Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks is pleased to welcome Jon Hamblen back into the squad for the remainder of the 2003 season. Hamblen began the season on the West Virginia Pro Team, but is overjoyed to be back with his friends from New England. Hamblen spent the 2001 and 2002 seasons on Wheelworks squad with an amazing 17 wins to his name. He honored his new jersey with a win in his first race back this past weekend in Maine.

Hamblen Wins Yarmouth Clam Festival Circuit Race, July 20

Yarmouth, Maine - home of one of the Northeast's most famous one-day bicycle races and the best damn fried clams in the world. With its challenging 3.6-mile circuit and large enthusiastic crowd, the Clam Festival is in its 23rd year as a crowd favorite. Early Sunday morning Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks sent their crack New Hampshire and Maine squads, along with half of the Massachusetts team, to this prestigious New England Classic.

The race started in typical Maine summer weather, 65 degrees and sunny. Right from the line several attacks came from ex team rider now present team rider Jon Hamblen, who was eager to show his new jersey to the large field (and show his new teammates he deserves to wear the red jersey). The attacks came non-stop for the next three laps but were all handily covered by Oliver Stiler-Cote, Mike Dietrich, and team founder Dave Edry. Just after a mid race prime Hamblen took off solo and was soon joined by Bill Yabroudy. The duo set a fast pace for the next lap and a half before being joined by a five man group containing USPRO Crit Champ Kevin Monahan (7Up/Maxxis) and Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks New Hampshire resident, but Maine racing specialist, Don Mills. Meanwhile, in the main bunch Ollie, Dave, and Mike followed all the moves and frustrated any attempts to catch the break.

As usual at this race the front group hovered at only one minute ahead the field, so the hard work by our boys in the field kept the gap large enough for Jon and Don to be comfortably in charge out front. Don, a former champion of the Clam Fest, made sure to keep the pace high in the last two miles to keep the charging field at bay and set up Jon for the sprint. Hamblen came from the back the of the group in the last 200 meters of the downhill sprint and quickly accelerated past all of his breakaway companions for the third Yarmouth Clam Fest win or his career. The team took many of the top 20 spots with Mills in 7th, Stiler-Cote in 14th, and Dave Edry in 19th.

Peck Second at Union Vale Road Race, July 20

The southern division of the Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks team converged on the Poughkeepsie, NY area for a weekend of racing. Sunday’s road race saw Curt Davis jump into the early move in the first two miles of the race. This set up Josh Gewirtz, Johs Huseby, and Chris Peck for a relaxing first half of the 72 mile event as the field saw little attacking, but lots of pulling from Mike Jones (West Virginia Pro Team). Davis was eventually caught, but he was able to help launch Huseby across to the break with just 14 miles to go. The race ended on a 2.5 kilometer climb which ensured that the break would need a healthy gap to hold off the fresh legs from the field. But despite Huseby’s best efforts, the four-man escape only held a 40 second gap going into the climb, and Peck was able to catch all but one rider for second place on the day.

Gewirtz Fourth at Poughkeepsie Criterium, July 19

Saturday’s downtown criterium saw Josh Gewirtz show off his sprinting legs in a dramatic finale. Earlier in the race, Peck and Gewirtz were forced into a draining chase to try to get across to the breakaway led my Adam Myerson (Sportsbook.com). Gewirtz was finally able to leap across with just 8 laps to go, and managed an excellent fourth place finish in the 20 rider group sprint.

Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks contingent of under-23 riders put in an excellent showing last week at the nation’s premier under-23 events. Oliver writes the below race reports:

Stiler-Cote Podiums at Espoir National Road Race Championships, July 3rd

Four Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks riders traveled to College Station, Texas for the US under-23 national championships. The course was a 50km mostly flat, heat shimmering highway loop that was pounded for four laps totaling 200k, notably the longest espoir nationals in the history of the event. With temperatures over 100 degrees and high humidity the course provided little shade for the 125 starters, and most of the riders knew a long grueling race of attrition was at hand. An early break went from the gun which started with seven riders, among them Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks rider Oliver Stiler-Cote, but by the beginning of the second lap only four remained out front with the gap staying steadily around 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Oliver and the other three riders stayed away for the whole race while the field played tactical games. Mike Dietrich, Josh Gewirtz, and Josh Anthony often covered promising looking moves, but the field never seemed to get a chase group organized. It wasn't until 10k to go that the long time leaders were caught by an aggressive group of three when Darby Thomas, Mike Voigt and eventual winner Jon Erdeyli bridged to the four leading breakaway companions. In the finale, the three pairs of fresh(er) legs that caught Stiler-Cote took out the top 3 places and Oliver was just able to grab a podium spot finishing in 5th. Pieces of the shattered field came in several minutes later with Dietrich winning the sprint from his group and grabbing 20th after a long hot day in the sun.

Top Finishes at Four Bridges of Elgin, July 5th

After nationals, Mike Dietrich, Josh Anthony, Josh Gewirtz and Oliver Stiler-Cote made a 40hr stop at Chicago’s O-hare to compete in the only UCI ranked under-23 race in the states. The competition was nearly the same as nationals but with the added challenge of several Canadian teams and the returning champ Victor Rapinski (Saturn), fresh of his win at the Fitchburg-Longsjo classic the week before. Mike Dietrich went in an early move, grabbing the mid race prime (very lucrative). After some other riders caught his breakaway the winning break of seven split from there and never looked back.

Dietrich made the front group but was caught in a crash when Darby Thomas went down in front of him in a corner. With the race getting blown apart all over the course, Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks found themselves behind, no longer having a rider in the leading group. Oliver Stiler-Cote and Mike Dietrich jumped into the second group with just a few laps remaining of the five-mile course, but the gap was over one minute to the leading five riders and they seemed to be charging hard. Dietrich was working hard on the front hoping to reel them in, but without a group effort by all twelve in the chase group it seemed doomed. In the end Stiler-Cote got away from the chase group in the closing minutes and took 6th place with Dietrich just behind in 12th. Josh Gewirtz was third in the field sprint and posted 20th giving the team three top twenty results and surely 2nd in the team competition (but alas, there was no prize except for the winners!).

With no other big races on tap over the fourth of July weekend, Curt Davis took a trip to Canada to ride in this four stage championship event. Davis put in an impressive ride to win three out of the four stages, but his time bonuses could not quite overcome his losses in the time trial, and he went on to finish 2nd place on the overall classification. Friday’s stage 1 was a mass start hill climb that Davis won by six seconds over Californian Michael Hutchinson. Saturday morning’s time trial saw Davis finish in 7th place, but he was able to come back to win the afternoon criterium in an 80 rider field sprint. He finished out the weekend on Sunday by winning the road race, just ahead of Hutchinson who won the overall by just 18 seconds.

Team Attacks North Jersey Cycling Classic, July 13

A five man Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks squad took on this criterium with steep hill in Park Ridge, New Jersey. The squad has had two wins here in the past (last year by Jon Hamblen and one many years before by Curt Davis) and looked to race aggressively. Chris Peck, Mike Dietrich, and Josh Gewirtz all made it into the small 30 man front group that quickly emerged from the 80 starters. Peck made into the chase group for 3rd spot along with Kevin Monohan (7Up), Vassili Davidenko (Navigators) and Pete Lopinto (Ofoto), but the group could not catch solo riders Mark Walters (Navigators) and Scott Zwizanski (Snow Valley). Peck ended up 8th with Dietrich and Gewirtz sprinting well in their group for 16th and 18th respecitively.

Mike Dietrich and former Fiordifrutta/Wheelworks rider Todd Herriott were both featured in the Ride Magazine, in the Rider of the Month section. Herriott appeared in the May issue just before turning pro for Heathnet, while Dietrich debuted in the June issue before finishing 8th in the Elite National Championships Road Race. Click on the below links to read the articles:

Herriott
Dietrich