Jonathan Cantwell Cashes in at Tour of Elk Grove
This weekend, 91 riders competed in the three-stage, 278km Tour of Elk Grove outside of Chicago, Illinois. Jonathan Cantwell earned the overall victory with two sprint wins in the 2nd and 3rd Stages. A well-respected stop of the American National Racing Calendar, the Tour of Elk Grove is among the most lucrative of American stage races.
“There are very few domestic UCI Continental teams that skip the Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove,” said event manager Steven Hansen. “On that metric alone that makes us an important race. The amount of money on the line is huge by almost any standard. That has helped put us near the top of most teams’ ‘must-do’ races on the NRC.”
The 7.6km Stage 1 was won by New Zealander Peter Latham in 8:32, just a hair’s breadth ahead of 2007 winner Mike Friedman. Latham entered the 2nd Stage as the overall leader.
“This was my first NRC win,” said Latham. “Obviously my team is going well. I’ve been close a few times but didn’t know how I would do today. Getting the top placing is nice and it’s nice to get a win for the team.”
The mostly flat event was followed by the 155km Stage 2, aggressively fought for and offering $31,000 in award money. The third stage had $26,000 total on the line and the general classification offered $47,500 total.
Cantwell won the first prize in all three of those, first by sprint in the final 200m of Stage 2 to cross the finish line ahead of David Veilleux, the 2008 overall winner, and Karl Menzies, the defending champion of 2009, who took control of the overall race lead with his third place finish in the second stage and fourth in the opening time trial.
“It was a good win for me and a good win for the team,” Cantwell said. “We got the 20-second time bonus for winning the stage and that was very fortunate. That has put us in good contention to win the overall.”
The 115km Stage 3 began with the top 19 riders all within 20 seconds of each other, and was offering a 20-second time bonus for the stage win, as well as 12 seconds for second and 8 for third place.
"We went into the stage with the number one goal of giving Jonny a chance to sprint because that 20 seconds was the win so long as he kept the space between himself and Menzies," said Cantwell’s team director Ed Beamon. "The guys had to work very hard to make sure that it was a sprint."
Cantwell’s team set up at the head of a 90-second breakaway to prepare their leader for the sprint. The breakaway was absorbed in the last 10 laps but Cantwell wouldn’t let that time bonus get away. The 20-second bonus for the stage win put Cantwell ahead of Menzies and won him the $18,000 prize. Veilleux finished 2nd overall.
"It is a big thrill for the guys to cash in on those big cheques," said Beamon. "It was a big pay day and they really had to work hard for it. For Jonny, it is a big lift for him and a feather in his cap. This is the sixth race in a row that he has won a bunch sprint. The level of competition was much higher here. This was huge for him and for the team."
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