June 13, 2011

Big shakeup in men's standings; women's status quo

Men

The National Racing Calendar (NRC) men's standings have been shaken up after a two-event weekend.

UnitedHealthcare had an impressive showing at the Air Force Cycling Classic last weekend. (Photo by Casey B. Gibson, www.cbgphoto.com)

In the men's NRC standings, Francisco Mancebo (ESP/Realcyclist.com) still holds the top spot, but Jacobe Keough (Sandwich, Mass./United Healthcare Professional Cycling) trimmed 86 points off Mancebo's advantage. Keough's teammate, Hilton Clarke (AUS/UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling), moved from 10th to third. Jonathan Cantwell (AUS/Fly V Australia) moved up one spot from fifth into fourth and Alejandro Borrajo (ARG/Jamis-Sutter Home) jumped from 23rd to fifth.

In the men's NRC team standings, UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling jumped from third to the top spot, overcoming a 359-point deficit coming into the weekend. Last week's leader, Bissell, slipped to second place, 176 points ahead of RealCyclist.com. PureBlack Racing held on to the fourth spot, 19 points ahead of Jamis-Sutter Home, new to the fifth position.

The men had two events this weekend as competitors raced at the Tulsa Tough in Oklahoma as well as in the Air Force Cycling Classic in Arlington, Va. In Tulsa, riders contested in three 60-minute criterium races. The Air Force Cycling Classic featured sprinters contesting two different criterium courses. The first course was 100 laps of a one-kilometer, figure eight. The second criterium was timed at 90 minutes around a two-kilometer course.

Alejandro Borrajo topped the podium after the three criteriums at Tulsa Tough. (Photo by Philip Wilkerson, Wilkerson Photography, www.pwilkersonphoto.com)

In the Tulsa Tough results, Borrajo (ARG/Jamis Sutter Home) won the omnium ahead of Kenneth Hanson (Santa Barbara, Calif./Jelly Belly p/b KENDA) and Cantwell (AUS/Fly V Australia). USA Cycling Development Program rider, Lawson Craddock (Austin, Texas/Trek Livestrong U23 Development) placed fourth overall.

Borrajo placed in the top three in each of the three criterium races to earn the event's top spot. Hanson won Saturday's criterium to go with placing third on Sunday after finishing fifth on Friday. Cantwell won the event's opening criterium on Friday and placed fourth in each of the remaining two criteriums. Craddock placed seventh, fifth and eighth in the three races.

In Arlington, Va., at the Air Force Cycling Classic, Clark paired a win with a second-place finish to earn the omnium in the final results. Robert Forster (GER/UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling) placed second in the omnium after finishing fourth and third in the two criterium races. Carlos Alzate (COL/Team Exergy) placed third overall, ahead of Keough and Karl Menzies (AUS/UnitedHealthcare Professional Cycling).

Women

The changes are not as dramatic in the women's NRC standings as in the men's standings. Janel Holcomb (San Diego, Calif./Colavita-Forno d'Asolo) maintains a 109-point lead over Laura van Gilder (Cresco, Pa./Mellow Mushroom). Joelle Numainville (CAN/Team TIBCO-To the Top) moved into a tie for third place with Clara Hughes (CAN/Pactimo Cycling). Amber Neben (Lake Forest, Calif./HTC-Highroad Women) slipped a spot to fifth.

The women's field completes one lap and starts another at the Air Force Cycling Classic. (Photo by Casey B. Gibson, www.cbgphoto.com)

The top five teams remained in the same positions in the women's NRC team standings. Colavita-Forno d'Asolo added to its lead, opening a 738-point lead over Team TIBCO-To the Top. HTC-Highroad Women remains in third place, 720 points behind Team TIBCO-To the Top. Primal-MapMyRider Women's Racing remained in fourth place, 109 points behind HTC-Highroad. Diadora Pasta Zara rounds out the top five, 56 points out of fourth place.

Leah Kirchmann (CAN/Colavita-Forno d'Asolo) was the runner up in Saturday's criterium before winning Sunday's criterium to earn the omnium. Numainville paired a win with a second-place finish to place second overall. Joanne Kiesanowski (NZL/Team TIBCO-To the Top), who finished fourth and fifth in the two criteriums, placed third overall.

The women contested the same courses as the men, but rode 50 laps of the one-kilometer, figure eight and 60 minutes of the two-kilometer criterium.

For a photo gallery of the sights at the Air Force Cycling Classic, click here.

NRC standings

COMING UP:

The next event on USA Cycling's NRC Calendar is the Nature Valley Grand Prix from June 15-19, in the Twin Cities in Minnesota.

Inaugural National Time Trial Calendar underway

LeRoy Popowski (Colorado Springs, Colo./Team juwi solar-First Solar) and Kristin McGrath (Durango, Colo./Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY 12) lead the open categories of the inaugural men and women's USA Cycling National Time Trial Calendar. The calendar continues with the Juniors/U23/Elite Road National Championships Time Trial in Augusta, Ga., on June 23.

Check out the complete standings of the National Time Trial Calendar.

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