Princeton, NJ – If the Fitchburg/Longsjo Classic is the Tour de France to New England bike racers, than the Giro di Jersey was its Dauphine Libere. Typically, a big stage race requires some sort of practice, a tune-up for the big show. The Giro di Jersey, with its time trial, road race, and circuit race, just two weeks before heading back to Massachusetts forFitchburg, was the perfect warm-up.

Seven MetLife riders made the journey down to the Princeton area this weekend, except for Nick, who lives in the area anyway, proudly showing off the region to his teammates from the North. A time trial kicked off the stage race, 15 kilometers out and back on a bucolic rural road in Ringoes. A few rollers spiced things up, slapping some added pain in the legs and lungs, but for the most part, the course was downhill out and uphill back. Corey, MetLife’s TT specialist, set the fastest time for the team, somewhere in the region of 20:30, approximate because the officials marked him, ridiculously, as a DNF, or “did not finish.” Had the officials recorded the correct time, Corey would have been in either third or fourth on the day. C’est la vie. After a lengthy protest and some sketchy calculations, however, the officials finally put Corey in seventh at 20:47. Charlie clocked in a decent time at 20:52 to nab ninth on the day and Brad came in :33 seconds after that, placing him in 19th. With two guys in the top-10, it was going to be an exciting weekend, fighting for the rose-colored leader’s jersey.

Next up was the 73.5 mile Rocky Hill road race stage, a great course featuring some of the roads used for the Hills of Somerset County road race a few weeks prior. With Empire Cycling in the lead, the stage promised multiple attacks from MetLife, as well as Rite Aid Pro Cycling, CCB, and Northeast Hardware, among others. The team hoped Charlie and Corey could put some time into their competitors by taking advantage of a KOM, or “King of the Mountain” sprint at the top of the Old Georgetown Wall during the second lap. CCB ramped up the pace going into the wall and continued to use its multiple strong climbers to bring the team’s Jake Hollenbach into perfect sprinting position. Charlie sat third wheel approaching the climb’s steepest pitch. Noreast Cycling’s Vinnie Scalia jumped from behind, trying to surprise the line but was quickly reeled back in. Sizing up his competition, a medley of larger-legged sprinters, Charlie took the chance and attacked up the last portion of the climb when the pace lulled just slightly. Unfortuntaley, he, too, went just a touch too early, and was passed by riders just before the line. No time gained.

The violent pace up the wall that second lap, however, wreaked havoc on the field, shelling many riders in the process. Corey was one of the victims. A lap later, Brad sneakily cruised away from the pack just before a right turn onto a narrow metal bridge. A few moments passed and a representative from nearly every other team bridged up to him, as did Scott. With a one-two punch in the break, the pressure was off the rest of MetLife. With three laps remaining though, CCB, the only major team not represented in the move, powered the field along and brought Brad, Scott, and fellow escapees back. It was then that three other riders, not particularly high up in the general classification, countered. Despite a spectacular chase on the last lap, spearheaded by Brad, Chris, and Graham to put Charlie in a good spot for the final time up the Georgetown Wall, the field never caught the breakaway. Charlie took 15th in the field sprint. And because the riders in the breakaway had a minute on the field, they moved up into the top-10, bumping Charlie down to 11th.

Day three was the Corner House Grand Prix circuit race, a 2.4 mile course, featuring a slight uphill and four blisteringly fast corners. On the fourth lap, a break formed and pulled some strong riders out of the field. With no MetLife representation, Nick took a chance in an attempt to get across. After seeing Nick up the road in no man’s land, Charlie decided to jump across. But after three laps of chasing, he never made it and fell back into the pack with three to go. Although they had riders in the breakaway, Rite Aid committed a cardinal sin of bike racing and chased down its own teammates. Luckily for everyone else, this brought the race back together just before the finish. The field completed the 30 mile race in 57 minutes, meaning many legs were fried at the end of the day.

When all was said and done, Charlie wound up holding strong in 11th, a good result considering the strength of the high-powered pro/elite amateur field. If there’s one thing the guys took from this race, it would be the importance of having a strong, cohesive team, working together toward the achievement of one goal. MetLife proved itself in Jersey and looks forward to tackling Fitchburg in two weeks.