USPRO Road Race Championship
Greenville resident, George Hincapie, wooed his hometown crowds as he once again took the stars and stripes for the third time in his career. The always brutal Greenville course had 95 starters with only 43 finishing.
As in years past, the race went off with some early showmanship when Dave Zabriskie took off in the first opening lap in Greenville and managed to stay away through the second large lap including 2 trips up the uncompromising Paris Mountain. There were some efforts in the chase and BISSELL was well represented with Tom Zirbel, Paul Mach, and Shelden Deeny all part of the main chase group. Zabriskie was finally brought back as the riders headed into the 3rd large lap, and the serious racing began.
As soon as Zabriskie was reabsorbed, counterattacks ensued. A break of 4 got off and Andy Jacques-Maynes was the solo chaser. Andy put forth a huge effort in this incredibly tough spot but was never able to catch the group. As the pace in the lead group escalated, riders were dropped leaving only 2, Alex Howes (Garmin) and Chris Jones (Team Type 1). BISSELL again tried to reach the lead group as Frank Pipp went off in chase. Frank eventually bridged up to the leaders and the group of 3 worked well together. The screaming tempo resulted in Jones being the sole leader as Pipp and Howes were eventually dropped. The main group finally reduced the gap to Jones to 20 seconds at which point Hincapie made his move. George took a few riders with him and they were able to bridge up to Jones.
The lead group gradually grew to 8 on the final ascent up Paris Mountain. Not content to let the dangerous group get away, a strong chase group of 9 immerged including BISSELL’s Burke Swindlehurst. The chase group was not able to reel them in, however, and the gap grew from 30 seconds to over a minute in the final lap in downtown Greenville.
After a late attack from BMC’s Jeff Louder, 3 riders, Hincapie, Louder, and Andrew Bajadali (Kelly Benefits) battled for the win. Bajadali attacked on the final turn but Hincapie patiently sat on his wheel and seemed to come around with ease to take the win. Louder crossed for 3rd. Top BISSELL riders Burke Swindlehurst and Ben Jacques-Maynes finished 15th and 21st, respectively. 2009 provided a hot and exciting challenge between the top US pros in Greenville.
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| Burke Swindlehurst |
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Ben Jacques-Maynes |
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