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Dan and
Jackson celebrate the 1-2 finish |
(July 2, 2006) - After placing second in last Saturday's
Rochester Twilight Criterium, Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada's Dan
Schmatz sprinted to the top of the podium ahead of teammate Jackson
Stewart in today's final stage of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, a technical
50-mile criterium in downtown Fitchburg.
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On the podium |
"Pete [Lopinto] did a great
job of keeping me near the front starting at 10 to go, and then we had the
whole team up there for the last four laps.
"On the last lap, Jackson hit out really hard on the backstretch and we
made it through the last two corners ahead of a crash and held it and all
the way to the line. The team did an awesome job," Schmatz related.
The 1-2 finish was a measure of redemption for the Kodakgallery.com/Sierra
Nevada, for it was in this stage last year that Jonathan Page's (Colavita-Sutter
Home) win bumped Dominique
Perras from first to second overall in the four-day stage race.
Stewart, who rode to an impressive 8th place atop Mt. Wachusett in yesterday's
road race, and Scott Zwizanski
were the team's top overall finishers in 7th and 15th overall, respectively.
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Dominique
Perras |
CANADIAN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Meanwhile, Kodakgallery.com/Sierra's two
Canadian riders - Perras and Martin
Gilbert - were competing at their national championships in Quebec,
hoping for a repeat of Perras' 2003 national road race championship.
After Gilbert went off in an early breakaway with Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics)
in Saturday's 110-mile road race, Perras found himself in a lead group just
six laps into the 14-lap race that would eventually prove to be the winning
move, even though their gap back to the main field never really grew past
two minutes.
As the leaders covered the final four laps, Perras' sharp attacks on the
course's main climb of Cote Gilmour cut the group to six, and then three:
Perras, Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) and eventual winner Dominique Rollin (Equipe
du Quebec).
"I was feeling really good and I attacked again on the next-to-last lap
on the climb, but I cramped really badly - maybe it was the lack of racing.
I stayed within five to ten seconds of Rollin and Tuft for the whole last
lap, but I couldn't make it," said Perras, who was forced to sit out last
month's Commerce Bank Triple Crown and Nature Valley Grand Prix due to illness.
Gilbert finished fourth in today's criterium, as Symmetrics swept the top
three spots.
TEAM NOTES
- Scott Zwizanski placed third in Tuesday's
Seacost Criterium in Exeter, New Hampshire.
- Making progress in his recovery from a minor knee strain that kept him
out of action for most of June, Ben
Jacques-Maynes has returned to local racing in Northern California and
is planning to rejoin his teammates on the national circuit later this month
at Superweek in Wisconsin.
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