This past weekend found the Regional Race Team in Wisconsin for events related to the Tour of America’s Dairyland (ToAD). Taking place annually in SE Wisconsin, ToAD is one of the premier cycling events for Midwest Racers. The weekend also was the first race for the Women’s Racing Program. Read on for more reports from the weekend as well as a photo gallery at the end!
East Troy (June 20th)
From Matt Peterson: Decided to head down a day early and do the 2/3 race in east Troy. Pretty strait forward six-corner course and despite a few teams being present no one had any interest in making a race happen the whole time. Surfed the wheels at the front the whole race and jumped onto the Chicago Wheelmen leadout at the end with only a bit of jostling. Started the sprint a bit late but managed to hang on for fifth.
Maya:
Another race report from East Troy: The women’s 3/4 race got off to a fast start. I worked my way to the front and tried to stay there. A lot of women were surging up on the corners, but I was able to keep fighting back to maintain good position despite a few sketchy corners. Got into a good position heading into the final corner and sprinted for 4th, which definitely exceeded my expectations.
Giro D’Grafton Race Report (June 21)
Erik’s team fielded riders in both the 2/3 race and the Master’s 35+ 1/2 race. In the 2/3 race we had Matt Petersen and Andrew Hellpap line up with over 100 riders to ride the eight-corner course. Matt rode the front of the race and put his nose in the wind several times either pulling back other riders or trying to amp the pace and create a bit of a separation. Towards the back half of the race, Andrew was caught behind a crash in the field and lost contact with the main group. At the same time, two riders snuck away and there was disorganization at the front with no one team willing to chase them down. In the end, the two riders held their lead into the last lap and sprinted it out for 1st and 2nd. The rest of group had to fight for 3rd. Matt finished 13th while Andrew hung in to finish off the race.
Master’s 1/2
Laszlo Alberti, Marc Kermisch, Michael Mardosz, Ben Schinke and Brady Prenzlow all lined up for the Master’s race with 70 other riders. The race got off to a fast start, but settled in to a reasonable pace. We were a bit spread out throughout the group, with Laz sitting top 10, Ben, Marc, and Brady sitting top 30 and Michael just behind. Laz did an awesome job winning a few primes, taking home $150.00. The group stayed together throughout the race with nothing getting off the front. Coming into the last few corners, Intelligensia moved to the front to set-up a sprint train. They swept the last corner inside to outside pinching a rider on the outside who ended up going down. Brady, Ben and Michael snuck through on the inside and Laz was ahead of the crash. As usual Marc “Crash” Kermisch had to lock up his brakes and hit the deck. Though only minor scrapes where to be had and he was able to get back on the bike and finish. Laz rode to a hard rough 7th place, Brady finished top 20 and the rest of rolled in. All in all a good day of racing.
Waukesha Criterium Report (June 22) [From Laszlo].
Once again we had folks in the Womens 3/4 Mens 2/3 and Masters 35 1/2. Maya started out the day for Erik’s riding strong all day at the front. Finishing up mid pack by the end of a hot and humid day. Great effort Maya. During the mens 2/3 race Rob and Andrew started. Rob got to the front with a good starting position while Andrew rolled up to the back as the race got underway. With 100-plus riders it was a tough race to move up. Rob rode strong consistently staying in the top 1/4 of the race and chased a few errant breaks down once they were close enough.
During the Masters race Laszlo, Brady, Ben and Marc rode. Laszlo and Ben went to the front right away knowing that the tight corners were a place to be well positioned as well as the first uphill. Right from the start there were attempts to break away. This made it next to impossible to move up. At the start Laszlo and Ben covered multiple attacks with some having the key players present. After chasing one of the last serious attacks Ben’s seat came loose and he was forced to retire. Ben had the legs today but the equipment didn’t cooperate. Marc came up multiple times and kept the pace hot in a very hot 90-degree day. The tar in the corners made for an interesting dynamic including the second to last corner, which was on a quick downhill 85-degree turn. There were prime laps but not as many so the consensus was to go for the podium. After chasing one prime and successfully crossing the line first Laszlo put some distance between him and the pack along with intelgencia rider Billy. We rode consistently for 10 laps with a large contingent blocking behind us. At one point we had 20 seconds on the group and were out of site. Eventually the pack got itchy and we were brought back with 11 to go. At this point it was critical to stay to the front. With 5 to go people were diving corners and the tar became even more slippery. It was getting punchy to stay in the front. With one to go strong man Albertus Rholing attacked up the hill after corner 1 with 4 of us following. He did get a gap on me and another rider from XXX whom I knew would close the gap. I followed his wheel into the second last corner with Albertus riding very strong on the front. The sprint started early which was good as we had a drag race to the finish. In the end it was Inteligencia with a good margin for first but it was too close to call for second. Eventually it would show the Inteligentsia and Erik’s Bike shop would be 2 and 3. After being in the early break it was a good result and a podium is always nice on the final day of racing. A little Wisconsin cheese is always a fun gift. Sometime soon we will have another cow jersey, but for now back to training and the all-new banana diet.
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