Cascade Cycling Classic Begins
On Tuesday, 172 men and 105 women began the prologue of the 31st annual Cascade Cycling Classic, sponsored by the Bend Memorial Clinic. The six-day, five-stage race, will run until July 25th, making it the longest elite consecutive stage race in the United States. The course is known among North American cyclists for the quality of the route and the atmosphere of the race, which takes place in central Oregon and inspires many professional cyclists to return year after year.
The Prologue was won by Jesse Sergent (men’s 1st place) and Alison Powers (women’s 1st place). Sergent rides for Trek-Livestrong, and raced to victory with the help of his teammate and second-place finisher Alex Dowsett. The 3.2km route through the Old Mill district in the town of Bend was won in 3:35 by the silver-medal winning rider and his young teammate, the European Time-Trial champion.
“I’ve started to target the time trial more,” said Sergent. “I didn’t know there was a time trial prologue here until about a week ago. It was definitely something I wanted to go well in. I wanted to get another one for the team being my last year as an Under-23 rider with the team. It was important for me.”
The prologue crossed over the Deschutes River and followed a series of winding roads and slight inclines. Rory Sutherland finished only one second behind the leader. Sergent didn’t come into the race in total confidence, after taking a few weeks off mid-season, but said that the route of the prologue suited his pursuit skills perfectly.
“It suited me coming off the track and being a pursuiter,” said Sergent. “It was short and sharp efforts that I am used to. I felt good and the bike felt good. It’s good to be back racing.”
Alison Powers
Alison Powers rides for team Vera Bradley Foundation, and has added another victory to her professional cycling resume. A national champion, she finished the prologue in 3:53, five seconds ahead of world champion Tara Whitten and six ahead of Alison Starnes.
“As soon as I heard there was a prologue I said, ‘boom, that’s mine,’” said Powers. “I knew this was two miles and I like the shorter and harder efforts and I trained at home with a lot of four-minute V02 training. I knew my V02 Max was really bad because I would go hard and then explode so I spent time working on that.”
Powers will wear the yellow jersey into the first stage of the race, but admits that a couple summit finishes could hurt her. The time-trial prologue was expected to be won by cyclists who thrive on short individual sprints. Powers currently stands in second place in the Women’s Prestige Cycling Series, of which this the BMC Cascade Cycling Classic is the fourth and final event.
“This is our last stage race of the year and to be able to kick it off with a win, I need NRC points and Prestige Series points and to be able to do it for everyone is awesome,” said Powers. “I have to get the points here and I have the team to help get those points and keep placing for team NRC standings. It was extra motivation. I didn’t realize I cared so much about the NRC until I wasn’t winning anymore. I need to ride hard and win because I like winning that.”
Floyd Landis
The race has gained some unfamiliar publicity since the race organizers added controversial cyclist and Tour de France alumnus Floyd Landis to the registration, despite the confirmed doper’s inability to find a team willing to sponsor him. The cyclist admitted to his history with doping and accused several other world-class cyclists, including Lance Armstrong, of the same.
“The chief official said that it is a USCF rule that if you are going to wear a jersey that has the name of a business or a sponsor there has to be a licensed team,” said Chuck Kenlan, the executive director of the race. “Essentially he had to wear something plain with no sponsor on it and he just found a grey t-shirt and that was what he wore.”
The Cascade Cycling Classic continues, and between now and the 25th we are sure to see some bumps and bruises along the way as both men and women battle it out for the top prize.
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