BISSELL Takes 3 of the Top 5 Spots at Sea Otter
Levi Leipheimer (Astana) was just too strong for the BISSELL dominated race on Friday as he rode to victory 4 seconds ahead of BISSELL's Paul Mach who came across in 2nd, Morgan Schmitt in 3rd, and Ben Jacques-Maynes in 4th.
Friday's road race left the Laguna Seca Raceway and traveled eight circuits totaling 69 miles on the neighboring roads of Fort Ord. The race was capped off with a blistering 3k climb at 8% grade for a hill top finish.
Several circuits into the race, a successful break of ten riders got away including BISSELL's Burke Swindlehurst, Paul Mach, Morgan Schmidt, and Ben Jacques-Maynes. The group of ten were able to build up a two minute lead with considerable work from a CAL Giant led chase group.
Halfway through the race, BISSELL's Swindlehurst and Colavita's Haedo attacked and were able to build a thirty second gap on the lead group including race winner, Levi Leipheimer, and the three BISSELL's, Paul, Morgan, and Ben. The pair forged for much of the race, but were eventually caught by the group of eight in the final circuit.
Paul, Morgan, and Ben made several digs on the final climb, but just could not shake Levi. In a sprint finish, Levi surged ahead of Mach for the win.
NOTE:
Special thanks to Brian Hodes of Velo Images for the superb photography!
Follow today's race on BISSELL Cycling's Twitter
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| Photo by Brian Hodes |
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Photo by Brian Hodes |
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Photo by Brian Hodes |
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