Jefferson Cup Repport By John

Jefferson Cup, Charlottesville, VA
March 25, 2007

The most competitive thing about the 2007 Jeff Cup was the online registration period. It seemed the negative racing was the strategy for all the large teams in the race. The race started out fast, but after the first trip up the hill Rite Aid hit the front and started slowing things down. Joe and I were aggressive for the first third of the race trying to keep the race speed up. I was able to drive a few groups away Rite Aid always slipped some dead weight in the group, and the surges from the peleton would bring my group. During lap three I pulled the eyelets through the rim of my power tap wheel. I did not notice till after the race. I went from feeling great and racing fast to feeling great and not having the longer power surges I had earlier in the race. The race got really lame after a large group slipped off the front with three Rite Aid and riders from just about every other big team. The large break just dangled 20 seconds off the front for the final two laps. The only team chasing was the Seigler team. Joe and I chatted about the finish, since there were just two of us we would have to play it smart. We counted on the break coming back and waited for the finish. I was working out a deal with some friends from Blacksburg, VA to help out Joe and I in the sprint when people just started falling down around us and my friends were taken out of the race. For the finish Joe positioned himself with the sprinters. The false flat heading into the sprint slows down any lead out train but no worry this year Rite Aid was just blocking from curb to curb to save their hope of taking the win from the break that was quickly coming back. With 250 meters to go the front of the race slowed dramatically as Rite Aid sat up to attempt to crash the rest of the race. Joe got caught up in this mess and I had to start pushing people out of the way so I could take it off road and pop around the slowing riders. I sprinted with 200 meters and was gaining quickly but I couldn’t squeeze between two wobbling riders and shut down the sprint with 50 meters left. I was pleased that I finished 9th place after pulling the eyelets through the rim and attempting a sprint. Joe came in 17th and expressed that the Jeff cup was the most dangerous race he had ever participated in. I believe with one more Alliance rider attending the race we could have affected the out come of the finishing sprint and come up with a stronger result.