiba) and Canadian Bruno Langlois (Myogenesis), who both previously raced on Jittery Joe’s, were able to get away never to be seen by the field again. Later a chase group formed with six more riders containing Floridian Sean Coleman (US Armed Forces Cycling Team) who took 2nd in the race in 2007. The group was quickly out-of-sight of the field and 65 miles into the race, it seemed as if the breaks were established as the field grew lethargic. Finally, Ryan slipped away with two riders and the trio worked steadily. Soon the 6 man chase group was in sight and another lap later, the two groups merged to form a 9 man group chasing duo Nankervis and Langlois. The race was taking its toll however and the 9 men split into three, three-man groups over the course of the last lap. Ryan made the 2nd group of three who worked diligently to keep the following group at bay and the group ahead in sight. In the closing miles, it was apparent that none of the groups would catch each other. Ryan attacked his group with one mile left in the contest and was able to hold them off until the finish for 6th place."
-Ryan Saylor
