Fiordifrutta posted a four win weekend June16-17, as the team swept races in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and Virginia. The schedule for the next few weeks includes the Cox Criterium in Providence June 24th followed by the Fitchburg-Longsjo stage race the next weekend.

Marzot Wins Cyclonauts Road Race, June 16

A powerful nine man Fiordifrutta squad dominated this Massachusetts race on a beautiful summer Saturday. Aggressive racing from the gun eventually saw Jamie Driscoll escape with 4 other riders. Fiordifrutta was content with the move, and had faith in Driscoll’s ability on the uphill finish. But late in the 56 mile race, Driscoll’s group was caught by the field after a chase led by brothers Mark and Frank McCormack.

Fiordifrutta then lined it up for the finish with Hayden Brooks and Curt Davis being the last to pull off before the sprinters jumped. Toby Marzot won the dash to the line, with Josh Dillon 4th, Will Rifflemacher 7th, and Chris Peck 9th. Four riders in the top ten made for a great day and confidence boost for the following day’s race in Connecticut.

Dillon Wins Housatonic Classic Road Race, June 17

Josh Dillon was determined to make Sunday’s race the second team win in a row, and he bided his time before putting in a powerful race-winning attack on the final climb. The plan for the 80 mile race was be attentive at the front to make sure nothing escaped without representation from the team. Will Rifflemacher and Todd Nordblom were the most aggressive riders for Fiordifrutta, but despite numerous attempts a break would not succeed on the day.

In the final downhill miles before the finishing climb, Rifflemacher pushed a group to a small advantage, but the race came back together and Josh Lipka hit the front to bring Dillon into the finishing climb. Once the climb began, Dillon immediately attacked solo, while Marzot and Driscoll marked the chasing group. Dillon stayed away for a solo victory, with Driscoll sprinting in for 2nd and Marzot in 4th. It was a dominating performance for Fiordifrutta with 3 other riders in the top twenty as well: Brooks-12th, Peck-15th, Rifflemacher-18th.

Burns Wins Whitney Point Road Race, NY, June 17

I showed up about two minutes before the start and had to sign my waiver while my lovely girlfriend pinned my number on me and I pumped up my tires. I chased the group of a whole ten guys down during the neutral start. When we got to the climb right after the neutral I went hard and was away with two of the guys in the group. Then it narrowed down to me and the guy I train with, and then just me about twenty minutes later.

I rode as hard as I could until the finish and ended up 5 minutes or so ahead of second and almost double that ahead of third. Good hard workout for the day and it felt good to be out on my own, my personal favorite way to ride a race

White Takes on Crystal City Criterium, Arlington VA NRC, June 16

After BikeJam/Kelly Cup, I've had a real thirst for NRC crit racing. I love it, the speed, the uncomfortable duration of about 2 hours at threshold, the crowds, the technical aspects. I decide to travel to VA for another one last weekend.

The field wasn't as star studded as some of the other races we have done, but did have a good mix of seasoned pro's and amatuers including full Colivita and RiteAid teams, 3 Navigators, a couple United Pro riders, and the infamous FDF alum Jon Hamblen. Well it's June, and Exeter (the only race that matters) is right around the corner, so little Johnny might have started training or something.

Anyway the parade lap around the Pentagon was eventful, full of crashes, one of which took me out at 20mph, but with only a couple scratches I got right back in there and was quickly up to more comfortable pace of 30mph on the 7 corner course. I tried to stay settled in the field waiting to light my match till the end, but got antsy and followed a couple promising moves half heartedly, and I have to say I was hurtin' pretty bad just to make these selections.

Nothing was sticking until late in the race when the Hamblen attacked casually and got a great gap, I did the same casual acceleration of the front, was not followed, and was quickly gaining on him with a nice gap on the field and only a couple laps to go, just as I caught him, I caught a rock with my back wheel in a corner and down I went, damn, I just crashed myself out of the winning move in an NRC crit!!

I got back into the field close to the free lap deadline, and tried my luck in the sprint, avoiding yet another crash in the same place I went down. I settled for 17th, at least in the money to fix my bike. Hamblen held on for second, after being caught by a solo Kyle Wamsley of the Navigators. I'm sure we could have taken him had I kept my tires on the pavement. Maybe next week!

White Wins RFK Hub Racing Speedway Criterium, VA, June 17

Bruised and battered I made my way with my lady friend Alie and her team to DC for this non Pro, non NRC race. The Premier race of the day was the women’s race, which I guess is nice for a change. They got to do equal distance, got the better start time and were racing for a purse 7 times the size of my race, but heck the men’s race still had $1000 and all the pride that comes with any "W".

I got there 30 minutes before my race, and hardly felt like racing, my body ached, but I got it together and hit the line in time to spend 40 minutes last wheel warming up. With about a third of the race left I started racing, I had some gaps to jump to get to the front, thought "huh these guys are kinda going pretty hard right now", I got to the front, drilled it for a lap, and waalaa, the break was formed.

About 12 guys rolled away, and again I went to the back of the group and watched. I pulled again when the field looked like it might catch. Not for long! We were gone again. With little desire to work any harder than I had to, I waited for the sprint while the others attacked each other, and the teams represented did there best to keep things together.

One to go, 12 guys single file, PERFECT, last corner 6th place for me, OK hit it! 1350 watts later I'm throwing my bike at the line (just in case, cause you never know, I won a race once because my opponent felt like celebrating a little to early), and the WIN was mine!

Josh Dillon posted a win this past weekend, and Will Rifflemacher writes in with a couple of race reports including another win!

Dillon Wins Balloon Festival Classic, Cambridge, NY, June 9

Fiordifrutta send five riders to contest this 63 mile race in upstate NY, and the result was a solid team win. Jamie Driscoll, Josh Lipka, and Chris Peck put in a 20 mile chase to bring back an early breakaway, and during those 20 miles not one other rider took a single pull. This set up Dillon to make the breakway group on the final 20 mile lap.

Dillon knew he needed to be the first one through the last corner, and he jumped around Dan Cassidy (CCB) who was leading out a teammate. Dillon sprinted in for the win, while Driscoll and Peck led out Toby Marzot who took 2nd place in the field sprint.

Riffelmacher Wins Hollenbeck Road Race, NY, May 6

After racing with the team on Saturday at Jiminy Peak, I headed out to Virgil, NY for the Hollenbeck road race. The race was three loops of a 20 mile circuit with two big climbs and lots of false flats. There were lots of attacks leading up to the first climb and one rider rolled off the front. Cory Burns (who won the race last year) set a hard pace up the first climb and I attacked over the top with one rider on my wheel. We quickly bridged to the rider up the road and began working to establish a gap over the field.

About 15 miles into the race, one of the riders in the break crashed out on a rough stretch of road. The other rider and I traded pulls for the next lap and a half and then I accelerated on a climb with about 15 miles to go, got a gap and rode in for the win. The final 300m of the race was on a gradual climb and it seemed like the longest 300m I had ever ridden after being out in the wind for so long.
Cory did a great job of covering every move from the field and made sure that no one else came across.

Tour of High Bridge, NJ, June 10

After getting sick at Mt. Hood and taking time off to recover, I was finally ready this weekend to get back into the swing of things with a short local race. The Tour of High Bridge is a fixture of the New York/ New Jersey summer racing scene and features a 300m wall at 15-18% as well as one of the roughest sections of "pavement" I have ever ridden on.

A break of five went on lap 3 of 11 with most of the big local teams represented and it stuck to the end. I tried to bridge by myself about half way through the race but did not quite make the junction. After failing to bridge, I sat in until the last lap and then attacked with one other rider about two miles from the finish.

I stayed away to the finish to finish what turned out to be 7th (there was one other rider up the road in between the break and the field).
All in all, it was a great way to get back in race mode.

Matt White has been taking on some NRC criterium racing, with a nice photo on cyclingnews.com while the whole team has been busy with some stage races.

Fiordifrutta Takes on Mt Hood Classic Stage Race, NRC, May 29 – June 3

For the past week the Fiordifrutta squad descended upon Hood River (OR), a trendy little town where the glacial snowmelt from Mt. Hood flows down to meet the Columbia River Gorge, and the place will never be the same. Good times were had by all as we took on time trials amidst the strong winds that gust through the Gorge, then battled the hot arid wasteland that sits in the rain shadow to the east of Mt. Hood, and finally 2 days of 10,000 feet of climbing each with finishes at the ski stations on the slopes of the massive volcano. Adventures wrapped up the week with a nice technical criterium around race title sponsor Full Sail Brewery, whose generous sponsorship included product samples as well as cash prizes.

Top results for the week against the nation’s strongest pro riders were Cory Burns with an 11th place finish in the prologue and Josh Dillon with a 6th place in the stage 3 circuit race. Dillon wrapped up the week in 17th place in the overall GC classification.

Tri-Peaks Challenge Arkansas NRC, May 17-20

A team of four extended their stay in "The Natural State" of Arkansas for another weekend of racing at the Tri-Peaks Challenge, a hilly 4 day, 5 stage NRC race. The team was Hayden Brookes, Roz Dilsky, Will "Uptown" Rifflemacher, and Matt White. This was Will's first true Pro race, and you could see the excitement was building for him, after a really strong race at the Joe Martin Cat 2 race.

Stage 1 was the shortest road race many of us have done all year at about 60 miles, starting with a 6 miles decent, and finishing with 20 miles of mellow uphill. Towards the bottom of the finish climb an elite group of climbers broke free, and Whitey and Roz recognized the opportunity and made the move. Roz set some pace to solidify the move, and Whitey was able to keep the climbers within striking distance all the way up the climb and raced for the win.

Attacks went down with 5k to the go, Whitey was able to match the first 4-5 moves, but finally felt the burn with about a 1k to go, and finished 8th out for the original 18 or so in the break. The time gap was substantial and the the top ten on GC were set. If the boys could keep it together over the next 3 days an NRC top ten was within reach.

The most threatening stage was an 8 corner crit, which went pretty hard all day, and many riders crashed and were gapped off. The team finished mostly in the front group, with a few lessons learned about NRC crit racing, STAY FORWARD! In the short dead flat TT Whitey and Roz were able to put down some fast times, keeping Whitey in his 8th place, and moving Roz into the money!

One Stage left - a 70 miles roller stage with a nasty 3 mile finish climb at roughly 18%. Things stayed mostly together all day, and the run into the climb was like the last lap of a crit, Hayden and Will did a fantastic job keeping Whitey out of trouble and toward the front. On the climb, Whitey made the front group briefly but the pitch got the best of him, and a top 20 finish was the best he could muster, but not enough time was lost to move the 8th place GC. Roz also maintained his paying position was a solid climb. And that's it for "the Natural State".

White 8th at Kelly Bike Jam NRC Criterium, MD, May 26

Matt White was a team of one for this race, and was happy to hear a mention of the Fire-Rod (Fire-rod De Frutta as this announcers likes to call us) as a major contender on the day. BikeJam is a long lap park crit that twists and turns with only one sharp turn. The opening laps went full throttle and I did my best to do absolutely nothing, as I knew I had to make one move, and only one.

About half way through the 40 miles race I saw my chance, a well represented string of riders were pushing the pace on the front. I waited just long enough to see the group was forming, and jumped across. As soon as i got there I knew I had made the right move, as the pace stayed high for a number of laps and I was in pain, but rolling clear of the field. The group was about 20 deep with 5 Navigators and 3 P-Healths, and 3 Rite-Aids. The combo was right, and after some rotating to solidify the gap the race was on.

Attacks flew, and some riders chased for the their sprinters. We lost Hilton Clarke off the front in the closing laps, and chasing him down with 4 more Nav's on my wheel seemed like a death sentence, so I waited for the final lap to race. In the small group sprint I took 8th. I was a little too patient in my sprint and ran out of road before I ran out of legs, but another top ten this time in a crit and sprint felt pretty good.

White at Tour of Sommerville, May 28th

Just me Whitey again. We went round and round for 50 miles. The road shook my bones, and I narrowly avoided a number of crashes. I made the only promising move all day, the one with Acton, Fratini, and Borrajo (probably the best sprinters in the race) and the whole Navigators team, but because it's Sommerville, and the draft can pull an old lady in a wheel chair at 32 miles an hour, we went no where after 5-6 laps of trying. The field sprint was too dicey for me, and I finished in the safe zone. I really wanted that break to roll as the legs were really feeling it, I just needed more corners I think.