The men’s collegiate national championships turned out to be quite an event as Toby Marzot and Todd Nordblom took a Fiordifrutta 1-2 finish in the road race. Marzot writes the below race report and you can see a great photo of the sprint finish on cyclingnews.com

Marzot and Nordblom Take 1-2 at Collegiate National Road Race Championships, May 12th

Coming into this year's collegiate nationals, I was downright nervous. The race had been a goal for me all season, and I really wanted to win. However the week before the event I came down with a nasty stomach bug, so my morale going into it wasn't all that high.

Luckily traveling with the well organized Dartmouth team was very easy, and we arrived a few days before the race. This gave me time to recover, and I started feeling better as the big day approached. Pre-riding the course threw me another curveball, though. Because of flooding on some parts of the course, the organizers rerouted the race through a 1.5 mile section of dirt. Cool, I thought- cyclocross.

On race day I was psyched to see Fiordifrutta teammate Todd Nordblom on the start line, since I had not raced with him all season. We got ample time to chat- the start of the 3 lap, 84 mile race was less than aggressive. The excitement came after one lap through the dirt section, where the field split a bit due to lots of flats and crashes. After that the field slowed again, but I knew I would need a lot of luck to make it through the dirt the next two times.

Racing really started at the end of the second lap, when my Dartmouth teammate Eric Schildge put in a strong attack. Nordblom responded and I followed him. We worked together to establish a group of 7 or 8, with Nordlbom riding really strongly and doing more than his share of pulling. Eventually the group ballooned to about 15, and this was the winning move.

Nearing the end of the last lap, there were a couple of serious attacks from Peter Horn (Vassar). These were neutralized, however, and coming into the final uphill a Notre Dame rider led it out for his teammate. On the steepest portion of the 500 meter climb that led into the finish a rider from Western Washington University (I think) attacked hard. Nordblom, a Whitman rider, and I responded. The WWU rider gave it a little too much gas coming into the last corner that led into a flat 200 meters before the finish line, and somehow he managed to ride straight off the road. From there we all opened up the sprint, but then hesitated. Luckily we realized the rest of the break was closing in, and started sprinting again. I put my head down and just barely came around Nordblom and the Whitman rider.

It was an awesome feeling for me to win, and a great day for both the Dartmouth team as well as FdF (taking 1-2 is pretty cool).

Marzot 4th at Lake Sunapee Road Race, May19th

The weather for Sunapee was fitting for a New England "classic," with temperatures in the mid 40s, and a steady light rain. Because of this it seemed like there were less people on the start line than there were on the pre-reg list. Fiordifrutta managed to show up with a really strong team though- Josh Dillon, Jamey Driscoll, Josh Lipka, Todd Nordblom, and I all bundled up and headed out in the rain. As the most experienced tactician, Dillon's pre-race plan was to have the team cover moves in the early laps, and then set me up for the last lap break or sprint. This was a new role for me and I was nervous but also honored to be in a position to try and go for the win.

We did an awesome job of covering moves in the opening lap. One big move of about 20 somehow managed to get away from us though, but luckily Nordblom was attentive and got himself up there. However, the odds of one against 19 or so didn't look good, so Dillon decided to organize a chase. He, Lipka, and Driscoll all rotated on the front tirelessly and selflessly for the better part of the second lap, while I sat and felt lazy. When we came to one of the bigger hills on the course, an attack went and Dillon told me to follow. I did, and when the attacker slowed down I decided to keep going. Thom Coupe of Boston Scientific came across to me and we started working together. Luckily he was riding strongly, and, after a chase that seemed to take forever, we caught the front group.

My bridge couldn't have been more poorly timed though. We got on just before one of the big rollers on the course, and Ted King (Priority Health) launched the winning attack. At this point I wasn't nearly recovered from the bridge and was just able to hang on as the group tried to respond. Nordblom did a super huge piece on the front to try to bring it back, but there was just too much horsepower up the road.

For the rest of the last lap, I tried to ride conservatively and save it for the uphill finish. In the end I lacked the kick to take the group sprint, but still managed second (There were two guys up the road, so I was 4th on the day). Most importantly though I was really grateful to the team: they were phenomenal, sacrificing themselves to make the best out of a less than ideal situation.

Adding to some top performances in local races, Fiordifrutta began a series of NRC stage races with the Tour of Virginia, and you can check out the reports below and see a great shot of White on cyclingnews.com.

White Wins Williams Criterium, May 6

White writes: I went to the Williams Crit alone, the day after the Jiminy Peak road race. I wanted to get a good crit in my legs before Joe Martin, as I felt I had plenty of long miles already accumulated. The cool afternoon air must have made me think I was at a cross race or something, because I attacked off the line. Really it was just the course, the half up hill half down hill suited riding solo, or with one of two other riders.

Al Donahue of Nerac.com came with me, thirsty for the "W". We worked well together to establish a gap, then realized a junior had been tagging along since the beginning. I attacked to drop both of them both with 20 laps to go, then started my metronome pacing to lap the field and take the win.

Huseby 4th at Sturbridge Road Race, April 28

Huseby writes: It was a very overcast day threatening to rain from the start, but it somehow held out the whole time – thankfully. It must have started a few minutes after I got onto the highway to go back home – whew. The majority of the crew was down in Virginia fighting it out amongst some of the hilliest terrain in the east. I was expecting to have a couple of teammates show up – but it was me by myself.

I had done this race a couple of years ago in the rain and somehow squeaked out a 2nd place. I knew I had to wait at the finish as one gets to visualize the line - it has to be a mile a way! The race itself was not very difficult and I had a very good guess going that we’d end up in a sprint finale. This it did. I had a great outside line – mostly out of traffic and I fought my way through and up and ended up 4th. I was pretty happy with this as I had been questioning my form. It was a great reassurance that my training was paying off.

Tour of Virginia, April 24-29

White writes: Well after writing the driest most uneventful daily race reports I've ever written, I'm scrapping them all for this: The Tour of Virginia is a beautiful race, that will hopefully get its act together in the coming years, and limit it's reputation for USCF rule breaking, timing errors, and finish line fist fights.

We raced over some of the most beautiful country on the east coast, climbing and descending the roads I wish I could ride everyday. The descents are really the high point for me, the races can be won and lost in the downhills to the finish lines each day. This was the first big race for the team, and we were lucky to be able to stay in an awesome cabin in the woods, all together, eating together, cooking together, bonding together, and even sleeping together, or at least all in 2 rooms. The place was sweet!! Thanks Betty. Everyone was shocked when they first saw it, and opened the french doors to the main living room, well everyone but Whitey, who was left at the Walmart for the first night, chatting it up with 90 year old greating staff.

As for the racing, we had our ups and downs, front groups and groupetto's, finish line dashes, and devastating crashes. The highlights were Cory Burn’s ripping fast stage 1 time trial, finishing sixth, Whitey's 5th place sprint in the second 110 mile road race (Stage 4), and lastly Dillon's beautifully executed "bridge and drop" to the break on the 3rd RR day.

Dillon solo'ed across to the early break, and then blew that group apart, and made it to 100 meters to go before being caught by the charging field. Josh turned some heads that day, and proved once again he is among the strongest amateur in the USA. We finished the race with some good GC positions, a bunch of laughs, and a thirst for victories in our coming races.

The Fiordifrutta squad has hit full stride in the spring races, and Josh Dillon writes a couple of race reports below.

Fiordifrutta Takes 1-3-4-5 at Turtle Pond Circuit Race, April 21

I couldn't have been a worse teammate...except that I won the race. It was the only thing that saved my butt after being completely sub-par on a team that dominated the race from start to finish. I was late to the start, missed the team meeting, and rode at the back the entire first half of the race.

Meanwhile FdF had riders in every single break, as many as 4 riders in one early move that stayed away for ~10k. Often is the case that the results don't tell the whole story of the race, but not at Turtle Pond with FdF occupying 4 of the top 5 at the finish. Pretty dang sweet.

After my team busted their butts to make the race, I covered one move (because it was Spinelli). A couple guys followed (including a bridge by Driscoll who was on the same program I was and also saved his butt) and that was the winning move. With 10k to go I attacked the break and held it to the line with a 40 second advantage over Spinelli. When I turned around and rode back to the finish line I was greeted by one red jersey after another as we took home the lion share of the winnings. Go Fruits. Rifflemacher – 3rd, Marzot – 4th, Lipka – 5th

Dillon and Marzot take 3rd and 5th at Battenkill-Roubaix, April 14

Battenkill-Roubaix, almost like the real thing just half the distance. Oh, also lots of dirt instead of cobbles. And the field is slightly, ever so slightly, softer. And no podium girls either. Aside from that, just like the real thing. So we were fired up to give it a go and score a win.

Mother nature kindly broke the cold wet trend for the start of the race, which was nice as I have nearly tripled my life total of 35 degree rainy training rides in this spring alone. We started this New England classic with arguably our strongest squad to date, consisting of Johs Huseby, Matt White, Cory Burns, Jamey Driscoll, Toby Marzot, Will Riffelmacher, Josh Lipka, and myself. Will and Johs covered us in the early moves, with Johs making the first move that stuck which was brought back after the first series of climbs due to accelerations in the field.

Then two lone riders went for suicide moves that amazingly stretched out to more than 4 minutes. That was until FdF took over the driver's seat and started pulling it back with ~30 miles remaining in the race. The tempo effort also coincided nicely through the longest stretch of dirt road which gave us great position and Whitey took advantage on the steepest part by putting down the hurt. This flushed out Guptill and Vallaincourt (both Colavita), Quintero (CRCA) and myself.

We liked this scenario, as it was a carbon copy of what happened last year, which brought a good result. Two out of five is always good so we hit it, but the groups started to form behind and they were intent on being there for the finish as well, so a repeat of last year was not to be. The race started to come back together which brought Spinelli to the front and he decided to give it a go solo, with now ~15 miles remaining.

No sooner than they hit the front group, our youngster 'cross superstars Jamey and Toby began to slowly reel Spinelli in on the run into the final climb. Jamey continued to pull into the final climb, where Cory then took over. He hammered it to launch Whitey and myself again, which worked great....until we ran out of real estate, ie we (Matt, myself, and the two Colavita riders) and we rolled over the top with a slim margin which didn't exist any longer by the bottom of the descent to start the 5k drag to the finish, and we were caught by most of the remaining peloton.

As soon as we hit the drag, I jumped and was joined by the rest of the eventual podium (coincidentally) + Guptill. As soon as we were brought back, Matt drove the counter which was joined by two other riders....and then Cody (Jelly Belly) jumped across!! I couldn't believe it. I thought he was long gone, somewhere back aways pulling dirt out of drive train. Then someone else tried to jump across which eventually brought it back together with less than a 1k.

So, Matt played off the in-house rivalry and led out the sprint which made Cody ancy (very un-Cody like) and jumped on his wheel, such that when Matt pulled off Cody was left in the wind from ~2-300 meters out...too far for such a fast sprint. As he faded I jumped and was overtaken by Quintero and Mathieu Roy (EVA-Devinci) at the line. Toby put in a terrific sprint to take 5th giving us two in the top 5. Of course we wanted the win, and raced to win but came up a little short.