'Could'zu B-2-B?

We awoke to a great chocolate chip banana pancake breakfast courtesy of Joey and hot coffee provided by Jeremy. After finishing breakfast, we loaded the car and made the short drive to the crit course in downtown Fitchburg. Yesterday's weather was the warmest day of the race, with the temperature in the high 80s. Once we found a suitable parking space, we proceeded to sign in for the stage then went back to the car to change. Before we head off to warmup we made sure we had everything we needed: gels check, water check, radios check, legs check.

The 28 lap crit started hard with multiple attacks with Oscar doing the majority of covering. He rode off the front in a small break for a few laps as the field tried to bring him back. After Oscar's break came back he worked overtime as he stayed at the front ready to cover the next move. Meanwhile, Thomas was riding it smart in the back of the pack doing as little as he could. Jafer was somewhere between Oscar and Thomas, as he moved up and back to help Oscar out.

With about 7 laps to go a dangerous break of 4 riders went up the road and gained about 8 seconds on the field. With nobody else willing to chase Oscar went straight to the front and buried himself for the next few laps to pull it back as Jafer dropped back to start brining Thomas up. At three laps to go the race came back together with the Kudzu boys setting the pace on the front. Oscar, Jafer, and Thomas were in the top 5 ready to setup Thomas for the win. With two laps to go Jafer did everything he could to protect Thomas as the peloton tried swarming. On the final lap Jafer took over the lead with Thomas fighting for his wheel. Over the radio Jeremy's voice crackled, "Thomas it's your wheel! You own it, so take it". After a short battle for Jafer's wheel Thomas successfully nudged the other rider out, as Jafer kept the pace steady at nearly 35 mph for the entire last lap. With the field strung out single file Thomas didn't hesitate to yell at Jafer to keep the pace high, "GO,GO,GO, DON'T STOP, !&@#ing GO!". A few riders tried to pass before the 2nd to last turn but Jafer swung wide and dug a little deeper taking the corner at breakneck speed. After hitting a ripple in the pavement, he went from the very inside of the turn to nearly hitting the hay bales on the opposite side, sliding the entire way. Luckily, Thomas didn't go down and was first wheel out of the last turn with 400 meters to the line. As Jafer drifted back he yelled over the radio, " GO, GO, GO, you got this, GOOOO!". A few seconds later he heard the race announcer confirm his suspicion, Thomas Brown of Decatur, GA riding for "Could-zu" (apparently they pronounce 'Kud' as could) had won back to back stages in the Fitchburg Longsjo Stage Race. Everybody was excited as the team executed perfect teamwork to dominate the two sprint finishes. Look for us next week at Superweek, as we try to do the same!

We want to thank our host Brant Hornberger for his hospitality, his friends for providing us an awesome dinner, and T.J. Winalski and his wonderful family for support, food, and the awesome pictures below. For the full gallery go to:

Fitchburg Crit