Janel Holcomb Captures Cascade Classic Overall

(July 24 2011) – Bend, Oregon – Janel Holcomb of the Colavita/Forno d'Asolo womens cycling team wrested the overall win, at the 32nd Cascade Classic Stage Race, from Clara Hughes (Cycle BC) and denied a determined Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 squad as well.

Hughes maintained control of the yellow leaders jersey following Saturday nights criterium. A fast four corner affair, the crit was run through the Old Town section of Bend Oregon. Early on Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 attempted to control the race. Aided by Team TIBCO/To The Top which also harbored ambitions for the race overall win, all attempts to form a break way were chased down. Midway through a small group finally made it clear. Comprised of Jade Wilcoxen and Anne Samplonius (NOW and Novartis for MS), Pascal Schnider (Vanderkitten), Meredith Miller (TIBCO/To The Top), Lauren Hall (Colavita/Forno d'Asolo), Taylor Wiles (PB&Co. TWENTY12), and Kristen Lassaso (Primal/Map My Rider) the break was able to stay clear for the remainder of the race.

At the line it was Hall (Colavita) taking 1st in front of Miller and Samplonius. There were no changes to the overall standings. Schnider was rewarded for her time in the break with the points leader's green jersey.

This lead to a final showdown on what is arguably the hardest circuit race course in the west. Four laps , 135 km, around the Awbrey Butte circuit were on tap for Sunday's finale. A rolling course that trends down hill from the start at Summit High School on top of Awbry Butte, the route bottoms out below the Tumalo State Park. From there it returns to the summit via O.B. Riley and Archie Briggs Roads. The Route climbs a low of 975 meters to the top at 1097 meters in two steps and a pair of long false flats. The most notorious step is the corkscrew climb on Archie Briggs Road. While only gaining 110 meters , the wall is two 180º turns in about 100 meters distance. This nasty bit leads to a long false flat the kicks one last time to the QOM.

The day began with Peanut Butter &Co. trying to control tempo with the women of TIBCO. The rest of the field had other ideas. On the first circuit the tactic worked. Second time around the attacks came. Active all week, the women of NOW and Novartis and Colavita, along with Vanderkitten and Primal/Map My ride pressured the two bigger teams. The peloton shattered and regrouped repeatedly. Peanut Butter &Co. worked hard on the front to limit the damage with the expectation that they would place Kristin Armstrong on the podium. In the end only Armstrong and former race leader Kristin McGrath would finish for team in blue and white.

The final selection occurred on the false flat above the Archie Briggs corkscrew. Janel Holcomb (Colavita), Alison Shanks and Kaytee Boyd (Bike NZ), US Elite Road Champion Robin Farina and Ann Samplonius (Now and Novartis), Meredith Miller (TIBCO) and a rider from Primal/Map My Ride and two others went clear on lap 3 of 4. On the ensuing descending half of the circuit, the group was refined to Holcomb, Boyd and Samplonius, with Farina dangling off their tails. Joelle Neumainville (TIBCO) had attempted to join the group but she now also dangled in no mans land between the break of three and the main field as the race returned for one last ascent of Archie Briggs Road.

 By now the field was scattered about the climbing section of the course. The leaders had a substantial gap over a group containing Armstrong and race leader Clara Hughes (Cycle BC). As the leaders crested Archie Briggs for the last time it was Holcomb leading Samplonius by a handful of meters. Boyd had been shed on the climb. Samplonius took Holcomb on the line by a pair of bike lengths. In the final counting, the gap to the group of Armstrong and Hughes in yellow was 2:17. Enough that Holcomb jumped to the overall race lead.

The final standings placed Holcomb first overall, followed by Samplonus at 23 seconds back. Hughes filled out the top three 1:09 drift on general classification. The team that walked off with all the goodies was Colavita/Forno d'Asolo. They not only won two stages, the overall, and the undisputed queen of the mountains Andrea Dvorak, they also took home the jersey for best young rider on the shoulders of Rushlee Buchanan and team general classification beating out Team TIBCO/To The Top by a mere 7 second over 6 days.