By: Sylvi Teich (forestreine@gmail.com) | Published June 25, 2019
Women’s Pro/1/2
Welcome to Janesville, Primetown USA! The big draw for Janesville was the incredibly huge amount of prime money for the stage – the amount was somewhere over $25,000. Because of the large amount of primes, a breakaway was never able to go away. For the second stage in a row, the yellow jersey, Harriet Owen (Hagens Berman | Supermint) took the win in front of Nat Redmond (Fearless Femme Racing) and Peta Mullens (Roxsolt Attaquer).
With mention of a couple primes over $1000, the pace was already high. Skylar Schneider (Boels Dolmans) took an early prime win of $500. Only two laps into the race, it was the 15-time cyclo-cross nation champion, Katie Compton (KFC Racing p/b Trek/Knight) on the front of the peloton driving the pace. Another face we saw frequently on the front of the field was the Cat 2 leader, Andrea Cyr (Velocause Centraal). When it came to the halfway point in the race, it was Nat Redmond who won the Lowlands points prime ahead of Peta Mullens. After the points prime, cash primes were increasing. Sam Schneider (CWA Racing p/b Trek) won an $800 prime. As the primes kept coming and the amounts got larger, the pace got higher in the field. Watching the race, you could see that the peloton was single-file, very strung out because of all the sprints for primes – and really, the amount of primes in the race were incredible. It was Sam’s sister Samantha who won the $1000 prime closer to the end of the race, adding on to her earlier win.
Next up, it was Compton who won the $1500 prime. Surprisingly, the main group actually let Compton go after winning the prime, they didn’t chase. Compton is an extremely strong rider, so it was shocking to see no real chase following her. Since she was already out in front as a result of the previous one, Katie Compton also won the $2000 prime. She was still out in front at one lap to go, so at one to go, Skylar Schneider decided to try to chase her down. She was not entirely successful, though Compton was also brought back to field, confirming that the stage would end in a bunch sprint. Identical to the stage before, Harriet Owen took the win over Nat Redmond and Peta Mullens. Andrea Cyr kept her lead in the Oarsman Capital Cat 2 leader’s jersey, Harriet Owen kept her lead overall, and Peta Mullens kept hers in the points jersey.
Men’s Pro/1/2
After seeing how no one could get away during the women’s race, it was a shock to see more than one breakaway get away during the race. Despite bad weather earlier in the day, it seemed the whole town of Janesville had come out to watch the race. It was an impressive win from Justin Poulson (Semper Porro) Tuesday night ahead of the yellow jersey, Matthew Rice (Pro Racing Sunshine Coast) in second and the junior, Luke Lamperti (LUX/Stradling p/b Specialized) coming in third.
Moritz Malcharek (LKT Team Brandenburg) won a $400 prime early in the race and just after, Gianni Lamperti (LUX/Stradling p/b Specialized), Stefan Schäfer (Radsport.Land), and the two Aussies from Pro Racing Sunshine Coast, Taj Jones and Ashley Mackay, went off the front. Somehow, the peloton let them get away, even with all the primes lined up for the night. At one point, Travis Wold (New England Devo p/b Cadence Wealth Management) tried to bridge the gap but was not successful. Soon after, Schäfer and Jones were off the front, having dropped their previous breakaway companions. How did that happen? Well, Lamperti the junior is a newly minted national champion and no one really wanted to contest in a sprint against him. The four people in the breakaway took turns working on the front and then drifting to the back, so once Taj Jones was on the front, Ashley Mackay was in third wheel and Lamperti was in last wheel, Mackay let a gap form between him and the two riders in front of him. The two riders in front got away and Lamperti couldn’t catch back on. A few more primes were thrown out to the field, three different riders winning them. With 22 laps to go, Schäfer found himself on his own out front after Jones drifted back to the field, maybe because he wanted to go for primes, maybe because he couldn’t keep up the pace for much longer.
After Schäfer was brought back to the field, Moritz Kaase (Volvo Markoetter Team) decided to attack off the front of the field with thirteen laps to go. He was brought back to the field, but went out again with nine other riders including Wolfgang Brandl (ADHD Catella), Madi Hartley-Brown (New England Devo p/b Cadence Wealth Management), and Henning Bommel (LKT Team Brandenburg). There was a brief attack from Kaase and Brandl to get off the front of the breakaway, but they were brought back and the whole break was brought back with three laps to go. Hayden Strong (Texas Roadhouse Cycling) won a big $2000 prime late in the race ahead of Moritz Malcharek. In the bunch sprint to the line, it was Justin Poulson who came out with the win ahead of Matthew Rice and Luke Lamperti. Rice stays in the overall lead while Travis Wold stays in his Oarsman Capital Cat 2 Leader’s Jersey. Lachlan Holliday (Piedmont College) stays in the Lowlands Lion Points Jersey.
Join the riders again for the hilliest of the courses, the Muskego Park Criterium, on Wednesday!
