July 25/05 10:08 am - Tour de White Rock: Road Race and Final Omnium Results
Posted by Editoress on 07/25/05
Tour de White Rock - Road Race Whiterock BC, July 24th
Report by Kevin Woodley
Kirk O'Bee moved to the lower mainland for his young family. He's glad he stayed for the racing.
O'Bee, a Michigan native who has called North Vancouver home since 2002, won the 26th annual Tour de White Rock road race Sunday, capping off an impressive BC Superweek run that also included the Tour de Delta criterium and omnium (overall) titles.
After breaking away from the pack with seven laps left in the 134-kilometre race - one lap on the bigger 10.1-kilometre circuit and six more around the 3.8 kilometre track - O'Bee coasted through the finish line three hours, 32 minutes and 56.4 seconds after he started.
That was almost two minutes ahead of Costa Rican rider Pablo Araya, who sprinted past Christian Meier of the B.C.-based Symmetrics pro team at the finish line for second.
After focusing more on his spring performances the last two years, O'Bee, a former U.S. National Criterium Champion and Road Championship team member, was in top form for this year's BC Superweek. Riding for a powerful New Jersey-based Navigators Insurance team, the 28-year-old was eager to perform well for fans in his adopted hometown.
"This year I wanted to put on more of a show," said O'Bee, who became a permanent resident of Canada in October and also finished second in the Tour de Delta road race last weekend. "It's really nice to know people and be local, it just makes it more relaxing and more exciting. S( I really wanted to win this one and win as many of these as I could." In a race marred by two early crashes that sent three riders to nearby Peace Arch Hospital, O'Bee was content to sit back in the pack, even after a strong riding trio of Pan American Games gold medalist Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics), Canadian cycling legend Gord Fraser (Health Net) and Brandon Crichton (ItalPasta) broke away five laps into the race.
The trio built up a two-minute lead before a chase led by three Costa Rican riders finally tracked down the three-man break with two laps left around the hilly long course. O'Bee, who'd been cruising back to that point, took off the next lap and never looked back.
"I was a little worried when Gord got away with Wohlberg, but there was only three of them and I knew it wouldn't last unless the rest of the field sat up," said O'Bee, who met his wife, Suzanne, in Victoria, where she was attending university. They moved to North Vancouver while she was pregnant with their son Samuel, now two-and-a-half years old. "Luckily the Broadmark team did some chasing and the Costa Rican team really put in a good chase and brought them back. I knew the race was on from there. I didn't think I would get away and stay away, that wasn't the plan. I just kind of kept rolling it." O'Bee also won King of the Mountain, which is given out to the rider who racks up the most points by finishing in the top three of each lap, and overtook Langley's Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) for top spot in the Canada Cup Road Race Series point standings.
"We really admire what he did," Araya, with some interpreting help from Costa Rican team manager Andreas Carmona, said of O'Bee's performance. BC Superweek was the Costa Rican team's only race outside Central America. Carmona, a local resident who helped fund their trip himself and hopes to bring back six riders next year, called it a highlight of their season, but that wasn't enough to chase O'Bee.
"We didn't even try," he said. "No one else in the back wanted to chase hard and we were trying to make podium so we took charge of the race in the front trying to bridge the gap." O'Bee's win came as no surprise to Andrew Pinfold, who was caught in the second of two crashes at the bottom of Marine Drive, where riders reach speeds of 80 kilometres an hour.
The first crash sent West Vancouver's Scott Slater of the Rocky Mountain-Adobe team and Cory Forest of Kelowna Cycle to hospital, while Burnaby's Damian Waugh, also from the Rocky Mountain-Adobe team, escaped with road rash. The second crash, one lap later, sent Ottawa's Richard Minichiello of the TREK-Red Truck Ale team to hospital, which cost him his first-place spot in the SISU B.C. CUP Championship series.
The second crash also claimed Pinfold, which was doubly bad for Symmetrics because he was leading the omnium (overall) after finishing second in Friday's hill lcimb and sixth in Saturday's criterium, and may have had the best chance of staying with O'Bee Sunday.
"I'm pretty sure Kirk O'Bee is going to win the race," Pinfold, covered in road rash and a torn jersey but otherwise okay, predicted before O'Bee broke away. "It's like the guy is on a motorbike right now. Unfortunately on our team I'm the only guy who can follow him." Fortunately for Symmetrics, Meier was able to stay out in front with the chase group until Araya caught him with a bike push at the finish line, dropping Meier to third.
"I was pretty upset because I'd really like to be second place, " said Meier, who seemed surprised when Araya snuck around him. "Ii would be good for the team, but I did all I could do and he's just obviously a better sprinter than myself." Tyler Farrar of Health Net edged out Dustin MacBurnie of Broadmark Capital in a sprint to finish fourth, but MacBurnie still claimed the Tour de White Rock Omnium (overall title). The women's race, which consisted of eight laps around the 10-kilometre route, was much closer at the end, with four riders breaking away late in the final lap before a pair of 17-year-old National Development Team members from Quebec won a sprint to the finish line.
Karol-Ann Canuel of Amos, Quebec, finished first, followed closely by teammate Joelle Numainville of Laval, Quebec, who edged out Anna Tratnyek, an 18-year-old Terry Precision team rider from Shakespeare, Ontario, in a photo finish.
It was a reverse-order finish from the recent Canadian National Junior time trial and road race Championships, where Numainville won and Canuel finished second. "I like the climbs so I liked the race," said Canuel with translation from Numainville. "I was surprised to finish second here," added Numainville, who was third in Gastown in Wednesday, but had lower expectations for hill-filled White Rock road race. "I was just trying to finish the race, not to be on the podium." New Zealand Development Team rider Brei Gudsell, who won Saturday's criterium in White Rock, finished fourth after starting the breakaway up the backside hills on the final lap. Tratnyek gave chase first, with Canual and Numainville catching up soon after as the three worked to bridge the gap to Gudsell before pulling away down the stretch.
Gudsell, whose team was flying back to New Zealand just a few hours after the race, still managed to claim the women's Omnium (overall title) for the Tour de White Rock.
"I was a bit surprised, I thought a break would go off earlier maybe, but it stayed together,' said Tratnyek, who was third in both espoir road race and time trials at the recent Canadian Nationals and was using the race to prepare for the Canada Summer Games in August. Numainville and Canual, who was also third in the White Rock hill climb Friday night, were also using the BC Superweek to train. But for them, it was preparation for the upcoming Junior World Championships in Austria in mid August.
Numainville, who won the Canadian junior time trial and road race recently, was 18th in time trials at last year's worlds. Canuel is looking forward to her first World Championships. "This was good preparation for the worlds," both agreed.
Pro/1/2 Men 1 Kirk OBee (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 3:32:56 2 Pablo Araya (Crc) Costa Rica at 1:55 3 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics Cycling s.t. 4 Tyler Farrar (USA) Health Net 2:15 5 Dustin MacBurnie (Can) Broadmark Capital 6 Philippe Abbott (Can) Team Alberta 7 Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 8 Dawson Sean (Can) TREK - Red Truck Ale 9 Derek McMaster (Can) Team Coastal 10 Andrew Fischer (USA) Broadmark Capital 11 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 12 Tom Peterson (USA) Broadmark Capital 13 Siro Camponogara (Ita) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 14 Justin Davis (Aus) Wentings Cycle 15 Tim Sherstobitoff (Can) Kelowna Cycle 16 Luis Garcia (Crc) Costa Rica 17 Nick Friesen (Can) The Bike Shop 18 Chris Issac (Can) ItalPasta 19 Jamie Sparling (Can) Bicisport Calgary 20 Marsh Cooper (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 21 Jeff Sherstobitoff (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 22 Nieves Carasco (Crc) Costa Rica 23 Tommy Nankervis (Aus) Wentings Cycle all s.t. 24 Will Routley (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 2:30 25 Brad Issel (Can) TREK - Red Truck Ale s.t. 26 Andy Edwards (Aus) GS Ciao 3:12 27 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 3:15 28 Hilton Clarke (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team s.t. 29 Chuck Hill (USA) Amgen 3:20 30 Tom Evans (Can) Bike Barn 3:30 31 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 3:36 32 Min Van Velzen (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 4:10 33 Donald Buscombe (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles/Adobe s.t. 34 Zack Garland (Can) N/A 4:15 35 Brian Nelson (USA) Momentum sports/Inewmed 4:18 36 Jeff Hansen (Can) ItalPasta 4:29 37 Nat Faulkner (Can) ItalPasta 5:44 38 Brandon Crichton (Can) ItalPasta 5:56 39 Craig De gier (Can) Cyclesmith CC 7:37 dnf Gord Fraser (Can) Health Net dnf Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics Cycling dnf Roy Pickavance (Can) CenturyTel dnf Scott Slater (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles/Adobe dnf Maurice Worsfold (Can) Bayside Cycling Club dnf Chris Worsfold (Can) Bayside Cycling Club dnf Shane Savage (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles/Adobe dnf Cameron McKnight (Can) Edmonton Road & Track Club dnf Richard Minichiello (Can) TREK - Red Truck Ale dnf Basse Clement (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles/Adobe dnf Taylor Little (Can) Taylor Little dnf Keith Stark (Can) Rocky Mountain - Business Objects dnf Chris Brennan (USA) Team Rio Grande dnf Mark Howard (Aus) Wentings Cycle dnf Scott Brown (Aus) Wentings Cycle dnf Zak Grabowski (USA) TIAA-CREF dnf Zachary Taylor (USA) TIAA-CREF dnf Michael Hunter (Can) Rocky Mountain - Business Objects dnf Kevin Noiles (Can) Escape Velocity/DEVO dnf Robert Campbell (USA) The Valley Athletic Club dnf Owen Gue (USA) Broadmark Capital dnf Pleasure Jackson (USA) Broadmark Capital dnf Solomon Woras (USA) Broadmark Capital dnf Richard Bowker (Nzl) ItalPasta dnf Daniel Maggiacomo (Can) ItalPasta dnf Peter Sanowar (Can) ItalPasta dnf Joshua Smith (USA) CenturyTel/VRAD dnf Tim Abercrombie (Can) Escape Velocity/DEVO dnf Brad Slater (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles/Adobe dnf Nicholas Jendzjowsky (Can) Pedalhead Roadworks/Sleemans dnf Josh James (Can) TREK - Red Truck Ale dnf Mark Grimmett (Can) Wenting's Cycles dnf Matthew Hall (USA) CenturyTel/VRAD dnf Brad Bingham (USA) CenturyTel/VRAD dnf Murray Carter (Can) Ride With Rendall dnf Sven Sturm (Ger) Organic Athlete Victoria dnf Philip Burgess (Irl) La Bicicletta dnf Axel Bergman (Can) Team Organic Victoria dnf Damien Waugh (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles/Adobe dnf Trevor Connor (Can) Chris Cookies/Swan Cycles dnf Rob Britton (Can) Team Coastal dnf Harley Borlee (Can) Velocity dnf Ian Manning (Can) BikeSports - Pfaff Racing Team dnf Matthew Walker (Can) Team Sask dnf David Goosen (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles/Adobe dnf Chris Reid (Can) Team Coastal dnf Jeff Sparling (Can) Team Alberta dnf Ezra Nichols (Can) Organic Ahtlete Victoria dnf Garth White (Can) TREK - Red Truck Ale dnf Jesse James Collins (Can) BiciSport dnf Duncan Steele (Can) Escape Velocity/DEVO dnf Matt Patterson (Can) BiciSport dnf Jim Tsilemos (Can) Team Coastal dnf Jason Fluckiger (Can) Bayside Cycling Club dnf Shawn Bunnin (Can) Team Saskatchewan/Spoke n Sport dnf Noah Young (USA) Broadmark Capital dnf Eric Kameka (Can) Escape Velocity/DEVO dnf Andrew McDirmid (USA) Starbucks Double Shot dnf Felix Haspel (Can) Synergy Racing dnf Jordan Guenette (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles/Adobe dnf Sean Van Horn (USA) Broadmark Capital dnf Ian Tubbs (USA) Broadmark Capital dnf Chris White (Can) TREK - Red Truck Ale dnf JP Dunlop (Can) adventurebound.ca dnf Will Pratt (Can) The Bike Barn dnf Cory Forrest (Can) Kelowna Cycle dnf Dan MacDonald (Can) N/A dnf Atkey Warren (USA) Wines of Washington Women 1 Karol-Ann Canuel (Can) Canadian National Junior Women 2:37:44 2 Joelle Numainville (Can) Canadian National Junior Women at 0:01 3 Anna Tratnyek (Can) Terry Precision 4 Brei Gudsell (Nzl) BikeNZ both s.t. 5 Christina Briante (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 0:18 6 Jean Ann McKirdy (Can) Rocky Mountain Business Objects s.t. 7 Heather Lamson (Can) Wentings Cycle 0:19 8 Marni Hambleton (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 9 Mandy Poitras (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 10 Leah Guloien (Can) Sugoi/Giant both s.t. 11 Jo Ryder (Nzl) BikeNZ 0:20 12 Naomi Cooper (Can) Canadian National Junior Women 13 Alena Radomsky (Can) Team Coastal both s.t. 14 Lisa Sweeney (Can) Team Coastal 0:21 15 Jenny Trew (Can) Team Coastal 1:29 16 Mathilde Hupin Debeurme (Can) Sportif Bromont 2:10 17 Julie Hutsebaut (Can) Terry Precision 2:11 18 Sandra Walter (Can) AdventureBound.ca 2:12 19 Lee Darling (Can) Team Coastal 2:40 20 Angella Goran (Can) Team Adventure Bound 5:06 21 Amy Mosen (Nzl) BikeNZ 5:48 22 Helena Coney (Can) N/A 7:10 23 Anne Guzman (Can) Terry Precision 8:18 24 Pepper Harlton (Can) Team Alberta 10:16 dnf Sarah Uhl (USA) Quark Cycling Team dnf Alison Testroete (Can) Team Alberta dnf Dianna Kennedy (Can) Team Alberta dnf Lauren Koedyk (Nzl) BikeNZ dnf Kylie Case (Can) Team Manitoba dnf Amanda Butler (Can) Team Coastal dnf Kristin Campbell (Can) Pedalhead Roadwork's/Sleemans dnf Emily Sandwith (Can) Adventure Bound Pro/1/2 Men Omnium 1 Dustin MacBurnie (Can) Broadmark Capital 2 Derek McMaster (Can) Team Coastal 3 Tyler Farrar (USA) Health Net 4 Kirk OBee (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 5 Andrew Pinfold (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 6 Hilton Clarke (Aus) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 7 Svein Tuft (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 8 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 9 Andrew Fischer (USA) Broadmark Capital 10 Brandon Crichton (Can) ItalPasta 11 Philippe Abbott (Can) Team Alberta 12 Tom Peterson (USA) Broadmark Capital 13 Will Pratt (Can) The Bike Barn 14 Phil Zajicek (USA) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 15 Tommy Nankervis (Aus) Wentings Cycle 16 David Goosen (Can) Rocky Mountain Bicycles / Adobe 17 Siro Camponogara (Ita) Navigators Insurance Cycling Team 18 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 19 Jeff Sherstobitoff (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 20 Nick Friesen (Can) The Bike Shop 21 Jamie Sparling (Can) Bicisport Calgary 22 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 23 Chuck Hill (USA) Amgen 24 Andy Edwards (Aus) GS Ciao 25 Zack Garland (Can) N/A 26 Craig De gier (Can) Cyclesmith CC 27 Jeff Hansen (Can) ItalPasta 28 Nat Faulkner (Can) ItalPasta 29 Min Van Velzen (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 30 Ian Manning (Can) BikeSports - Pfaff Racing Team 31 Pleasure Jackson (USA) Broadmark Capital 32 Justin Davis (Aus) Wentings Cycle 33 Rob Britton (Can) Team Coastal 34 Maurice Worsfold (Can) Bayside Cycling Club 35 Bradley Fairall (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 36 Andrew McDirmid (USA) Starbucks Double Shot 37 Cory Lange (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 38 Sean Van Horn (USA) Broadmark Capital 39 Eric Kameka (Can) Escape Velocity / DEVO 40 Chris Issac (Can) ItalPasta 41 Chris Worsfold (Can) Bayside Cycling Club 42 Brian Nelson (USA) Momentum sports/Inewmed 43 Daniel Maggiacomo (Can) ItalPasta 44 Ian Tubbs (USA) Broadmark Capital 45 Zak Grabowski (USA) TIAA-CREF 46 Tim Abercrombie (Can) Escape Velocity / DEVO 47 Peter Sanowar (Can) ItalPasta 48 Sven Sturm (Ger) Organic Athlete Victoria 49 Trevor Connor (Can) Chris Cookies/Swan Cycles 50 Murray Carter (Can) Ride With Rendall 51 Zachary Taylor (USA) TIAA-CREF 52 Robert Campbell (USA) The Valley Athletic Club 53 Gord Fraser (Can) Health Net 54 Marsh Cooper (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 55 Will Routley (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 56 Tim Sherstobitoff (Can) Kelowna Cycle 57 Dan MacDonald (Can) 58 Noah Young (USA) Broadmark Capital 59 Owen Gue (USA) Broadmark Capital 60 Felix Haspel (Can) Synergy Racing 61 Solomon Woras (USA) Broadmark Capital 62 JP Dunlop (Can) adventurebound.ca 63 Chris Reid (Can) Team Coastal 64 Ezra Nichols (Can) Organic Athlete Victoria 65 Mark Grimmett (Can) Wenting's Cycles 66 Axel Bergman (Can) Team Organic Victoria 67 Scott Brown (Aus) Wentings Cycle 68 Jeff Sparling (Can) Team Alberta 69 Brett Boniface (Can) OrganicAthlete Victoria 70 Mark Howard (Aus) Wentings Cycle 71 Ian Robertsonn (Can) Team KAOS 72 Jason Fluckiger (Can) Bayside Cycling Club 73 Harley Borlee (Can) Velocity 74 Richard Bowker (Nzl) ItalPasta 75 Nicholas Jendzjowsky (Can) Pedalhead Roadworks/Sleemans 76 Shawn Bunnin (Can) Team Saskatchewan / Spoke n Sport Women Omnium 1 Brei Gudsell (Nzl) BikeNZ 2 Christina Briante (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 3 Joelle Numainville (Can) Canadian National Junior Women 4 Lisa Sweeney (Can) Team Coastal 5 Jenny Trew (Can) Team Coastal 6 Anna Tratnyek (Can) Terry Precision 7 Marni Hambleton (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 8 Emily Sandwith (Can) Adventure Bound 9 Sarah Uhl (USA) Quark Cycling Team 10 Jean Ann McKirdy (Can) Rocky Mountain Business Objects 11 Alena Radomsky (Can) Team Coastal 12 Heather Lamson (Can) Wentings Cycle 13 Mathilde Hupin Debeurme (Can) Sportif Bromont 14 Mandy Poitras (Can) Symmetrics Cycling 15 Alison Testroete (Can) Team Alberta 16 Naomi Cooper (Can) Canadian National Junior Women 17 Jo Ryder (Nzl) BikeNZ 18 Amy Mosen (Nzl) BikeNZ 19 Sandra Walter (Can) AdventureBound.ca 20 Julie Hutsebaut (Can) Terry Precision 21 Helena Coney (Can) N/A 22 Anne Guzman (Can) Terry Precision 23 Angella Goran (Can) Team Adventure Bound 24 Pepper Harlton (Can) Team Alberta 25 Amanda Butler (Can) Team Coastal 26 Kylie Case (Can) Team Manitoba 27 Dianna Kennedy (Can) Team Alberta
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