Amidst the busy schedule of the MetLife Cycling team (now in full swing, jam-packed with big races: see ‘Throwing Down at Fitchburg’ post) June 21st seems like forever ago. Things do seem to move slower in the south and well, we apologize that such an epic race was so slow to report. Let it be known, however, that the Austin AT&T Crit was anything but slow.
Part of the USA CRITS series and a Pro, National Race Calendar (NRC) race, the AT&T Crit attracted the best criterium racers in the country along with a massive crowd that erupted downtown Austin, Texas. Eager to see the famous Tour de France riders Freddy Rodriguez and Tyler Hamilton, spectators lined the city streets in the tens of thousands in anticipation of the speed and excitement of criterium racing at its best. MetLife’s Thom Coupe, J. Alain Ferry, and Aaron Molloy lined up against a stacked field of 70-plus racers. With teamRock Racing owner Michael Ball’s pre-race pump up, downtown Austin was rocking as the sun was setting for the 8:00pm start of the fourth annual race.
From the gun, the blistering pace left the field strung out in a long, single-file line that snaked its way through the relatively basic, four-corner, one kilometer course. The pace of the pack and the nature of the course’s pancake-flat, city-block route made it hard for breakaways to gain much time over the field. Nonetheless, attacks festooned and bedazzled the first half of the race, yet none could gain more than a few seconds before being swallowed up by the swarm of the steady pack.
Twilight set in and the air was dry and temperatures were still in the 90s but cooling. As the racing got hotter, the silly-putty speeds of over 35 mph stretched the field out on the back stretch. For many, the pain of racing was counteracted by the surge of adrenaline the crowd poured on the racers. As the sun tucked behind Austin skyscrapers, racers wished they could trade their sunglasses needed during the start for night-vision goggles to help them navigate through the final laps. For better or worse, ecstatic spectators, stacked at least five rows deep, crammed the sides of the course to the point where racers could not hear how hard they were breathing, nor could they see around the 90º turns to sight their line.
Alain tried his luck first and showed off the MetLife team colors to the crowd as he was off the front for a couple laps with some very well known riders. When Alain and his group were caught, other racers gave it their all to try and snap free of the pack’s painful speeds. With them, Thom tried playing with the “big boys” but he didn’t gain much ground. He attained a few seconds of a gap but when he looked back, none other than Tyler Hamilton was sitting on his wheel. Thom likes to think Tyler’s face was one of discomfort as he was struggling to stay on his wheel, cussing the MetLife logo ahead of him that was making his race hard. Realizing that he wasn’t going to gain much time, Thom, like the rest of the pack at the halfway point, took a reality check and realized that the speeds were too great from which to pull away. It seemed that everyone opted to try and save his energy that would be needed in the closing laps as the pack picked up its pace and the big teams worked to set up their sprinters.
With 10 laps to go, Toyota-United Pro Cycling took control of the race and set up their “pain train” on the front of the field that pulled the race around the course at aching speeds. In the shakedown to the line, the narrow roads, dark skies, big crowds, high speeds and sharp turns, caused some chaos during the rush to the finish. Among some field splits and spills in the last miles of the 75 minute race, MetLife held strong with two riders finishing in the front group. In the end, the final sprint to the line was won into the pitch black, crowd-roaring, final corner, just 400 meters from the line. Out of it,Colavita/Sutter Home’s Alejandro Borrajo crossed the line first over Toyota-United Pro Cycling’s Henk Vogels, Ivan Dominguez, and Hilton Clarke, finishing second, third, and fourth, respectively. For MetLife, perhaps a little reluctant, tired and intimidated in their first major NRC race, Thom and Alain finished in 32nd and 42nd place respectively, with Thom finishing just ahead of former Tour de France and Rock Racing rider ‘Fast Freddy’ Rodriguez.
It’s safe to say that MetLife held their own and even played some cards while racing it big time in Austin. The race was not so much ‘Rocking’ as it was ‘Heavy Metal-ing’ as the rhythm of the race was much more intense then that of the Rock genre.
