June 18, 2004 - Elite Nationals RR

Hamblen and Dietrich Take 4th and 6th at Elite Nationals, June 16th

The Fiordifrutta squad sent an optimistic seven-man team to the Elite National Road Race Championships in Redlands, CA. With numerous top-five placings over the last few years, the team’s goal was to put the winner’s stars and stripes jersey on the shoulders of one of its riders. In the first 2 miles of the 90-mile race, Fiordifrutta sent Chris Peck up the road in the early break of five including Evan Elken (Broadmark Capital.), John Osguthorpe (Ogden One), John Hunt (Village Peddler) and Steve Tilford. The gap to the leaders hovered around one minute with Phil Wong doing a fantastic job of covering attacks and discouraging attempts to bridge to the leaders.

With 60 miles to go, Curt Davis got a free ride up to the leading group with Chris Walker (Labor Power). The front group then swelled to fifteen, as Jon Hamblen and Mike Dietrich were able to get on with 40 miles left to race. But the race victory for Fiordifrutta was not to be, as Hamblen made a valiant but unsuccessful effort to catch an attack by Walker, Elken and Bill Innes (GS Lombardi Sports).

The 85 degree heat and over 10,000 feet of climbing had taken their toll, and only 30 riders were able to finish on the same 10 mile lap as the leaders. Hamblen ended up chasing for the final twenty miles with Hunt, and Dietrich marked the next group on the road. Hamblen was able to out sprint Hunt for fourth, and Dietrich escaped from his group on the final climb to take sixth.

You can read full race accounts with pictures on the major race coverage sites including Velonews and cyclingnews.com