Dietrich Fifth at Univest Grand Prix, Sept 20

Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks sent a six-man squad to Souderton, PA to compete in this invitational event. Sparta Cycling does a fantastic job promoting this event with strong community involvement and plenty of media coverage. The race will be seen in a one hour show on the Outdoor Life Network, and had live local radio coverage with tape-delayed local television coverage. The Univest Grand Prix is one of six UCI races on the US calendar, and included invited teams from France, Belgium, Holland, and Canada. The first 60 of the 100 miles was covered at high speeds, with Curt Davis covering the front for Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks.

Once the field hit the finishing circuits in downtown Souderton, Hamblen was able to bridge across to the fifteen rider front group which contained Davis. Not content to have just two men in the move of the day, Mike Dietrich and Chris Peck spent the next few laps tagged onto the back of a 12 man chase group that got to within 50 seconds of the front group. Dietrich was then able to ride across this gap to the front of the race along with Cameron Hughes (Lemond) and former Wheelworks rider Matt Svatek (Sportsbook.com). Hamblen and Dietrich alternated attacks in the final laps but could not contain the on-form Ted Huang (Webcor) who took the solo win. Dietrich sprinted well in the next group back to take 5th place with Hamblen in 15th.