Mellow Mushroom’s rider Laura Van Gilder second day of Baystate Cyclo-cross 2011
C3 p/b Mellow Mushroom Team’s Laura Van Gilder attacked in the final lap and beat Sally Annis (crossresults.com p/b JRA Cycles) to win the second day of the Bay State Cyclo-Cross 2011 on Sunday, November 27.
The women started at an extremely high pace, while Van Gilder showed her amazing skills and outclassed the other cyclists.
In the first course, she managed to stay at the front of the field but later on, she was joined by Sally and LadiesFirst Racing’s trio: Crystal Anthony, Andrea Smith and Elle Anderson.
They all fought hard until the last kilometers. Van Gilder maintained her high speed but kept oscillating between the first and the second position.
However, she continuously kept an eye on the three cyclists of LadiesFirst team to ensure that they do not outperform her.
Crystal Anthony was in a good form and spent a good duration of the race as the leader. She was determined to make up for her previous loss. Meanwhile, Sally Annis appeared to be facing trouble in the last kilometres.
Towards the end of the race, Smith missed a technical remount but continued her efforts, while Annis rejoined her. Both of them worked hard to catch up with Van Gilder.
Anthony launched attack to take a lead but failed to exhibit her true capabilities. Van Gilder gained a lead of a few seconds and was able to cross the finish-line without any difficulty.
The American set the fastest time of 37 minutes and 26 seconds to cover the distance of the stage while Annis was in the second place, 5 seconds down to Laura, ahead of Anthony.
Andrea Smith finished fourth with a difference of 10 seconds while her teammate Elle Anderson grabbed the fifth spot with a difference of 14 seconds.
Rebecca Wellons of Quad Cycles demonstrated excellent aptitude but she failed to catch the leading cyclist and took the sixth place with a difference of 1 minute and 27 seconds, ahead of Carolyn Popovic (Team CF) and Catherine Sterling (Bikeman.com).
USA Blue Steel Cyclery’s Elizabeth White showed a relatively poor ability and landed in the 21st spot with a difference of 6 minutes and 13 seconds, ahead of Elizabeth Lukowski (NYcross.com).
On the next weekend, two major series, Verge New England Cyclo-Cross Series and the Shimano New England Professional Cyclo-cross Series, will start at the NBX Gran Prix of Cross. All the cyclists are looking forward to display some outstanding performances in the upcoming series.
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