Used to cranking it through the mountains of Europe in Tour
stage racing events, David Zabriskie hardly seemed the blink at the
vaunted Hill that had many of his rivals in Sunday
’s Specialized Morgan Hill Grand Prix Men’s Pro event changing
strategy when they saw the steep rise. While most of the rest of
the field agonized on the Hill, Zabriskie, the 26-year-old former
member of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong’s US
Postal Service team, powered over th
e course with seeming aplomb. Breaking away from the leaders
just past the midway point, Zabriskie powered away from everyone
and crossed the finish line, arms raised, at least 15 seconds ahead
of the runner-up.
Used to cranking it through the mountains of Europe in Tour stage racing events, David Zabriskie hardly seemed the blink at the vaunted Hill that had many of his rivals in Sunday’s Specialized Morgan Hill Grand Prix Men’s Pro event changing strategy when they saw the steep rise.
While most of the rest of the field agonized on the Hill, Zabriskie, the 26-year-old former member of seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong’s US Postal Service team, powered over the course with seeming aplomb.
Breaking away from the leaders just past the midway point, Zabriskie powered away from everyone and crossed the finish line, arms raised, at least 15 seconds ahead of the runner-up.
“I was aggressive all day,” Zabriskie said. “Once the break was formed, the other riders kind of hesitated and I took advantage. I was able to keep up my speed in the clear.”
Early in the race, it looked like the Webcor team would have an advantage with three riders in the 10-man breakaway pack. But Zabriskie, riding alone, simply pulled away on his own and eliminated the Webcor edge.
“I knew I had to be aggressive and attack (Webcor’s riders),” Zabriskie said. “And that’s what I did.”
Now a member of the powerful CSC team, Zabriskie was the class of an elite field of racers that included such cycling luminaries as Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada’s Hayden Godfrey, who with teammate Jackson Stewart finished second and third, respectively, and Webcor’s David Clinger, another former Armstrong-USPS teammate, who finished in fourth, just ahead of current teammate John Kelly.
Clinger and Godfrey said they had no real shot at catching Zabriskie.
“He broke off and I chased him but I couldn’t catch him,” the tattooed Clinger said.
“I was trying to keep an eye on Zabriskie but he broke away and once he does that, it’s tough,” Godfrey said.
For a first-year race, the field was clearly top-flight, and Race Director Tom Simpson of Pilarcitos Sports acknowledged that bringing in a high-quality roster was of paramount importance in building the event.
“We did a good job of attracting riders,” Simpson said. “We were thinking if we had between 300 and 500 racers we would be happy. We ended up with a little more than 600 riders. And, I think universally everybody was pleased with the race course and its uniqueness.”
The course was apparently so intriguing that it drew two races out of a pair of international riders. After riding in the Men’s Pro event, Australian cross-country (mountain bike) champion Sid Taberlay and British cross-country champion Liam Killeen, both Olympians, decided to change their original plans and go ahead and compete in the Fat Boy Mountain Bike event. Taberlay edged Killeen at the finish line well ahead of the rest of the small field in the event.
Also competing in the Men’s Pro event was Morgan Hill resident Daniel Holloway, the rising junior rider who finished 27th overall competing under the Lombardi Sports logo.
Top local finishers from Specialized included Chance Regina, who took eighth in the Men’s Category 3 race, Joe Cahoon and Sam Pickman, who were 22nd and 42nd, respectively, in the Cat. 3, Erick Marcheschi and Sean McLaughlin, who took sixth and 19th, respectively, in the Masters Cat. 4, Don Langley, who finished 35th in the Masters Cat. 1-3, and Sondra Williamson, who was 14th in the Women’s Cat. 3-4.
McLaughlin, who was near the front late in the race, admitted that he made a tactical error by assuming his event was on the last lap when it was on the next to last lap. He also lost momentum when he narrowly avoided a last-lap crash on the chicane, a winding stretch of the course approaching the right turn up the Hill.
“I’m just happy not to get caught up in that crash,” McLaughlin said. “The last lap I’m always really nervous. There’s a lot of people out there on the course and they’re starting to fight for position. I’m not totally surprised that (the accident) happened.”
Langley, who also made a few tactical errors and didn’t move up in the field quickly enough, said he was happy his teammate – Morgan Stanley Specialized rider Billy Clark – won the event.
“When my teammate wins, I feel like I won,” Langley said.
Other event winners included:
Women’s Pro 1-3:
Christine Thorburn, Webcor
Men’s Cat. 3:
Sean McBride, Lombardi Sports
Men’s Cat. 4:
Dustin Deide, Travis Hawks
Masters Cat. 4:
Robert Collier, EMC/Documentum
Women’s Cat. 3-4:
Courtenay Brown, McGuire Cycling
There were also the popular Kids Race events, which brought out children of all sizes and ages riding bicycles ranging from road bikes to dirt bikes to bikes with training wheels on them. Each participant earned a medal provided by Shimano.
What did you think about the Specialized Morgan Hill Grand Prix? Should it come back for another year?
Call Green Phone at (800) 687-0836.
