Augusta, Georgia USA – Samantha Schneider of Dr. Vie’s Team TIBCO USA picked up her third consecutive U23 USA National Championship, this time taking the Road title after winning the Criterium title the past two years.
Schneider was the first U23 rider to cross the line in the combined Elite/U23 field in the road race in Augusta, Georgia today. She finished 10th overall in the race, while teammate Meredith Miller, the 2009 elite road champion, finished 5th.
“I’m really happy,” Schneider said. “It was a fun race. The team rode really well, so it’s nice to come away with a jersey, though it is a bit bittersweet. I was hoping for the crit jersey again. Things would have played out differently had circumstances with the crit been different. I went for it today and just tried to forget about what happened on Friday. It was a hard race today, and I proud to have won the title on this course.”
“Sam winning U23 today was good consolation for her,” Miller added. “I know she was incredibly let down by not winning the criterium. She should be really proud of herself. There were tough conditions today, and it’s a really hard course. For her to take the U23 jersey on a course like this is really fantastic. She’s been riding so strong lately, and I think this shows that.”
Dr. Vie’s Team TIBCO put itself in god position early, when Jennifer Wheeler covered and early move by Alison Starnes (Peanut Butter & Co.) along with Kasey Clark (Primal).
“Our plan was that Wheeler would go at some point on the first lap anyways, so this was pretty perfect for us,” Miller said.
On lap three, Starnes went solo and when Wheeler and Clark were back within a minute of the peloton, “we started launching,” said Team Directeur Sportif/Manager Lisa Hunt.
“We weren’t the only ones attacking,” Miller said. “HTC was being pretty aggressive at this point, too. But it was clear that everything was going to be chased down.”
Starnes was caught coming into the final lap and the activity picked up even more in the bunch. “From that point on it was attack, counter-attack, attack,” Miller said. We wanted to make the race hard, so we were throwing bombs. We wanted people to chase us not the other way around.”
With seven miles to go, a group of five got away that included Miller. “I wasn’t feeling that great so I skipped a few pulls in the beginning but then I started to contribute, and we all started to work well together,” Miller said.
“The last kilometer came up pretty quick,” Miller said. “By the time we hit the last climb, I was feeling a little bit better. I decided that I should attack first, and when I was thinking where I should go, Andrea Dvorak (Colavita) went. Robin Farina (Now Cycling) and Amanda Miller (HRTC) got on her wheel, and I couldn’t close the gap.”
Farina ended up taking the win, with Dvorak and Amanda Miller rounding out the podium.
Just 0:20 later, the chase group with Schneider, Carmen Small and Megan Guarnier came to the line.
“The finish was hard,” Schneider said. “The break (with Meredith) had 20 or 25 seconds on us, and Kristin Armstrong (Peanut Butter & Co.) was trying to bring us back up. I was on (Amber) Neben (HTC) the last lap or so. She was content with the break because Amanda was up front, but she stayed up front to stay safe. It was a fast sprint, and I didn’t have too much of a sprint after the climb. We rolled in together. I stayed near Megan and Carmen. Theresa (Cliff-Ryan, Colavita) came flying by in the sprint, and I stuck by Carmen to roll in just behind her. We were sprinting but not top-speed.
“I didn’t know I had the jersey,” Schneider continued. “I only knew that Amanda and Meredith were in the break. I didn’t know who else was up there. As I crossed the line, I heard it, and Carmen was like ‘You got it! You got it!’ And I had to tell her not to get too excited until we heard the official results. Once we did, it was pretty exciting.”
Small finished 8th, while Guarnier hung in for 11th.
Dr. Vie’s Team TIBCO Juniors bring home four gold medals
The future is looking good for Dr. Vie’s Team TIBCO. Juniors Skylar Schneider and Alexis Ryan each brought home a pair of gold medals – Schneider taking the road race and criterium titles in the 13-14 age group with the help of teammate Aliya Traficante, while Ryan took the same titles in the 17-18 group. Tara McCormick of Dr. Vie’s Team TIBCO took 2nd in the 15-16 criterium. Ryan also took 5th in the time trial, while Traficante took 6th in her age group in the time trial.
“I stressed to all of them the importance of working together,” said Junior Team Director Felicia Gomez. “I think that paid off for Skylar and Page. Aliya supported Skylar well in the crit, keeping the pace high and making sure Skylar was near the front. Skylar has a bit more experience in position and she took a really good line in the sprint. Page did a great job of covering moves and then giving Tara a good lead-out for the sprint.”
Ryan was working on her own, and won both her races in sprints from small breaks. “Alexis didn’t have any teammates but she just rode really strong races in both the road race and the crit,” Gomez said. I think she could come back and win all three disciplines. I definitely think she has that ability.
“The support the juniors are getting is awesome, and I think that shows in the results,” Gomez said. “The connection to the pro team is awesome. These girls really, really look up to the pros. A lot of them aspire to be like them. Having that mentorship was key.
For Sklyar, that connection is as close as her older sister Sam, which seems to be working well so far. “I was just trying to keep up with my little sister,” Sam said. “She got two titles this trip, and I only got one.”
With the rest of the Team’s riders contesting national championships, Dr. Vie’s Team TIBCO two
Aussies, Emma Mackie and Carlee Taylor, as well as Kiwi Joanne Kiesanowski, went up to Glencoe, Illinois for that city’s Grand Prix Saturday.
“It was great to take a win today for the team – and myself!” said Mackie, who normally takes the domestique role, but took great advantage of her opportunity. “We had a plan for the race, and we pretty much stuck to it. On the last lap, I had Jo’s wheel, and I was in the sweeping role. Jo took the last corner first, and I was stuck to her wheel with Emily Collins (Vanderkitten) on mine. I went to the right and started to sprint when I felt Emily kick down the left. It worked out perfectly coming off Jo.”
It worked out well for Kiesanowski, too, as she held on to take 3rd after also securing the Queen of the Mountains title for the day.
Three more medals from north of the border
Dr. Vie’s Team TIBCO Canadian riders also found success in their national championships, with all three riders each earning a medal this year.
Tara Whitten got things rolling with a silver medal in the Time Trial on Thursday. Erinne Willock followed that up with a hard-fought 3rd in the road race on Saturday. Joelle Numainville rounded out the results with 2nd in the criterium to 2010 criterium champion Leah Kirchmann. Watch Dr. Vie TV for complete TV coverage of the races live from Burlington and GeorgeTown, Ontario.
“What an amazing event for our girls in their home country, right in Ontario. It was my honour to be present at this amazing event”, says Dr. Vie sponsor of the Canadian girls. “I had a great time in the race car with Linda Jackson, founder of the Team. Yes we were racing at 120 km flying over the hills past the police as we caught up with our riders….Linda can drive like lightning!”
Friday – Sunday was splendid weather, cool and no rain. The Rattle Snake road race was a torturous climb up the winding roads, 8 laps 3 hours of grueling work. At the very last lap Erinne Willock our sweetheart from BC shot ahead of the peloton to win bronze. Sunday was brilliant – an amazing downtown crowd in delightful George Town. Tara Whitten broke away from the group to lightning speed leading the pack. However, as fate my have it the race was stopped due to a medical emergency at the home of one of the George Town residents. A heart attack. The race started again after the ambulance arrived at the home.
Once again Tara Whitten sped on like lightning…..lo and behold once again the race was stopped to let the ambulance out of the closed off roads. So as fate may have it, Tara Whitten’s race clock changed….she decided |I decided to let go and work to have Joelle take the podium. ” Watch Dr. Vie’s interview with Tara after the race. Such an amazing woman with a heart of gold.Joelle Numainville was second. So Dr. Vie saw each of her USA Tibco women win medals at this years 2011 Canadian Cycling Championships.
We congratulate all our USA riders and our Canadian riders who raced hard this weekend in the USA and Canada.
With love always
Dr. Vie, Scientist & Founder
Dr. Vie, Inc.
Montreal, Canada
514-233-8756