April 31, 2008 - Dillon wins Palmer

Josh Dillon posted another win and had time to adjust his armwarmers for the finish line camera shot.

Dillon Wins Palmer Library Road Race, April 27

Fresh off the previous day's race filled with mechanicals, miscues, and miscalculations...Weller, Hayden, and I were looking forward to resume authority over the New England race scene. With just 3 riders and 80 miles of racing, we were attentive but certainly not over zealous with the early attacking.

Fortunately, the fast pace of the first half of the race kept the attackers at bay and by the time the hesitations in the field started we were ready to start racing. Weller had us covered with the big move on the 3rd of 4 laps. And again, the field was intent on keeping it together such that it was gruppo compacto for the start of the 4th lap.

On the backside stair step climb, I waited for a round of attacks to soften up the front of the group and then gave it a dig. I put in a good 2 minute attack, that picked up a few of the stragglers off the front and dragged a few out of the field, which made for the race winning break of 10 with ~15 miles to go. I was a little concerned about the 3 teams with 2+ riders in the break, but with ~5k to go they all hesitated when i jumped and that was all i needed to seal the deal. Hayden followed that up with 3rd in the field sprint.