July 2010 News Articles

Neighborhood Streets – Decisive Time Bonuses – Top Purse

These are the 3 elements that make the Tour of Elk Grove a truly unique race! With the time bonuses playing a decisive role in this race, BISSELL knew they had to protect their 4 riders in the top 10 including Pete Latham, Jeremy Vennell, Andy Jacques-Maynes and Ben Jacques-Maynes. The riders also remained focused on negotiating the 155k circuit through the neighborhood streets of Elk Grove that included 26 corners per lap. Thirdly, the race delivers the largest purse in the NRC which creates even greater incentive in the peloton.

BISSELL rode an exceptional race with Kyle Wamsley going out on the attack in the opening lap. Wamsley, Jay Thomson (Fly V), and Jim Stemper (Kenda) maintained the breakaway for 9 of the 10 laps. Along the way, Kyle took top sprint points by winning all of the 3 intermediate sprints and won the purse as ½ race leader at the end of 5 laps. The accumulated sprints points earned Kyle a 6 second time bonus. On the final lap, the break was caught, and 91 riders lined up for a field sprint. The time bonuses gained at the finish reshuffled the leader board and pushed Pete Latham back to 3rd. BISSELL remains a dominant force in the top 10 with Jeremy Vennell in 4th, Ben Jacques-Maynes in 9th, and Andy Jacques-Maynes in 10th. Further evidence of BISSELL’s strong performance is their lead as top team in the team classification.

Stage 3 and the available time bonuses will be the key in determining the outcome of the race. There are 3 sprints in Sunday’s criterium and the accumulated points come with time bonuses of 6-4-2 seconds for the top 3 places, respectively. A stage win earns 20 seconds, 12 second for 2nd , and 8 seconds for 3rd. With the top 15 riders all within 15 seconds of the leader, the race is wide open. BISSELL has 5 riders all within reach of an overall win and will be riding for the win.

BISSELL led the opening time trial at the Tour of Elk Grove for most of the evening. Jeremy Vennell was BISSELL’s first rider off and set the scorching time of 8:33 on the 4.5 mile course. His time stood as the fastest time for the majority of the race. BISSELL continued to log great times with Andy and Ben Jacques-Maynes stopping the clock with virtually identical times for top 10 finishes. BISSELL was temporarily unseated from the lead by Jelly Belly rider, Mike Friedman. However, Pete Latham who was BISSELL’s final rider and the third final rider of the day would have none of that. Pete was on fire with a time of 8:32, .20 seconds faster than Friedman, to take his first NRC win. Congratulations to the BISSELL Team for a great race! BISSELL looks forward to tomorrow’s 155K road race.

Local host families open their homes to professional cyclists during the Cascade Cycling Classic.

Click on link to view video from KTVZ:Central Oregon's News Leader

http://www.ktvz.com/video/24333099/index.html

Dan Feldman | Flint Journal

FLINT, Michigan — Derek Graham and his wife recently bought a house in a nice Grand Rapids neighborhood.

But one day, his neighbor was playing the bass guitar loudly.

Graham, who seems to enjoy peace and quiet, knocked on his neighbor's door. When the neighbor answered, all Graham said was, “Do you know that low-frequency waves travel farther and are more audible to the human ear?”

“That's 'DG' in a nutshell,” said one of Graham's cycling teammates, Derek Witte, who relayed the above story.

That same Derek Graham who prefers quiet won the men's category 1-2 at the inaugural Le Champion Pave bike race in Downtown Flint on Sunday. That's the same Derek Graham the crowd heard as he shied through a post-race interview on speakers that blared across Saginaw Street.

Further questioning didn't reveal much more personality.

Graham said he was relieved to win. Are you just not that excitable? “Not really.”

Have you always wanted to be out of the spotlight? “Pretty much.”

After he forced a smile for a few pictures while holding up his oversized winner's check on the podium, Graham hopped down quickly. But Witte, who missed the photo shoot, wanted a picture to send the team's sponsors and asked Graham to go back up. Graham declined. Did anything sound worse than going up for another picture? “No.”

But Graham compromised, remaining on ground level, and holding up the check while Witte photographed him. That's when Graham showed his other side — the side that's a trivia expert and knows things like the behavior of sound waves, the fun side only those close to him to know.

Graham held the check straight forward, then turned to his side like he was posing for a mug shot. Finally, more than 40 minutes after winning the race, he cracked a natural smile.

Graham, 29, began road racing about six years ago, and that's when he met Witte. It's common for people to act reserved in new situations. Sometimes, they open up in a few hours, a few days, a few weeks or even a few months.

It took Graham three years!

One day, he just began talking to Witte during a training ride. Witte said the conversation seemed natural, and since, he's enjoyed getting to know Graham.

“Still waters run deep,” Witte said.

Before participating in road races, Graham specialized in mountain-bike racing. Since switching focus, Graham has excelled. With his second individual win this year, he has helped his Bissell racing team to about 12 team wins in 20 events.

“He said himself, and I agree, if he had committed to road earlier, he'd probably be on a pro team now,” Witte said. “But he seems happy with his life.”

The latter point wasn't apparent to everyone in attendance Sunday. But those close to Graham know it's true, and that seems to be all that matters to him.

http://www.mlive.com/sports/flint/index.ssf/2010/07/reserved_until_the_crowd_clear.html

The BISSELL Pro Cycling Team dictated all of the action at the 2010 Grand Cycling Classic with constant attacking. The battle started in the opening laps of the 90 minute criterium with an attack from Ben Jacques-Maynes. Teams such as United Healthcare, Fly V, Jamis Sutter Home, and Kenda which had brought its strongest sprinters knew the danger of allowing any BISSELL rider to get away and fervently chased down every move. When one BISSELL move was brought back another BISSELL rider would counterattack, and the day unfolded with a continuous stream of BISSELL testing the field. BISSELL’s Shane Kline made a solo move at the halfway point in the race. He built up a maximum 15 seconds before being brought back into the field. With 30 minutes to go, Patrick (Paddy) Bevin saw a perfect opportunity to launch an attack on the weary field. He quickly created a gap and was joined by a Team Panther rider. The pair increased their lead while the BISSELL Team continued to employ great race tactics from behind. As the laps ticked off, the sprinter’s teams organized a significant chase; however, BISSELL riders, Andy Jacques-Maynes, Daniel Holloway, and Frank Pipp covered the action. With 15 laps to go, Paddy increased the pace and popped off his break mate. In a very exciting finish, Paddy was able to hold off the charging field, and took the win in his sponsor’s hometown. Congratulations to Paddy on his 1st NRC victory and to the team for outstanding racing!

The final crit of the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic was potentially dangerous to the GC and BISSELL rode a fantastic race to protect its interests.

BISSELL was very active from the start with Andy Jacques-Maynes and Ben Jacques-Maynes making some great early efforts. About 30 minutes into the race, Kyle Wamsley attacked and created a 3 man move. The gap hovered at about 40 seconds for the majority of the race. With riders eager to come across, there were constant efforts to bridge up. Rob Britton covered a 5 man group that successfully made the trip across to increase the group to 8 with 2 BISSELL riders. Striving to increase BISSELL’s numbers in the group, Frank Pipp made an outstanding solo effort to bridge the group. 5 laps later, the group increased to 8 with 3 BISSELL riders represented, and the gap grew to 50 seconds. Meanwhile, the battle between Kelly-Benefits and Fly V was taking place from behind. At 8 laps out, Fly V was pushing the group in hopes of gaining the time bonus to vault Thompson (Fly V) into the lead while BISSELL was driving the break. At 7.5 laps to go, the race came back together. BISSELL’s goal shifted to providing support for Jeremy Vennell and Paul Mach. The team successfully delivered Jeremy and Paul to the line and also positioned Patrick for the field sprint where he came through in 5th. The GC remained unchanged with Jeremy securing 3rd and Paul finishing 5th. From his outstanding effort in the breakaway, Kyle gained enough points to finish 3rd in the sprint competition.

Jeremy Vennell wins Fitchburg Time Trial

BISSELL’s Jeremy Vennell won Sunday’s race against the clock and now sits 3rd overall at the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic. Jeremy stormed the 14k course with a time of 17:31. The BISSELL Team was a formidable force with 5 riders in the top 20.

The final stage takes place this afternoon and is a 60k crit. With Jeremy only 6 seconds from the leader and Paul Mach 36 seconds back, the team will look to have them in good position.

Saturday’s 98 mile road race was aggressive from the start and BISSELL had riders in all the early moves. On the 5th lap of 9, Jeremy Vennell covered a move which started the progression for the day. From there, several riders who wanted a place in the action worked their way into the day’s break. Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home) was the first to start the move across with BISSELL’s Kyle Wamsley close on his tail. Paul Mach was the next to force his way across to the break and his move forced the Kelly-Benefits Team to react. Kelly-Benefit’s pursuit was enough to create a big group split. The front group held the day’s victor along with 3 BISSELL riders. With 3k to go, Aurelien Passeron (Garneau) broke away from the front group and was able to hold on for victory. Daivid Veilleux (Kelly-Benefits) got 2nd and BISSELL’s Paul Mach came through in 3rd. Jeremy Vennell also crossed with the same finishing time.

The BISSELL Team rode a strong race today and looks forward to putting Jeremy and Paul into good position during tomorrow’s time trial.

The second longest running race in the United States, The Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, kicked off on Friday with the State College Circuit Race. The course totaled 120k and included 24 laps of a 5k course. The racing was aggressive and included 100 ft of climbing per lap with a 300 meter climb to the finish.

There was a series of attacks throughout the day; however, the most threatening move came from BISSELL’s Paul Mach, Ben Jacques-Maynes and 5 others. A group eventually bridged up to the leaders and increased the number to 14. Paul and BJM worked the group well, but a number of riders in the break sat on. Meanwhile, a strong chase was brewing from the main group led by Jamis-Sutter Home and Kenda. This led to the break being caught with 1 lap to go. Paul threw in another attack at the top of the climb and was able to break with 3 others. Again, his group was caught at the base of the finishing climb, only 500 meters from the finish. This set up conditions conducive to a field sprint. BISSELL rode a solid opening day in Fitchburg with Jeremy Vennell and Ben Jacques-Maynes both in the top 20. Saturday’s race is the grueling Wachusett Mountain Road Race.

This special fund raising event will enlist 200 area cyclists riding one of three scenic bike trails in support of the Ronald McDonald House. The three routes (25, 62 and 100 miles) have been selected to accommodate a variety of riders. All routes will begin and end at Johnson Park in the city of Wyoming, Michigan. The bike tour will be a supported ride, featuring fully stocked rest stops, SAG wagon service, commemorative T-shirts and a post-ride awards party.

You can participate by registering for one of the three bike tours and asking friends and relatives to support your ride by making a donation to the Ronald McDonald House. Or, if you can't participate in the ride, make a donation in support of one of our riders! 100% of the funds raised from this event will help provide a home away from home for families with children seeking medical treatment in our community.