Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks is proud to announce that Todd Herriott will be turning pro for the HeathNet team, which is led by Gord Fraser. Herriott, who finished 2002 strongly with a win at the Univest Grand Prix, started 2003 with a bang by winning the Tour of Cuba, and finishing 7th at the Tucson Bicycle Classic. “I am incredibly grateful to the Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks team for supporting me, and I am sad to be leaving the squad,” he said. “But I am excited at the new opportunity ahead of me to ride for one of the top US pro teams.”

With the development of young riders one of its primary goals, Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks is one of the premier amateur teams for riders who are looking for the support and skill development needed to jump up to the next level of cycling. Team manager Curt Davis sees Herriott’s move as a positive one, “We will definitely miss Todd’s power and humor, but the team is proud to have played a role in his development as a rider and happy to see him step it up.”

Herriott joins six riders from 2002 that have moved on to the elite ranks of cycling. Jonathan Page joined Prime Alliance as a first year professional, and Jon Hamblen and Mike Jones ride professionally with the Go-Mart/West Virginia team. Matt Svatek joined the new professional squad Sportsbook.com. Shawn Milne, the top US finisher in the 2002 Under 23 Road World Championships, along with Darby Thomas, 6th place at the US Under 23 Road National Championships, will both be moving on to full-time schedules with the US National Team based in Europe. They join former team riders who have moved on to the next level, including: Justin Spinelli, who has raced for the Division 1 Saeco professional team and now rides for the Division 2 Navigators squad; Peter Baker, who will race for an elite Italian amateur team; as well as Robbie Dapice and Donny Lopez who have raced with the national team.

Saturday dawned cold and rainy - not the best motivation to go out and race, but I had convinced myself that I would try to be aggressive this weekend and be a factor in the races. This Thursday I was able to get in my longest ride of the season so far - a solid 6 hours of tempo riding, and although that left me a bit sore, I was psyched to get some good New England racing in. Mike Dietrich and I were the sole Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks
representatives at Ninigret, and our plan was to take advantage of the tough windy conditions and open course, and make the pace hard from the gun. Since the race was only slightly longer than an hour, we felt this would be feasable.

By the time we raced, the rain had let up, but it was still quite overcast and chilly, with a stiff wind that promised to make things interesting. There were about 30 riders in the Pro/1/2 field, and sure enough, it was strung out from the word "go." After giving my legs a few laps to warm up, I started attacking as hard and often as I could. At first, every move I made was chased down, but luckily the wind made it hard to sit in, and riders began getting tired. About a third of the way through the race, perennial powerhouse (and Ninigret race promoter) Randy Rusk (Arc-En-Ciel) attacked solo and got a bit of a gap. I waited a minute or two and then jumped hard in pursuit. I was able to bridge up fairly quickly, and brought with me Randy's teammate Todd Buckley and a NCC rider. We worked together for a few laps before being joined by Conor Hurley (West Virginia Pro Cycling).

Mike D was doing a fantastic job of slowing down the chase in the field behind, which helped us gain some precious time. For the next half-hour or so, the laps ticked by slowly as we shared the nasty work of fighting the brutal winds that faced us, just barely keeping a 30-second gap alive. About midway a $20 prime was announced, and Conor sprinted for it. I tried to come around him but couldn't, and we found ourselves with a small gap. Randy and Todd clawed their way back up to us, but the NCC rider was unable to re-attach, and soon found himself back in the field.

The remainder of the race passed rather uneventfully, until with 2 to go, Todd got a slow puncture. He was able to hang on to the back of the break to get 4th, but could not contest the sprint. This left Randy, Conor, and myself to battle it out.

As it happened, I was leading coming around the last gradual left-hand bend, and Conor and Randy didn't want to pull through, so I had to decide how I wanted to start the sprint. I had a few options, but I knew that my sprint is all in the jump, so my best chance was to slow it down and then make a quick burst for the line. I kept to the far right of the road and watched the other two, while I gradually slowed down to a crawl. The line approached. When I could see that Randy and Conor were getting ready to start the sprint themselves, I jumped as hard as I could in the 53x19. Shift, shift, shift, shift, head down, just like a town line sprint on a group ride... When I could see that neither of them were going to come around me, I could barely believe it, because my legs had been screaming at me the entire race! Apparently, though, so were the legs of many other riders, judging by the numbers in the thinned-out field that crossed the line soon afterwards. Mike came across 10th, after policing the field for me the whole time, and between the two of us we came away with some good extra spending money. And, I won my first road race in quite some time! =) Training pays!

Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks posted another win in one of the classic New England season openers, and Johs Huseby writes the race report below. Oliver Stiler-Cote also checks in from his National team experiences at a stage race in Belgium.

Dietrich Wins Marblehead Circuit Race, April 6

Mike D is on fire. There were four of us that made it to the annual New England opener Marblehead Circuit Race. It was Mike D, Donny Mills, Josh Anthony, and I. It was a cold and windy day, but sunny, a nice break from the unseasonably cold and snowy spring we have been experiencing of late. It was a full field of 90 riders and everyone itching to prove that their hours of time spent indoors this winter had paid off. The race started pretty slow and there were a few attempts that were trying to move off the front, but to no success. We all took our turns in brief forays at the front, but there was no action. Finally as the race started coming to a close, maybe with 8 laps to go, I spoke with Donny and the seasoned veteran predicted the move - a break would go in the next two laps. He was right on, and it was a good-sized group of at least 20 riders. Mike D had made the selection and that was it for the boys in Red. I thought quickly, and then stifled the thought and just went for it. I closed the gap to the group by myself and was thrilled once I got there. It was very disorganized immediately. Frustrating to say the least, although we must have been moving along fast enough to stay away, because no pursuers approached. We finally started to get organized and then once again people started looking around for others to take their turn. One person jumped and Mike D went with. Perfect! I sat a couple riders back and watched as one more person closed the gap and we were poised. They sat at about 10 seconds off the front and no one wanted to make the move to close to them. This was fine with me. We rounded the course one last time and I realized we were in the clear. It was great. We came over the top of the hill and Mike D had taken it! Yes! I was edged out in the sprint for our group and ended up fifth and Donny and Josh were in the field not so far behind. It was another great day for Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks!

Le Triptyque des Monts et Chateaux, Stage 3, April 6

14 steep climbs and I was a hurtin’ puppy today. We started in a castle and went out to meet the bitter cold, arm warmers and long finger gloves were a must today. It had been a process of elimination ever since we hit the first hill of the day at 25k in. We did 3 laps of a 30k crooked loop in the finale. Each lap contained 4 climbs- 1 tarmac ripper too steep to drive a car up (not to mention on top you had to zig-zag in the cross wind on a false flat for a few more kms) there was this cobbled climb, I think its called the "san sever" or something, 20 percent, no shoulder or gutter to crawl to, just 100 meters of all out humpin'. At 3 hrs into this torture chamber I looked back to see that the group still had not really split up- like 60 or 70 guys left. How was this possible! I looked at my teammate Pat and just shook my head, it was unbelievable how strong this peleton was. With the cross wind we'd get put in the gutter for like 10k just hauling ass, only focusing on the wheel in front, clawing it back- and I’d look after a turn and see a line about 2 km long single file and not a single guy was dropped- unreal. I managed to suffer my way into the first group up until the climbs on the last lap- but then with just 25k to go I got popped by the leaders (7 of 14 were quicksteps/davitamon, and how many riders was each team allowed? 7). I was with a group of about 15 others, the front group was down to only 14 as well. I think I finished 25th on the stage.

It was a brutal day, by far the hardest course we have seen so far this year. Man, it was epic, I wish we had races like this in the US. We have 2 days of rest and then we head to France for a 4-day stage race.

Later,
Ollie

The FiordiFrutta/Wheelworks boys have been busy racing and winning in all parts of the US, before the team comes together for the bigger spring races. Johs Huseby writes an update from the Boston Beanpot Tufts Criterium, which was won by teammate Mike Dietrich, and Josh Gewirtz checks in from Colorado where he won a collegiate race. Oliver Stiler-Cote is racing with the National Team in Europe and gives us his update from Belgium.

Dietrich Wins Tuft Criterium, March 29th

It was a beautiful day, a little overcast and I had a nice waffle breakfast and rolled the 1 ˝ minutes from my house to registration. I noticed a nice car was the pace car - a brand new Maserati. I went for a good warm up and then saw Mike D as I returned and he had just showed up. There were about 30 of us on the line as we started. The course was a 6-turn criterium with a few short climbs that would surely tire a few. The race started off fast and I went to the front. A Community Bike rider put in a big effort and I followed close to his wheel. This immediately strung out the field. After 2 laps the pace eased and Micah Thompson (Excel Sports) attacked and Mike D followed. I sat up and let the gap open up. The duo immediately put some time into the field. I rode at the front chasing down any pursuers and shortly Mike D and Micah had 30 seconds on us. After probably 6 laps, I attacked on the larger of the two climbs and dragged along Ken Dille of ECV. He made a few pulls over the next several laps, but was unable to continue to help in our joint effort. We still had 35 laps to go, so we would be out there for a considerable period of time. We soon also had 30 seconds on the field and I knew there was an opportunity to stay away. I now was doing the majority of the work and not long after we heard Mike D and Micah had lapped the field. Nice! We kept a steady pace and I made Ken pull through several times as it was difficult and not to my liking to tow this guy around for the whole race. With about 5 laps to go we were in the clear and knew we had 3rd and 4th wrapped up. Mike D pulled off the win from out of the field - a beautiful victory and I came through in 3rd. A good day for the boys in Red.

Gewirtz Wins Colorado State University Criterium, April 29th

The second collegiate race of the season was hosted by Colorado State University and all the major teams were in attendance, including Fort Lewis, University of Colorado, and University of Arizona. The race started with a flurry of attacks with nothing really going clear. With about 8 laps to go I kept on attacking for about three laps really not letting up. With four laps to go I found myself in a five man break with 2 Fort Lewis riders, 1 rider from Boulder another from Colorado State University and myself. I attacked twice with 2 laps to go to soften up the break but was pulled in by a very on form Andy Guptill. With one lap to go I positioned myself behing the Fort Lewis lead out and jumped with about 300 meters to go and won by a bike length. I was very pleased with my win and wasn't sure how my legs would be as I had taken the week before very easy. I'm enjoying collegiate racing and looking forward to my next big target, the Boulder Roubaix.

Ollie Races GP Waragem, March 26

March 26 was a day of tough luck for the US national Espoir team, several lads crashed, some stopped due to injuries while I, personally, was sent to school (or was it a surfacing anti-Americanism.....???) by some Quick-Steppies and the Italian Vellutex squads in a gnarly finishing sprint. We took part in the GP de Waregem at nearly our home course, by this I mean we often ride some of the same roads in training- they are the short steep and sometimes cobbled climbs of Flanders.

Since I was the only finisher from the team somebody around the house elected me to write the race report and amazingly every single rider unanimously agreed. So I will tell the story of the race as I knew it.

There was a nervous first hour of racing, I fought to stay in the first 30 riders or so like every week in hope that I wouldn't fall fate to any crashes or miss any moves "gonna race with everything i got till i cant stay up there anymore" was my motto today and since it was a fairly short race over here, just 147km, it seemed a decent tactic for the day. Not long after the climbs started I knew something was amuck.

By the first feed zone at 70k I was in a front group of some 60 or so riders. We got on some big roads and I’m looking around to see who from my team is the group with me..........hmmm...that’s funny I can’t see any other American jerseys. Yes, something uniquely terrible had happened to all seven of the other natty team boys- I was indeed alone. Later I found out it was crashes, crashes, punctures, knee injuries, just a lot of BAD luck. Jon Retseck told me about his accident- while trying to avoid a massive pileup, his bike went out from under him and he was catapulted into the air and flew down a twenty foot cliff. The poor guy had to crawl out with two taco'ed wheels, a busted frame and some shell shock he'll surely be nursing for a few days.

The tricky part of the race came and went, I ground my way over some cobbled bergs and managed to get through clear of the big group and up front with more mellow 25. After another 50km of attacks and in my case closing gaps, we came into the finish in Waregem for a group finish.

I tried to get myself up near the front of the group within the last kilometer, and I was getting up there. I was on the wheel of the Italian lead out and things were looking good. Evidently one of the quickstep guys learned how to sprint somewhere different than me because shortly thereafter I felt a firm and aggressive hand shove my rear end out from behind the Italian. I had no reaction and was in the wind and going backwards before I knew it. I tried to get on the train again but as I attempted (obviously not assertively enough) I was thrown out into the wind again. It was all over, I had blown it, the finish came and I followed the group across the line only beating 4 guys in my group. It all happened really fast and I definitely learned a thing or two about sprinting. It's a sport where education and experience is supremely valuable so I’m hoping by getting tossed around like a junior today, I will be more familiar and confident in the finale of my next race.