Chris Thater Criterium

The Chris Thater Criterium drew a strong field from all over the east coast including riders from DC, New York City, Boston, Canada, Maryland, and Virginia. This was sure to be an exciting and tough battle for Minerva Design Cycling!

The race had 10 primes which broke things up here and there, but for the most part the group stayed together. We tried to attack and get in some breaks, but nothing was sticking. Any small break that formed was immediately shut down by the peloton. Two riders snuck off the front, but were eventually pulled back with some strong work from MDC, led by Drew. Eventually two different riders broke away after a prime, followed by 3 others on the back side of the course. Unfortunately, we thought the peloton would continue it's capture of those off the front, but this was not the case! MDC tried several times to bring the leaders back but just couldn't do it alone. The peloton was unable to work together and the riders stayed away, placing first through fifth. Coming into the final turn, everyone went wild for position before the last bend. Brendan was five riders back into the straightaway to the finish, but was able to take the field sprint for 6th place.

Although we would have liked to place higher, we all took away something positive from the race, and are continuing to gel as a team. We're learning more about how each other rides, which will surely help us in future races.

Warming up for Thater - Another Win

The MD/H2 squad hit the G-Tour tonight with a plan to be aggressive in order to warm up for this weekend's Chris Thater Criterium in Binghamton and the result was yet another win! The race was highlighted by several breaks, including a blistering solo move by Dolan that took the effort of the entire peloton to bring back. In the end, the race looked liked it would be decided in a straight up field sprint, but a small split in the peloton going into the final 1.5K changed things up. Housler, focused and vigilant as always, was on the right end of the split as he powered his way to his third G-Tour win of the year. Incredible feat for a new racer! 

Up next, Thater.

Dolan keeps rollin'

Jeff Dolan stepped out of the road racing box and hit the Timberman 70.3 (half ironman) in New Hampshire this weekend. On a rolling course, Jeff posted the 8th fastest amateur bike split (out of thousands of competitors) with an average speed of 24.2MPH over 56 miles!

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First G-Tour Race - First Place

Following a familar script, Housler went on the solo attack on the Victor course while the field chased for miles. His break was eventually brought back, and despite his efforts out front, he was able to out sprint everyone else to nail down the team's first Tuesday night win. Awesome!

Dolanosaurus brings home the Gold

Congrats to Jeff Dolan, our new U23 NY State Time Trial Champion who crushed the 40K rolling course in a time of 58:39!

Rob Dietrick brought home the Bronze in the 40-44 class and Dwight Roth placed 7th in the 45-49.

Great job guys!

Housler Delivers First Win - Niagara Criterium

The team rolled out for the first time today on the streets of Buffalo -- a nice course right in front of City Hall. We were pretty pumped up to get it going today and the pressure to win was on for sure!

We had a plan to be aggressive throughout the race, and Brendan launched the first blow in the early laps. We didn't really think he'd stick it from that far out and we were ready to counter the chase. But he gained a gap of 20 seconds and realized his move had some serious legs (pun intended!). The squad led by Rob and Drew put in some hard work up front to control the chasing field as well as look for the right bridge by the other teams so we could follow and have more man power up front. But the teams were not that interested in trying to bridge, so we kept the field in check and worked to get Nick set up for the field sprint. Unfortunately, Nick's deraileur broke and he was stuck in the 11 which was too big a gear to hit the line which was only 250m from the corner.

After almost 50 minutes off the front alone, Brendan went on to snag the big win, Nick just missed the podium in 4th and leadout man Drew finished 6th. A great effort by all on the Minerva Design Cycling Team!