Tour of the Sun Valley (7/10-12)

Another successful weekend of racing in Ohio brought the entire team together for the first time this season. Due to injuries and work schedules, the team has not been able to send the entire squad to one race. The Tour of the Sun Valley was 4 stages long for a total of 3 days in the Youngstown area starting on July 10.
Stage 1
The first stage was a mostly flat rectangular course around a wine vineyard that was 5.6 miles in length. The tour didn't start out as we planned with our highest placed rider, Oscar, in 5th place followed by Jafer in 8th(five seconds back)then Joey in 9th (eight seconds behind).

Stage 2
Later in the evening the team prepped for the crit by discussing team strategy and race tactics. It was a very interesting but fun course, with 8 turns in about a mile. The largest team in the race Panther, (had about 8 guys)kept attacking the field, which made it a very active race. Add in the race primes and it was a pretty hard 90 minute race. There were countless breaks but Panther seemed content to chase down their own guys so we took advantage their pulling. Towards the end of the race a break was finally able to establish a sustainable gap and held it to the finish. Joey timed his sprint perfectly taking first followed by Oscar, Thomas, and Anthony (3rd, 5th, and 6th, respectively). Jafer and Mike ensured that Thomas and Anthony stayed protected by setting a fast tempo on the front of the field.

Stage 3
The 66 mile road race started bright and early the following morning. The course was rolling with one sustained climb leading to the KOM. As expected the race started off fast with many attacks mostly from the Panther team. With about 5 miles before the first KOM, Jafer followed an attack, catching him just before the base of the KOM. Jafer played it easy and set a steady pace waiting for a time split from the chasing field. With valuable omnium points at stake for the overall the team wanted to gain as many as possible. Once Jafer saw the Panther team setting tempo on the climb he decided to attack which would set up Joey and Oscar if he was caught before the line. He ended up staying ahead with Oscar nabbing the second place points. After the KOM the field came back together for about 20 minutes until the next flurry attacks started. Jafer was the only Jittery Joe rider to bridge across to the established 7 man break, which gained over a two minute advantage on the field. The break was able to stay away until the end with Jafer grabbing more first place KOM points and the win. Anthony rode away from the field taking 9th followed by Joey then Thomas.

Stage 4
The final stage was another 90 minute downtown crit on a very fast and open course. Going into the fourth stage the team was well placed in the overall with Jafer in yellow, followed by Joey and Oscar all in the top 5. It was another day of nonstop attacks and breaks. Once again Joey and Oscar escaped in the right mix (at literally the same time Jafer's chain broke forcing him into the pits to get the spare bike). After the confusion of the new bike wore off, Jafer realized that the break was coming back easily. After many unsuccessful attempts to bridge Thomas talked some sense into him and told him to take it easy b/c the break wasn't coming back. Anthony, Thomas, and Mike did a great job setting tempo in the closing laps to keep everything together as did Oscar for Joey. Joey ended up winning the stage followed by Oscar in 3rd. After four stages the team had 4 riders in the top 10; Joey in 1st, Jafer in 3rd, Oscar in 5th, Anthony in 10th.

Overall it was a great weekend all around. We found some cool restaurants, enjoyed some great racing, and saw some great scenery. The race was well organized and professionally run, we will want to come back next year.