2007 French Broad Classic

July 27, 2007 on 2:11 am | In Road Racing |

The 2007 FBCC was a great event as usual. Like every year this event draws large fields in all categories. The talent that comes to town for the weekend easily rivals other prestigious races in the southeast. The field sizes alone speak for themselves!

For the first year (that I can remember) BioWheels team members made an appearance in the GC for the omnium. The total number of team members over the weekend was 7 including: Adam Ray, Chris Emory, Mike Jackson, Andy Pooser, and Zach Bannow for Cat 3., Daniel Crone Cat. 4, and Kyley Cross wm. Cat. 4. For various reasons, only Kyley, Adam, and Chris completed the entire omnium. However, everyone had a fun time doing what they could to help out the 3 GC contenders.

This was Kyley’s first road race. So it was also her first Omnium. I know guys who have been racing for several years that have yet to race 2 days in a row, let alone 3! In the TT she held her own finishing up 15th. Not bad considering the lack of aero equipment. In the road race she stayed in the main group to lead out the sprint taking 11th respectively. I saw her passing bottles in the afternoon for our Cat 3 mens race, Thanks! For sundays crit she got dropped from the lead group, not being used to the speed of crits. But she hung tuff to stay in the race and worked with the group she was in to finish 15th, for an overall omnium finish of 17th. Nice!

BioWheels had only 1 rider in the Cat. 4 races. Daniel Crone road his first TT with only clip on aero bars and an aero helmet to finnish 20th in a huge field. For a natural climber like Dan, this was a very impressive placing. In his road race he decided to put the field to the test and attacked very early in the first lap. Only 1 other rider joined him for there 22 mile break. Unfortunately, they were chased down on the final lap. After wasting all of his matches for the break, he had no answer to the powerfull field being led by none other than Crit winner and local powerhouse, Kevin Liska. Dan finished 57th for the RR. Last minute entry problems prevented Daniel from entering ORAM. So his weekend of racing was over Sat morning.

For the Cat 3 field BioWheels had the most representation of the weekend. The 2 GC contenders Adam, and Chris were on good form coming into the weekend. They, along with Mike were ready to rock out the TT. After almost missing his start time, Mike aborted any attempt at a good time at the turnaround. He had put in a hard effort mid week and just didn’t have the goods to be competitive. Thanks for coming out before your vacation Mike! Adam on the other hand road very fast. So fast that he posted the fastest time of the field. Chris started last and had an impressive ride as well. Unfortunatey there was a mistake with the times and an unresolved protest left him finishing 11th for the TT.

For the RR on Sat. Andy Pooser and myself got into the action. Our plan was to do whatever we could to help Chris and Adam do well. On the first turn of the first lap Andy attacked. A group of about 8 joined him for the first break. They held off the very strong field for almost an entire lap. This also turned out to be the longest break of the day, as we realized that the field was not going to let anything go. Andy’s effort took it’s toll as he popped on lap 4. Thanks Andy. I did what I could as well attacking about 8 times. I also worked on the front to pull back 2 separate breaks. I too popped, on lap 5. My day was over. I was actually dropped as a result of Chris’s first surge on the front. Trying to break up the field with a hard tempo up the climb, he turned on the gas. But the unrelenting field came back together. On the 6th and final lap a break managed to get a gap on the field. After a hairy moment (involving a car on course!!!) Chris and Adam’s sprint was totaly disrupted. This made for a strange leadout and ended up with Adam taking 7th and Chris 12th.

Sunday was do or die for Chris and Adam. Andy and I didn’t have the speed needed to help out, so we watched from the sidelines as the pace got very fast. So fast that early in the race Chris got shot off the back. But he wouldn’t be the last as everyone but 18 finnished the race! The pace was very high in part from work on the front done by the eventual GC winner, and Adam. Adam stayed in the race to finnish 9th. This made him the highest in GC for the team at 4th. Chris lost GC placings and fell to 15th. Still, not bad at all for Chris’s first Cat 3. criterium.