Colavita New Mexico Scores at Tour of Ohio

Five hearty members of the Colavita/Sutter Home New Mexico Cycling Team made the trip to this year’s Tour of Ohio.  The race, featuring 127 racers in the elite field, consists of three criteriums, two road races, lots of speed, and some punchy, steep climbs.  After some bad luck earlier in the week, everything seemed to come together perfectly for the Colavita New Mexico team in Stage 5 in Yellow Springs. The road race consisted of four laps of a 12-mile loop with a steep, half-mile climb shortly after the start/finish line. Early in the race, John Freisen and David Rendon represented the team in several moves and kept the pace high on the climb, stringing the peloton into a single-file line. Emiliano Jordan also patrolled the front, and kept sprinter Jaime Gandara out of the wind. As the race progressed, the pack became more aggressive, and the attacks more intense. Both the second and third times up the climb, the pace at the front of the peloton was enough to cause a split. Gandara dug deep to make the move both times, but the ensuing flat terrain and lack of cooperation brought the race back together.

Jaime Gandara

Josh Liberles was vigilant in the second half of the race, and worked tirelessly to create or bridge to breakaway attempts. His efforts allowed his teammates to sit in the pack while the other teams were forced to chase. Gandara and Liberles hovered in 6th and 7th place as the race neared its finale. The Abercrombie and Fitch team, owners of the yellow jersey (Mark Hekman) and winners of three of the first four stages, had their train assembled at the front to lead Hekman out in the sprint. With about one mile to go, Liberles moved up with Gandara in tow. At 800 meters, Liberles jumped and overtook the A&F train. Hekman abandoned his leadout and moved to Liberles’ wheel, with Gandara sitting in 3rd. At 200 meters, the sprint for the line began, with Gandara accelerating away from his pursuers to take a decisive, well-deserved win. The peloton covered the course in about one hour 35 minutes—translating to almost 29mph! (a more accurate figure than the pace cited the low figure cited by the race promoters) -- making Team Colavita’s performance all the more impressive.

The Colavita/Sutter Home Cycling Team of Ohio was also represented at the Tour of Ohio.  The team helped promote the first stage of the race, served as gracious hosts for the visiting clubs, and flew the Colavita colors at every opportunity.  Read Cycling News’ coverage of the Tour of Ohio here

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, Dennis Johnson, Rick Casteneda and Greg Kyzer of the Colavita/Sutter Home Cycling Team of South Carolina traveled from their home base in Spartanburg to Greenwood for the annual 62.5-mile Greenwood County Bee Buzzin’ Bicycle Tour.  The team’s journey and the race were covered in detail in the local Greenwood newspaper. Read more here