Synopsis: 2nd place
I hadn’t planned on making the Tufts Crit only my second race of the season. However, no matter how many races I wish I’d done, I couldn’t have hoped for a much better result. The weather threatened until the very start of the race (we actually had some showers pass through the area around 12:30), but the course was dry, with overcast skies and temperatures in the low 50’s when the race started. There were about 20 starters, four from QuadCycles—myself, Eric Silva, Toby Phillpotts, and newcomer Jeremy Jo, a graduating senior from Tufts.
The race started briskly, as usual; you don’t want to be near the back the first time through turn 2. You can’t be sure who will negotiate it well the first time, and who will take a dive into the wall of hay bales.
Luckily, the group was small, and relatively experienced to boot, so the race was pretty smooth. In fact, I can only recall one crash, involving our own Jeremy Jo, which happened on the long straightaway between turns 6 and 1.
All in all, our team worked well together. We launched multiple attacks, trying to wear down the people we marked as dangerous before the race. Eric attacked about a third of the way through, and one of our marked riders chased him down. Toby and Jeremy took turns riding second wheel, keeping their eye on the group while keeping themselves out of the wind.
During the third quarter of the race, I was feeling a little antsy, so I put in small attacks on several laps, usually so that I could take turns 2-4 by myself, since there were a couple of competitors who weren’t as skilled cornering, and I could maintain a gap without expending as much effort.
With about 10 laps to go, I tried to create a gap with a rider from MIT, who had won the collegiate B race earlier in the day. He clearly had the talents of a time trialist, as he took several strong pulls, but we weren’t able to make a gap stick. This move did split the group, with a lead group of 8 forming for the final 5 laps.
As the bell rang with one lap to go, I was in good position, second wheel. Because I didn’t have much of a problem riding at the front during the first 29 laps, I was confident that I’d be able to pick my position for the final lap. Coming out the final turn, however, I was a little further back then I would liked, in fourth. The eventual race winner, Steven Gauthier, was second wheel, and when the lead rider jumped with about 200m to go, he was on it. I was too far back to ever reach Steven’s wheel, but I maintained the gap through the finish. If I’d been on his wheel, I’d like to think I could have passed him, in spite of his well-known tenacity in the sprint. In retrospect, I should have known his was the wheel to be on if it came down to a sprint, as I raced against him many times at New England Velodrome last summer.
Still, I’m very pleased with second place. My thanks to Eric, Toby, and Jeremy for working for me in the race. The plan from the beginning was to set me up with a lead-out, if possible, and, in any case, to wear down the competition with multiple attacks, and covering any attacks key riders made during the race, which they did admirably.
Results on BikeReg.com
Below is a video of the finish, taken by my brother. You can’t see the final move, but you can see the result.
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