ATOC Team Swift Crit - E2/3

In the E2/3 race there were about 55 starters and a few guys to watch. Jan (Gnar Lube) and Rainier (Mikes Bikes) were the guys I was really watching. SquadraSF had several riders representing the team, Jesse C., Neil B., Brian J., Daniel dM, JR, and myself.


We're Off: As planned we were active everyone moving around the bunch and taking turns going with moves that all seemed to be chased down by the entire field immediately. At this point I was getting sick of jumping of everything and wanted to pick my moves a little more carefully. I noticed Jan was with two other followed by 4 more that just a few bike lengths back. Still waiting attentively I notice the guys at the front of the field are letting the gap open and at the same time Jan appears to be drilling it at the front of his group, that is all I needed to see and jumped hard to bridge up to the lead group of three and pile on the pressure. After a few Hard rotations it ended up being 5 guys committed/making the move with a small gap.


Break: Composition was perfect 1 from each team that had several riders only problem was the race was not over for 40 MIN! Not much to say about the break except everyone worked evenly. My SquadraSF teammates assumed position near the front and helped the break stick by riding false tempo and quickly marking every move attempting to bridge. With 8-to-go we could see the pack about 1/4 of a lap in front of us. With 2-to-go the Cliff Bar guy attacked but was quickly marked, and riders began to shuffle around a bit.

Bell Lap: Halfway down the back straight I was 2nd wheel and shuffled back to 4th. I jumped hard on the inside just before corner (sweeper) #3 making sure I could take the inside line and then line up the best angle on turn 4. After exiting the the final turn I gave it a second kick and took the shortest line to the finish, Jan was able to get on my wheel before the final turn he took my early sprint as a perfect leadout, but I was able to gap everyone else so I crossed the line in a comfortable 2nd place for SquadraSF.


Placing: 2nd

Also pretty cool to see Team Rabobank riders Luis-Leon Sanchez and Laurens ten Dam cruising around the back of the E3/4 race. After getting yelled at by the announcer for joining in on the race they proceeded to do some motorpaced sprints and parade laps off the officials motorcycle. Pretty sweet.