June 13, 2006 - A Win and a Pair of 2nd's

Josh Dillon writes a great race report from Maine where he spent two days on the podium, and Dan Timmerman and Mike Cody posted a pair of second place results last weekend in Cambridge, NY and Hartford, CT. The team travels to Canada this week to race in the Tour de Beauce, one of the toughest UCI stage races in North America. You can follow their efforts on cyclingnews.com.

Dillon Wins Auburn Road Race and Takes 2nd at Great Falls Criterium, Maine, June 3-4

Dear Team,
Needless to say I was quite jealous of first New England blood being drawn in Hartford over Memorial Day weekend, complete with former teammates and everything, without me there to get a taste of the action. I was proud of you guys, so I trained really hard at bike racing in the week following for the chance to join in the fun at Auburn this past weekend.

Since the Auburn RR has been won by Fiordifrutta every year for the past 20 something years with a solo breakaway, and since I was the only guy there, I had no choice but to take responsibility to uphold the tradition. The actual sequence of events was that early on a large break formed (too big to work well) and sat in front of the field at about 30s until being reeled in by IF at about the halfway point.

Then another break formed: Mike Barton and Conor Hurley (Boston Scientific), Joe Moody and Eric Kenney (Kenda/Raleigh), and Toby Walch (Mechanical Service). Once this was well established I bridged across before the start of the 3rd and final lap. We worked well together for a half lap and I jumped out of that group once we hit the rolling terrain. Done, win accomplished.

Unfortunately, the following day Zawacki and I came up a little short on starting a new tradition of Fiordifrutta taking the Criterium win as well, and had to settle for 2nd. As is the norm for bike racing, lessons are well learned in the experience of defeat and from the Great Falls Criterium I pass along this Confucius-ism to all you grasshoppers: Just because you can lap the field doesn't mean you should.

Timmerman 2nd at Balloon Festival Road Race, Cambridge, NY, June 10

Timmerman, Cody, and Peck lined up for this 85 mile road race in upstate NY. Timmerman was on his way to the Tour de Beauce in Canada, and looked to use this race as a last tune-up to his form. The first half of the race saw a breakaway by Dan Vaillancourt (CCB) but it was brought back by midway as Cody and Peck worked to make sure that Timmerman remained well rested. Timmerman exploded on the third of four laps with multiple attacks that finally sprung loose a 5-man front group. He was narrowly outsprinted for the win by Canadian Eric Boily (Equipe Volkswagon Trek), with Cody winning the field sprint behind.

Cody 2nd at Keith Berger Memorial Criterium, East Hartford, CT, June 11

Michael Cody represented the Fiordifrutta Team at the Keith Berger Memorial Criterium in East Hartford, CT on Sunday. A strong wind hindered riders on the start stretch and through to the first two corners. After a fast early half of the race, Al Donahue, Pat Walsh, and Cody attacked and forced the pace shattering the field.

Unfortunately everyone had enough energy to chase and not enough to pull, so after the field used all of its energy chasing they were reabsorbed. A well timed counter attack by two riders went as Cody, Walsh, and Donahue were caught. The field decided not to chase they were allowed to ride clear.

The leadout for the local Anthem team was setup and they chased for multiple laps. One of the riders flatted out of the break outside of the free lap rule which left only Connor Hurley (Boston Scientific) well clear of the field. The Anthem train controlled the rest of field and took Cody to the last corner in good positioning as he took the field sprint for second.