Powers Wins 2014 Cedar City Grand Prix – Report, Results, Photos

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By Mary Topping

 

August 4, 2014 – Cedar City, a Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah host locale, put on its first USA Cycling sanctioned elite women’s race, the Zappos.com Cedar City Grand Prix, and the world watched a fine selection of top women cyclists fight for the win over sixty minutes of heated racing in southern Utah.

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Zappos.com Cedar City Grand Prix 9

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SLC local, Laura Howat guest rode for SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects. Photo by Cottonsoxphotography.com

Triple national champion Alison Powers (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team), long-time icons of the sport Tina Pic (DNA Cycling p/b K4) and Laura Van Gilder (Guru), and other national standouts lined up on Main Street alongside Utah’s best elite riders. Utah favorites included Tiffany Pezzulo, Laura Howat, Mindy McCutcheon, Kaytie Scott, Anne Perry, Tina Pic, Breanne Nalder, Jennifer Vollmer, Amber Brown, and Rachel Cieslewicz.

 

A new women’s event means so much to all of the athletes, but this one held special value for the local ladies who usually have to travel a good distance to compete with the country’s best. Ogden’s Jennifer Vollmer (Livewell p/b Bountiful Bicycles), for example, normally wouldn’t race with a broken wrist. But she did today, even though she probably knew she would have to pull out before the finish.

 

“I did it because it’s the Tour of Utah, and it’s the inaugural (Cedar City Grand Prix) and I don’t know if I’ll ever get this chance again,” Vollmer said. “It’s pretty spectacular to be a part of it. So I had to get in and do it.

 

“It’s awfully exciting for women to have the chance to race at this level. A lot of us work full-time jobs, have kids, have to manage everything and to be able to come down and throw down and race hard with amazing people like Alison Powers and Coryn Rivera, it’s incredibly exciting.” Vollmer, mother of three, currently works as a newspaper editor for an Air Force base in Arizona. She had to pull out after 25 minutes.

 

Vollmer’s teammate Kaytie Scott, is a respiratory therapist. She’s also from Ogden and made a move to get away early on in the race. So did Vanderkitten’s Amy Charity. Colavita-Fine Cooking, Jet Cycling, Guru, Pepper Palace, and other teams tried to send riders up the road, but the pack kept a tight rein on every breakaway attempt. Each rider who tried to slip away was quickly reabsorbed.

 

With about five turns around the circuit remaining Pepper Palace set a tough pace at the front, lining out the field to work for their sprinter, Sarah Fader. Teammate Meredith Miller later described a hectic last few laps. “In the last two to three to go things started to get shuffled around and people started swarming. So then I found myself on the front coming in one to go and I was just drilling it as hard as I could up this finishing stretch just to keep it fast and lined out…It was tough because of the wind. It was a little harder to follow wheels than you would expect.”

 

UnitedHealthcare had arrived with their young sprint superstar Coryn Rivera who just earned the best young rider distinction at La Course by Le Tour de France with her sixth place result. The team had planned to make the day hers and found their way around to the front. But Rivera had disappeared and would finish minutes behind the winner, her teammate Powers.

 

“Going into one to go, someone ran into my rear wheel and took out three spokes,” Rivera said. “I was hoping to just ride it through the finish, but it just wouldn’t spin through my frame so that was the end of my race…Bad luck happens and it’s unfortunate, but luckily we have a strong team and we were able to pull off the win.”

 

Powers was positioned as the last rider for Rivera’s lead out. “Scotti [Wilborne] at just under one to go went full gas. Usually with Coryn you don’t ever have to look back and wonder if she’s on the wheel because you just trust that she’s there,” Powers said post-race. “We didn’t look back and then I took my turn for the lead out. I looked between my legs – you can see if there’s a wheel, and there wasn’t a wheel on my wheel.”

 

At that point Powers knew it was her game to win or lose.

 

“I wanted to win this race so badly, for the team. I don’t care who wins as long as it’s us. It was like, we can’t get beat. So this is it you have to go, you have to go. At one point I looked up and the finish line seemed forever away so I just stopped looking at it and just kept going until I crossed it with my wheel.”

 

Pic and Team TIBCO / To the Top’s Samantha Schneider had launched their sprints into the uphill finish and headwind as well, and at the line the three women finished within inches of each other, with Schneider second and Pic third.

 

The Cedar City Grand Prix also awarded sprint competition and most aggressive team prizes. Colavita-Fine Cooking’s Olivia Dillon won the sprint award. UnitedHealthcare came away with the team classification.

 

Cedar City’s race is one of two new women’s races this week. The Tour of Utah is launching a women’s edition on August 6 at the Miller Motorsports Park.

 

“Races are stepping up. People are stepping up,” Powers said about the new events. “We wouldn’t have this race if it weren’t for Nicki [Wangsgard], and we wouldn’t have Wednesday’s race if it weren’t for Larry H. Miller and their organization putting on for the women. It’s awesome.”

 

Wangsgard called Powers months ago to ask what it would take to have the UnitedHealthcare team in the Cedar City race. Powers assured her they’d be there.

 

The Cedar City race organization ensured local riders would have a chance to ride too. It formed a composite team, Canyon Bicycles. While some on the composite team sat out the final laps, likely they’d agree with Odgen’s Scott who said, “It was an amazing experience. It feels like a good step in the right direction for women’s cycling.”

 

Utah riders fared well with Tina Pic in third, Tiffany Pezzulo in 7th, Mindy McCutcheon in 18th, Laura Howat in 25th, Kaytie Scott in 28th, and Anne Perry in 31st.

 

Results (Scroll down for complete results):

2014 Zappos.com Cedar City Grand Prix RESULTS PDF

 1 Stage
 Zappos.com Cedar City Grand Prix
 Organiser:
 Stage: August 4, 2014
 Arrival classification: Zappos.com Cedar City Grand Prix
 Category: Pro Women
 Average speed of winner: 34.948 km/h
 Distance: 37,2km
 Time of winner: 1.03’52”
 Commencement: 12:00 PM
Position License Rider Team Time Gap
1 1 98704 POWERS Alison UnitedHealthcare 1:03:52 0:00:00
2 11 170980 SCHNEIDER Samantha Team TIBCO/ To the Top 1:03:52 0:00:00
3 47 41951 PIC Tina DNA Cycling p/b K4 1:03:52 0:00:00
4 24 199998 FADER Sarah Pepper Palace Pro Cycling 1:03:54 0:00:02
5 54 232172 DILLON Olivia Colavita-Fine Cooking 1:03:54
6 31 36345 VAN GILDER Laura Guru 1:03:56 0:00:04
7 8 89443 PEZZULO Tiffany Vanderkitten 1:03:56
8 15 300089 SCHNEIDER Skylar Team TIBCO/ To the Top 1:04:00 0:00:08
9 68 355078 HEINTZ Mandy Guru 1:04:03 0:00:11
10 65 260140 JOHNSON Kimberley Naked Women’s Racing 1:04:03
11 51 205968 FARINA Robin DNA Cycling p/b K4 1:04:03
12 9 363583 CHARITY Amy Vanderkitten 1:04:03
13 30 397657 JORGENSEN Laura Pepper Palace Pro Cycling 1:04:03
14 7 316598 KUHAJEK Jeannie Vanderkitten 1:04:03
15 41 250449 TANNER Amelia JET Cycling 1:04:03
16 60 276590 LOUGH Sarah Cloud Racing p/b Ride2Recovery 1:04:03
17 3 301155 WILBORNE E Scotti UnitedHealthcare 1:04:03
18 69 254509 MCCUTCHEON Melinda Canyon Bicycles – Shimano 1:04:03
19 35 221135 INGLIS Gwen LiVe Well p/b Bountiful Bicycle 1:04:03
20 13 366011 DOEBEL-HICKOK Krista Team TIBCO/ To the Top 1:04:03
21 14 278365 HEADLEY Sara Team TIBCO/ To the Top 1:04:06 0:00:14
22 25 217750 GOKEY-SMITH Christina Pepper Palace Pro Cycling 1:04:06
23 66 367685 MERTZ Nicole Canyon Bicycles – Shimano 1:04:09 0:00:17
24 38 121552 EMMERMAN Julie LiVe Well p/b Bountiful Bicycle 1:04:09
25 21 147582 HOWAT Laura SKINourishment 1:04:09
26 28 337516 PHILLIPS Amy Pepper Palace Pro Cycling 1:04:11 0:00:19
27 22 293037 FOX Lindsay SKINourishment 1:04:11
28 36 311329 SCOTT Kaytie LiVe Well p/b Bountiful Bicycle 1:04:11
29 20 247526 FRYE Alison SKINourishment 1:04:11
30 12 433119 SCHWAGER Patricia Team TIBCO/ To the Top 1:04:11
31 49 339882 PERRY Anne DNA Cycling p/b K4 1:04:11
32 55 252835 SCHULTZ Whitney Colavita-Fine Cooking 1:04:29 0:00:37
33 53 353750 CHRISTIANSEN Anna Colavita-Fine Cooking 1:04:29
34 56 267768 BAYER Lindsay Colavita-Fine Cooking 1:04:29
35 4 328844 HALL Katharine UnitedHealthcare 1:04:31 0:00:39
36 27 143575 MILLER Meredith Pepper Palace Pro Cycling 1:04:33 0:00:41
37 26 238481 KULIECZA Julie Pepper Palace Pro Cycling 1:04:33
38 2 207432 RIVERA Coryn UnitedHealthcare 1:04:33
39 58 392698 OSSOLA Irena Cloud Racing p/b Ride2Recovery 1:04:33
 Riders dropping out
6 347150 CHILCOTT Kate Vanderkitten
17 291028 ROBERTSON Page Team TIBCO/ To the Top
19 219262 CARR Kathryne SKINourishment
33 338506 BROWN Amber LiVe Well p/b Bountiful Bicycle
34 168989 CIESLEWICZ Rachel LiVe Well p/b Bountiful Bicycle
37 424863 VOLLMER Jennifer LiVe Well p/b Bountiful Bicycle
40 262452 CRAWFORD Ivie JET Cycling
43 381993 RIVERA Solymar JET Cycling
44 221486 CALDERON Priscilla JET Cycling
48 263791 NALDER Breanne DNA Cycling p/b K4
50 202477 WITHROW Kelsey DNA Cycling p/b K4
62 69008 ALBERT Heather Canyon Bicycles – Shimano
64 367844 JOHNSON Vanessa Canyon Bicycles – Shimano
67 237346 NIELSON Heather Herriott Sports Performance
 The following competitors were signed out from the race:
License Rider Team Reason
16 288678 STEPHENS Lauren Team TIBCO/ To the Top Not signed in
42 251058 VREDENBURG Amber JET Cycling Not signed in
63 401076 SAYLE Clarice Threshold Sports Not signed in
70 267467 KEELY Christy Canyon Bicycles – Shimano Not signed in
 Number of not started: 4
 Number of starters: 53
 Number remaining: 39
 Riders after time limit: —
 Riders dropping out: 6, 17, 19, 33, 34, 37, 40, 43, 44, 48, 50, 62, 64, 67 (=14)
 Last calculated: 4-08, 13.16 (Mountain Daylight Time)
 Classification software: StageRace 2005 software  —  www.stagerace.com
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