A few weeks ago you all received the cyclocross season review, but remember that Fiordifrutta also raced a full road season…

2006 Road Season Review

Another year of racing has come to a close, and once again the Fiordifrutta squad has been busy traveling the country and winning races. 2006 saw us racing in over 20 states, chalking up 14 wins and 24 top-3 finishes. As always, none of this would be possible without the fantastic support we have from our sponsors, chiefly Claudio Mucci of Rigoni USA who trusts us to promote the Fiordifrutta Organic Jam brand in our travels. The squad is also privileged to have some of the finest equipment on the race circuit, and we are the envy of the peloton at the races and all the local group rides.

Michael Cody’s sprinting ability made him our most prolific winner with 6 this year, but just about the entire team put some marks in the victory column. Dan Timmerman had a fantastic start to the year as the top amateur in many of the early-season California races including the Redlands Classic, and then followed up with a second place finish at the Tour of Shenandoah. Josh Dillon had a slower start, but came on strong with three wins and a 9th place finish at elite road nationals.

Matt White made great progress in his transition from cyclocross superstar to top road racer, winning his hometown criterium and providing invaluable support in the big races, including the elite national road race where he finished 15th. Buck Miller also posted a W, and was selected to travel with the Canadian National team to the Tour of Quinghai Lake in China. Miller had a great finish to the season with top results in the Green Mountain stage race and the Univest Grand Prix.

So sit back and enjoy reading the month by month highlights below, with complete results at the bottom.

March/April
March and April saw Fiordifrutters spread out across the country, as a mix of jobs, schools and warm weather training influenced the schedule. Once again, we sent an early season squad to California to battle the pros at some NRC races. Dan Timmerman proved that he was in top form, finishing inside the top 20 in GC as the top amateur at both the San Dimas and Redlands stage races.

The two Josh’s (Dillon and Gewirtz) jumped onto the podium in April, with Dillon taking second at NY’s dirt road filled Battenkill-Roubaix, and Gewirtz sprinting to second at the Ore Digger Classic in Golden, CO. Meanwhile, way down south in Georgia, Timmerman and Larry Perera joined up to get Timmerman a second place finish in the Gainesville Maxxis Cup #2 road race.

April ended with a dominating performance by the team at the Tour of Shenandoah in Virginia. This is one of the east coast’s finest stage races and Fiordifrutta was always in the mix with stage wins by Dillon and Timmerman, and a fantastic team effort to propel Timmerman to second place overall.

May
May started off with two quick victories as Timmerman won the Town Mountain Hill Climb in North Carolina while Buck Miller make it back to his home country of Canada to take the Springbank Ontario Criterium. Michael Cody proved that his spring travel campaign to warm climates had paid off by a win in the Hartford Criterium and a 6th place at the Bike Jam/Kelly Cup, an NRC event in Baltimore.

June
The month of June also began on a wining note as Dillon won the Auburn Road Race in Maine, and took 2nd the following day in the criterium. Timmerman continued his good form by sprinting to 2nd at the Balloon Festival Road Race in NY, and Cody also was 2nd at the Keith Berger Criterium in Connecticut.

Criterium month continued with Cody 2nd on the auto race track in Stafford Springs, CT, and Josh Dillon pulling in big bucks for 3rd place in the Cox Charities Cycling Classic in Rhode Island. The entire team put in a great effort at the Cox race with 4 riders in the money at the end of a long rainy event!

One of the hardest races in North America, the Tour de Beauce in Canada, saw Josh Dillon ride to 11th place in the time trial against an international field of pros from Germany, Australia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Ireland, Mexico, and Japan. The team gave great support to Dillon all week and got some hard racing under their belts.

July
This is a crucial month of racing, with the national championships, the Fitchburg stage race, and numerous local events. Buck Miller pulled off a win at the Cobblestone Criterium in NY, while White won his hometown criterium in Northampton, MA with some help from Cody and Peck.

The Fitchburg stage race once again featured Cody wearing the green points leader jersey for a day, and then the squad then headed down to Seven Springs, PA for the road national championships. The boys raced for the win all day, with Josh Dillon ending up 9th. The difficulty of the course meant that even though White, Peck, and Rozdilsky just soft pedaled the remainder of the final lap (after working all day) they finished 15th, 16th, and 21st.

The month ended with a win for Cody at the Naugatuck Criterium and an 8th place at the Mt Holly – Smithville Invitational where he was also featured on the podium as the top under-23 rider.

August
Once again, the Fiordifrutta boys continued their winning ways with Cody being crowned the New England Criterium Champion, and Dillon getting away solo to triumph at the NY Capital Region Road Race. Cody also won the Collar City Criterium the next day in NY to make it a two win weekend.

The month ended at the Green Mountain Stage Race, where Cody won the final day’s criterium in Burlington, and Buck Miller put in some solid climbing all weekend to finish in 6th place overall.

September
Fiordifrutta wrapped up the road season in fine style with Cody taking the top step on the podium at the York Beach Crieterium, and Miller showing some good form to finish in 11th place as one of the top amateurs at the Univest Grand Prix. Cody sprinted well in the points competition and actually tied for the win on points. But the tiebreaker was the result of the last sprint, which unfortunately dropped Cody to 2nd place. Cody followed up in the Univest Criterium the next day with an 11th place result.

2006 Road Results

1st, 3rd Tour of Shenandoah, Stage 2, VA
1st Tour of Shenandoah, Stage 4, VA
1st New England Criterium Championships, RI
1st Green Mountain Stage Race, Criterium, VT
1st Capital Region Road Race, NY
1st Collar City Criterium, NY
1st Springbank Ontario Cup #2, Canada
1st Town Mountain Hill Climb, NC
1st Hartford Criterium, CT
1st Auburn Road Race, ME
1st Buffalo Cobblestone Criterium, NY
1st Northampton Criterium, MA
1st Naugatuck Criterium, CT
1st York Beach Criterium, ME

2nd Tour of Shenandoah, Overall GC, VA
2nd Tour of Shenandoah, Stage 3, VA
2nd Battenkill Roubaix Road Race, NY
2nd Ore Digger Classic, CO
2nd Gainesville Maxxis Georgia Cup, GA
2nd Great Falls Criterium, ME
2nd Balloon Festival Road Race, NY
2nd Keith Berger Memorial Criterium, CT
2nd Cyclonauts Stafford Springs Criterium, CT

3rd Cox Charities Criterium

4th Tour of Shenandoah, Stage 1, VA
4th Tour of Shenandoah, Stage 5, VA
4th Tour of Shenandoah, Stage 6, VA

6th Bike Jam/Kelly Cup, NRC, MD
6th Green Mountain Stage Race, Overall GC, VT

8th Mt Holly – Smithville Grand Prix, (top under 23), NJ
9th Elite National Road Race Championships, PA
11th Univest Grand Prix, NRC, PA
11th Univest Criterium, PA
12th San Dimas Stage Race, Overall GC, CA
19th Redlands Stage Race, Overall GC, NRC, CA

Driscoll Races at Worlds, January 27th

Jamey Driscoll put in a great effort to finish on the lead lap at the World Cyclocross Championships for under-23 men in Belgium. A crash on the first lap slowed him down, but he bounced back and was the only US rider not to get lapped. Driscoll was selected to represent the US after winning the Crank Brothers Grand Prix series this past fall.

You can read a full report of the race on cyclingnews.com that includes a bunch of great photos of Jamey. A special congratulations goes out to Jon Page who was 2nd in the Elite race and raced for our squad for three seasons (2000-2002).