HPC at Superweek

Day 3 Update - Jenette Williams placed 4th which puts her in 3rd in the overall points competition, 2 points out of second and 5 points behind leader Theresa Cliff-Ryan (2006 U.S. Women's Elite Criterium Champion) with 4 races remaining in the series.

Day 2 in Superweek, Bensenville, IL. 60 km crit and hot as usual July in Chicago. About 50 women lining up. We decided not to go for sprint jersey as very hard to go for both sprints and finish. Course was another short 0.7 mile so 60 laps around. Lo and Jen have been very integral factors in the past 2 days - covering most all moves and taking off solo to the pressure on.

Team Revolution was very active yesterday - they have a well organized team and kept many attacks going. Finally with about 20 to go they went (don't know how) and one girl got off with a CA women. This move stayed off and they were 1/2. Next thing that happened was a Verducci girl (Lisa Jellett) went (Verducci has both the leader jersey and the sprint jersey) and as such they sent someone up the road forcing everyone else to chase. I gotta admit this is some great tactics - well done Verducci! Then the newly crowned breakaway champ Jenette Williams got to work and away she went. Bridged across to Verducci in no time - they established a 30" gap. The front move had 30" on them. Last 5 laps it was ON. Jenette was within sight - about 5" up the road in the last lap - and she had to drive it solo as at that point Verducci/Lisa no longer working (as they had both jerseys). So Jenette had to settle for 4th - which puts her now in 2nd overall. Jen and Lo went for it at the end - Lorena has been a beast getting position at the end. Me, Michele, and Genevieve are working on covering stuff during the race. Now that we have Jenette in 2nd we really have to fight to keep her there. She is tied in 2nd at 33 pts with 5 races left.

HPC powered by Altarum at Fitchburg

HPC presented by Altarum fielded a 5 woman team at Fitchburg this past week - as most of the NRC teams fielded their core riders for the 4 day stage race.  Core team members included veteran Jenette Williams, Lorena Candrian (recent Reston GP winner) and Lesley Golenor and were accompanied by world class mountain biker Sue Haywood and Kiwi Genevieve Whitson. 

It was after Stage 2 the team saw potential Green as Lorena was sitting high in the points.  On stage three the HPC train was in full force putting Lorena in a position to gain valuable points against Cheerwine rider Kelly Benjamin.  At the end of stage 3 Lorena was in the Green Jersey. 

Stage 4 was going to be a tough fight with the HPC train being lead on multiple occasions by 1/2/3 punch of Sue Haywood, Jenette Williams and Genevieve Whitson, Lorena was able to hang on to 2nd place overall....as Cheerwine rider Benjamin was onto the HPC goal and took full advantage of Lorena's leadout train also.   As cyclingnews.com put it:

Lorena Candrian (HPC powered by Altarum), with help from her team-mate, mountain bike Olympian Sue Haywood, challenged Kelly Benjamin for the green sprint competition. Benjamin emerged the overall leader accumulating full points on each sprint lap.  "They were good sprints and I have to give credit to the girl for going after them and not giving up," said Benjamin pleased with her nearest competitor's performance.  "Her team did a good job of trying to support her. I won the first sprint so they had to keep working for them. Her team-mates never bailed on her and they gave her a good chance at the points every time."

Lesley Golenor was tagged to save her legs for the finishing sprints on stages 3 and 4 -  placing 6th in the field sprint (8th overall) on Stage 3 and repeating her top ten sprinting performance for another 8th on the final stage 4.  Overall HPC had a great Fitchburg race and the experience of racing w/ Sue Haywood was invaluable. In the Women's 3/4 race, Anna Kelso - racing solo but teaming up with other MABRA women - placed a solid 9th in the final stage.