Tour de Louisiane
P/1/2/3 Stage Race
Covington, LA
6/23/2007, 6/24/1007

"Racing the Dirty South"
Wylie James

Overall GCCA has some very strong riders who showed up to give every effort possible to give the team the best shot of an overall GC victory over the weekend. After the TT it looked like a long shot as they had 28 seconds to make up over two fast stages that in the past years have stayed together for sprint finishes. However, by the end of the race they reclaimed 41 seconds over two stages. It fell just one second short as the GC leader gained 7 seconds in a hot spot during the road race and 7 seconds by placing 2nd in the criterium. The team raced extremely strong and should be proud of the talent they showed in Louisiana, claiming two of three stage victories. Here's a summary of how the race developed:

Like was said, the gap was daunting leading into the road race. The highest placed TT was 14th but everyone was in the top 20 or so. The main goal seemed to be to get at least one GCCA rider in the winning break. At the gun LaSport had four riders at the front and sent one rider off to go hunting for a solo single lap effort to gain the hot spot. Immediately GCCA sent a rider to follow the hunt for the hot spot. The duo stayed away for a few miles and after rejoining the group there was a counter attack, and this time it was LaSport and a Memphis rider together to challenge for the hotspot. GCCA saw this and sent a rider to bridge the gap. After joining the two riders it was a disappointment as the memphis rider would not pull through or contribute to the effort so it was like a two man break. After about 10 or so miles of a 15 mile lap the group was back together and GCCA was preparing to challenge for the sprint for the hot spot. Unfortunately being unfamiliar with the course the first time around proved detrimental as they miss timed the leadout sprint by about 200 meters.

All back together and through the feed LaSport sends off another rider solo for what was really THE suicide move of the day. He stayed away for two laps and after the third lap, with two to go, the rider still had a 3 minute gap. GCCA went to the front, LaFico, Bagley, Dionne, and Randolf all contributed. They worked with a few other riders, bringing the solo rider back before the 4th lap was finished. Immediately, with a little more than a lap to go, there was a counter by the overall 1st place GC rider and it was quickly neutralized by two GCCA riders. The three did not work together as they knew they needed to seperate themselves from the 1st overall GC rider. With about ten miles to go GCCA again had a presence at the front, closing gaps and working together to put a rider in any dangerous moves. One GCCA rider was again off with the 1st place overall but again refused to work but simply neutralized his efforts. Finally with about 7 miles to go GCCA neutralized the front as they sent one rider to join a break of two. The three were soon joined by another and finally one more rider lept across the gap to make five strong. LaSport, Memphis, GCCA, ProBike, and Raising Cane's. This looked like it had promise, and the peleton knew this and came within a few seconds of rejoining (All of LaSports riders were dropped at this point from their breakaway efforts and the 1st place GC overall did not have anyone to bring back the break for him). Raising, Memphis, and ProBike were working hard to try to ake it stick, with GCCA contributing. As the group of five made the last corner it looked like it would survive and LaSport tried to stop pulling through, GCCA forced him to keep contact and pull through. With 200 to go it was down to GCCA, LaSport, and Memphis. LaSport made the move on the inside, GCCA followed Memphis for a brief second but then went by him and sprinted past the LaSport rider for the win. The five riders gained 21 seconds over the peleton.

Going into the crit GCCA was down by four seconds overall. The goal was to get one GCCA rider the hot spot and one GCCA rider the victory. There was a two man break with a lap before the hot spot so GCCA was content to let it
go and leave it up to the finale. With about 28 minutes to go GCCA was discussing tactics for the finishing sprint, saying that if GCCA could get to the last corner in the lead as if it were the finish line, they would take the inside corner and the follow rider would come around the lead rider to the finish line for the victory. Amazingly enough, while they were discussing this a five man break with the leading GC rider, another LaSport rider, the number 3 GC rider, and two others got a small gap. This gap increased to about 16 seconds over the next few laps. Bagley went to the front to try and bridge the gap but LaFico called him off and said let us do the work. Dionne, making powerful pulls that nearly split the peloton up, LaFico who was putting it all out there but had enough for the last lead out, and Eric, all contributed with a few others, including San Jose rider, Kevin Schaefer. Bagley stayed about two to three riders back, always either following LaFico's wheel or Dionne's. The gap started to come down to around 14 seconds with four laps to go, and on the final lap Dionne put in one more monster pull and the gap was within earshot, just a few seconds, and LaFico said "I got it" and closed the deal with less than a half a lap to the finish. Bagley yelled, "I'm here" to LaFico. LaFico sprinted past the break at over 30 mph on the outside with 200 meters go to the last corner, took Bagley in the lead around the corner with 400 meters to go to the finish. Bagley came around him on the inside and sprinted for the line. With about 200 meters to go he let off slighlty but LaFico yelled "Go!!!" and Bagley put his head down to take the win by two bike lengths.

The GC leader left the break and came around LaFico for second, but GCCA took home two victories and plenty of confidence. His bonus points for second gave him the overall by one second. GCCA raced hard and strong and should be proud of the way hey raced as a team. I for one am glad to race on a team that does so well at racing together and knows how to race as a team much better than any of the other teams we raced against this weekend. Thanks for the weekend guys, and some of the other details we'll leave in the dirty south, such as alcohol comsumption, almost missing races, forgetting race numbers, and such...