Hub Racing News

international cycling classic
super week womens pro tour
race 10 of 14
tuesday july 21st 2009
Schlossmann Whitnall Park Criterium p/b Honda & Subaru City

tuesday marked the return to the points competition, and
the result was an explosion of activity for the red jersey
hunt. with the points leader now absent, shontell gauthier
of colavita and veronica martinez of hub racing sit in a
tie for the virtual lead in the points competition (it'll
still be a couple of days before they overtake the red
jersey, but the math says its coming). shontell has a
single teammate to help her. veronica has 6. even still,
it's a toss up. it will take all of hub racing to challenge
colavita for the red jersey.

hub did everything right in the first sprint. josie giddens
came forward for the lead out, and sally annis dropped
veronica off on her wheel. hub had shontell boxed in with 2
riders in front and hub's liz leyden to her right, pinning
her to the curb. but somehow shontell came through. she
must have jumped the 4-foot baracade because it was the
only way around. she dove for veronica's wheel then came
around her wide on the right. Carrie Cash Wootten of Team
Revolution powered across the line 1st followed closely by
shontell and veronica in 2nd and 3rd. score 1 point up for
shontell.

following the lead out, a counter came from behind. as they
made the turn up the hill with the sprinters sitting up,
the attackers slammed into josie giddens snapping her seat
stay. a new bike from sram neutral support and she was back
in and ready to go.

in the 2nd sprint MEI-YU HSIAO of TEAM EXUSTAR TAIWAN
fighting for 5th now in the points went on a flyer. she
refused to be left out as the battle raged between colavita
and hub. hub's josie, fresh off back to back podiums and
now returning to lead out duty, chased her down with
several riders in tow. with only one point left behind,
shontell and veronica went head to head with shontell
grabbing the point by 3 inches. score 2 up for shontell.

but hub turned the tables in sprint 3. MEI-YU HSIAO went
again and won the sprint up the road. josie followed to
secure the points, and Carrie came through again. but this
time veronica had help from teammate elizabeth morse hill
as the 2nd lead out, and came around shontell getting back
one of the points. veronica and shontell are now seperated
by only point with 4 days and 12 sprints remaining.

following the last sprint, attacks began to fly. with all
of the work they had done, only amy mcguire for hub sat
even near the front. nervous and alone, she marked attacks
for several laps while her team recovered. then sally annis
came forward to take the reigns and josie giddens came up
again to lead out the final lap. but the sprints had taken
their toll, and hub couldnt organize for the finish. even
still, hub put 2 in the money with elizabeth in 6th and
sheba farrin in 10th. amy held on for some gc points as
well.

sara caravella of alan cycling won the day with her typical
long sprint from about 300 meters. and a big thumbs up to
carrie who sprinted into 3rd for her first podium of the
series. she's coming back from injury and has only been on
the bike for a couple of days. and to MARY-ELLEN ASH and
KARLA KINGSLEY of SUGARCRM who took 4th and 5th in front of
a large group of family and friends.

can hub racing's veronica martinez stay close enough to
shontell to have a run for the red jersey? or will the
fight for gc take away veronica's help? will shontell start
to pull away if she can get head's up versus her rival?
will Jeannie Kuhajek of team mack find another breakaway
and spoil shontell and veronica's party all together? if
non red jersey contenders go up the road, it'll probably be
good for hub bringing the tight rcae down to sunday. but
shontell is certainly strong enough to bridge or chase.
this'll be fun to watch. its still a long way to go.

General Classification: (money to 10 places)
place/points

1/206 NICKY WANGSGARD COLAVITA SUTTER HOME P/B COOKING
LIGHT CEDAR CITY, UT
2/173 SHONTELL GAUTHIER COLAVITA SUTTER HOME P/B COOKING
LIGHT AUSTIN, TX
3/168 EMMA PETERSEN TEAM ULTRALINK Canada
--
5/132 Elizabeth Morse Hill Hub Racing Saint Petersburg, FL
6/120 Amy McGuire Hub Racing Boston MA
8/96 Sheba Farrin Hub Racing Washington, DC
9/93 Josephine Giddens Hub Racing New Zealand
--
28/34 Veronica Martinez Hub Racing Argentina
33/20 Sally Annis Hub Racing Nashua, NH
39/15 Arley Kemmerer Hub Racing Palmerton, PA
41/14 Liz Leyden Hub Racing Australia

Sprints Classification (money to 5 places)
place/points

1/65 JENNIFER PURCELL COLAVITA/SUTTER HOME FRISCO, TX
2/52 SHONTELL GAUTHIER COLAVITA SUTTER HOME P/B COOKING
LIGHT AUSTIN, TX
3/51 Veronica Martinez Hub Racing Argentina
--
10/10 Josephine Giddens Hub Racing New Zealand
12/9 Elizabeth Morse Hill Hub Racing Saint Petersburg, FL
24/1 Amy McGuire Hub Racing Bosotn MA

wednesday is the final rest day for the women.
thursday is the Racine.org Criterium. flat and technical
crit with about a 150 meter sprint out of the final turn.