The family and I made our annual drive to Charlotte to see the Bank of America criterium. The women’s and men’s fields were smaller this year, but the racing was good (Not as good as the announcer suggested, though. The amount of hype spewing from him makes me think he should have been sent to the doping control.).
An early break in the women’s race had all the major teams represented, and looked like it might stay away. But everyone who hadn’t been shelled by the high pace came pack together at the end, and Tina Pic won the drag race from the final turn.
In the men’s event three riders, a Navigator, a TIAA-Cref and a Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada, built a minute plus lead. The field then woke up, several Health Net guys went to the front and drilled it, and the gap started dropping. Then, the rain started. And half the field went down in front of us in a pile up.
The break, down to two after the TIAA-Cref guy crashed, held on to a tiny gap, and Shawn Milne of Navigators soloed away to finish 3-4 seconds in front. Nice effort.