Published: March 29, 2019
Michael preps the team for Sunday's Road Race

FRONT RANGE CYCLING CLASSIC

RACE REPORT

 

The Front Range Cycling Classic is widely regarded as one of the hardest races of the Colorado collegiate road season. Featuring a perilous nine-turn criterium and the hilliest road race lap of the year, Air Force posed a highly intimidating start to the road season for the conference. The University of Colorado Boulder team brought 20 of our best riders to compete in all six unique race categories.

Racing began on Saturday with the with the women’s C criterium, where Megan and Jess turned up the tempo to break away and go 1-2, claiming the first win of the day for CU. Following the women’s race was the men’s C race, which saw Kylen and Nikolai launch from their field solo to complete another 1-2 punch for CU.

Up next were the category B races, which saw spectacular finishes from our riders. Following a move from Colorado Mesa’s Kristen Kollus, our climber Jenny Lucke rode the break away for most her race, before finally attacking Kollus with with four laps to go to take the win solo. Kollus finished only 8 seconds behind, while Carly Wegren won the field sprint, giving CU the first and third positions on the podium.

In the men’s race, our incredible B’s squad threw the hammer down from the gun, carefully monitoring and countering moves from Colorado Mesa and Fort Lewis. With eight laps to go, road captain John Keller took a flyer up the finishing straight with the team’s all-rounder, Spencer White, in tow. Keller pulled off and White launched his attack in the start-finish straight. Riding solo for the remainder of the race, White crossed with line with room to celebrate while Keller and Parker Gara went on to complete the podium behind.

With all other racing completed, the category A races were finally ready to take the course. In the men’s race, Boulder brought an incredible squad of eight riders to take on the challenge of defending 2018’s epic first and second place finishes by Maxx Chance and Eric Brunner. New team rider Paul Hartner played a crucial role throughout the race, hitting the field with a series of attacks that kept his other teammates out of the wind. With just one lap to go, professional rider Grant Ellwood followed a flyer by CMU’s Roen Torbjorn and outsprinted him for the win, pounding his chest in spectacular fashion across the line.

The women’s race brought tension and excitement as the field largely stayed together awaiting a field sprint. Freshman sprinter Anna Christian sat in waiting until the last moment she could, where a move from CMU on the final climb lead her out to win the sprint and claim another victory for CU. The mirror finishes in the men’s and women’s race proved that our team’s sprinters have come to the races to play, and we are very excited to see what they can do in future races.

 

Sunday’s road race played out in stark contrast from the criterium. The long and beautiful course saw few breakaways, yet many solo finishes due to the courses long finishing climb.  Jenny Lucke once again rolled off the front with CMU’s Kritsten Kollus, and Jakub Valigura found himself in the men’s A break away containing two CMU riders and one Fort Lewis rider. Lucke prevailed for the second day in a row, narrowly beating her rival in an uphill lunge for the line. Valigura, a mountain biker and strong all-around rider, remained in the break for as long as possible and eventually received help from teammate Ross Ellwood. After Ellwood bridged to the move the duo found themselves outnumbered by four CMU riders, who ended up taking first and second place. Ellwood and Valigura finished in third and fifth place after a hard-fought battle.

 

The other races saw similar results to the criterium with a few newcomers to the field. In the men’s B’s, climber Parker Gara excelled on the final hill to take the win, while Marshall Graybill, Spencer White, John Keller and Simon Castagneri completed Boulder’s stunning 1-5 sweep. Triathlete Dara Procell rode off the front early in the race in the women’s C’s to take the victory with time to spare, winning her first ever bike race. Teammate Jess Ryan finished behind to take 2nd place. The men’s C squad once again proved their dominance as Kylen and Nikolai rode off the front snag the top two spots on the podium.

 

After a long opening weekend of racing, our CU Boulder riders won 10 out of 12 possible races, showing their overwhelming strength and brilliant teamwork. There is a long season ahead, but we could not have asked for a better start to the 2019 collegiate season than this. Stay tuned for updates on the upcoming races hosted by the Colorado School of Mines on our blog and social media. See you all at the races next week, and Sko Buffs!