MetLife Rips it at Kelly Cup, just misses the top 10
One of the few corners on the Patterson Park circuit
BALTIMORE, MD: On this cool and windy Sunday in May, the top professional and amateur cycling teams from across the country lined up for the weekend’s second of two National Racing Calendar (NRC) races. Though the brisk conditions were nothing reminiscent of the previous days brutal heat & humidity at the Wilmington Grand Prix, the Bike Jam Kelly Cup offered an equivalent and substantial amount of treasure up for grabs – $15,000 for the Pro/1 field to be precise.
The MetLife boys had learned their lesson at the previous day’s affair in Wilmington. As the race entered its closing laps, the torrent paced upped that much more, resulting in innumerable splits in the field. Each of the boys in blue – Nick, Tim, Vinnie, Ryan, and new Recruit Austin Roach – was behind these fissures, and each individually attempted to jump across to the wilting peloton. At 30+mph, only so many of such efforts are possible, and the MetLife crew was left relegated to a second “chase group” in the last half-dozen circuits, though this bunch was arguably larger than the shattered lead peloton. Small consolation was found in a blistering lead-out by Tim “Turbo” Mitchell that set Nick “the Lion” Bennette roaring through for second in the “field” sprint. This was, however, outside the money and of little solace for the team.
Sunday, however, would be a new day. The MetLife boys were firmly resolved to move to the front of a peloton ahead of the fracturing that had detonating the race at Wilmington. Unsurprisingly, an equally-stacked field mobbed the start line in Baltimore’s Patterson Park, surrounded by a carnival like atmosphere and impressive showing of local fans and spectators. The 40 laps of the 1.1 circuit through the urban green-space was sure to make for an epic day of criterium action.
As expected, the field left the line like a bat out of hell, and showed little signs of slowing through the early laps. Eager to establish a break-away, numerous smaller pro outfits sent riders off the front. The field, however, seemed dead-set on a sprint finish, as each move was steadily reeled back into the strung-out peloton. Eager to avoid the previous day’s disappointment, Nick wiggled his way to the front early, and smoothly rolled onto the back of most of the surging moves that punctuated the hour and half of racing.
Kelly and Colavita eyed each other all day, with MetLife (Nick) tucked in the draft
As the remaining laps entered the single digits, the Tim, Austin, Ryan, and Vinnie tried to maneuver towards the front and set up for the inevitable group gallop towards the line. A blistering penultimate lap acceleration by Aldo Ino Ilesic (Team Type 1), however, ramped the pace up to “ludicrous speed”, and made further improvements in position all but impossible. Upon reintegrating, the field slowed and subsequently bunched, and the narrow course ensured for a number of crashes, slowing Mitchell and stopping Roach altogether. Alone in the whirlwind final lap, Bennette popped out his elbows, fought for position, and entered the finishing straight in the jet-wash of the pro-squads lead-out trains. Putting his head down and chain into the 11, the lion was able to close into striking distance of the podium but simply ran out of real estate. Nonetheless, his finish just on the wrong side of the top ten, just behind the previous day’s winner Zach Bell (Kelly Benefits) is superb result for the all-amateur MetLife outfit in a top-notch NRC race and bodes well for their chances in upcoming high-caliber events.
The field sprint, with Nick coming through on the right for 11th.
See the full photos and results at Cyclingnews, and look for the MetLife boys charging to some fast finishes in next weekend’s Tour of Atlanta!