Bensenville Double

On Tuesday and Wednesday we raced in Bensenville, IL on a rather peculiar course that saw the field shred on both accounts. Thomas decided to take the day off for the first race and Oscar took the day off for the second day in Bensenville. The slightest gap on this course could spell disaster, as the pace stayed high on the long straights and especially out of the turns.
On day one, an 8 man break tore off the front early in the race eventually lapping the field. Oscar and Joey sensed that another break was inevitable as they both stayed near the front, ready to pounce if given the chance. After Joey made a few attempts to escape, Oscar countered bridging up the road solo to small group of four riders. Their gap steadily grew over the peloton as the earlier break caught and lapped the field causing the pace to back off as they now desperately tried to lap the peloton as well.
Meanwhile, Joey rode smart and stayed out of trouble in the field saving energy for the next day. Another break of about 7 riders eventually broke out of the peloton, in hot pursuit of Oscar's group catching them with less than 10 laps to go. Oscar rode a great race eventually finishing in 19th, on a very fast sprint to the line that saw Rock Racing's Rahsaan Bahati take the win but loose the sprint jersey to Jittery Joes.

The second day was even faster as Rock Racing received reinforcements with a plan to dominate the field and take back the sprint jersey from Jittery Joes. It started off hard but got even faster as the peloton stretched single file, snaking across the course. Gaps began opening everywhere as riders pulled out of the race unable to hold the pace any further. When a rider in front of you pulls off at 30 mph it makes it very difficult to close the gap, thus it usually means you are in a spot of bother. You chase for laps at a time and by the time you regain contact you watch as the gap reopens because another rider pulled out! This happened to both Thomas and Jafer within the first hour of the race as countless riders withdrew from the race. The race was drastically reduced with more than a third of the field on the side of the road less than an hour in and even less riders remained in the finish.

Once again Joey rode at the front conserving energy and staying attentive for any breaks. Amazingly, one Columbian national team rider on his way to the Beijing Olympics soloed off the front of the race and was slowly reeled in by the field. One of his teammates was patiently waiting in the pack for the catch as he shot out of the field with about 25 laps to go holding it to the line! He almost lapped the field solo winning by about 40 seconds (more than half a lap). Joey was swarmed on the last lap as the sprinters started setting up for second place and held strong with a 28th place.