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February 25, 2010 - First Race and First Win for Team Type 1
Race Report: Spring Training Series, Greenville, SC
The calendar may only say February, but members of the Team Type 1 professional and development teams already have two races under their belts. And they didn't wait long to grab the season's first win. A mix of professional and developmental riders headed to Greenville, South Carolina, shortly after wrapping up the team's pre-season training camp, for the first two races of the 2010 Greenville Spring Training Series.
Team Type 1's first race for the 2010 season was the Donaldson Center Road Race in Greenville - a 56-mile road race that brought out some of the fastest locals Greenville has to offer. Team Type 1 used the race to provide developmental team members the opportunity to ride alongside their professional team counterparts.
The Team Type 1 train sets Martijn Verschoor up for the win.
Over the course of the day, a total of three breakaways managed to edge away from the field, and each time a breakaway was successful, two members of Team Type 1 made the split. Professional team member Joe Eldridge highlighted that Team Type 1 was key to instigating many of the day's moves, saying, "we wanted to make the race aggressive, and get some efforts in as well. From the second lap in, Dan (Holt) and Javier (Megias Leal) - two guys on the pro team - got away for about two laps. The group worked really hard to pull them back, then myself and Olaf went on the attack."
The race was finally settled when a group that included Matijn Verschoor of the professional squad and Justin Morris of the developmental team made the day's final eight-man breakaway selection. "Olaf and I were gone for about a quarter of a lap, and when we were re-absorbed, Justin attacked through us. I told him to just keep going. Martijn and six other guys joined him and we sat up and waited for the finish."
Verschoor and Morris found that there was strength in numbers, and when the finish line drew close, Morris was in prime position to lead out Verschoor. Despite riding on different squads within the Team Type 1 family, Morris' timing was perfect and Verschoor was able to sprint home for Team Type 1's first victory of the season in the first race of the season. Team Type 1's Stradford Helms noted, "Martijn sprinted for the win, with a great lead-out from Justin, who finished fifth."
Not satisfied to just take the win, Team Type 1 took control of the chasing peloton, intent on winning the field sprint for ninth. Professionals Javier Megias Leal, Aldo Ino Ilesic, Dan Holt and Joe Eldridge led developmental riders Olaf Kerkhof and Stradford Helms to the line, and it was Kerkhof who emerged from the final sprint with the field sprint victory.
All in all, Team Type 1 members grabbed first, fifth and ninth, as well as eleventh through Edlridge, twelfth through Helms and fourteenth through Ilesic. "Going into the sprint, we wanted to get the kids some experience and show them what we do and let them learn from that," said Eldridge of the final sprint. "I told Olaf on the last three laps of the race to follow me to show him where to ride and how to stay out of trouble. When we got to the finish I told him to hold on and make sure that no one got in between us. If he wanted to win the field sprint he could go for it!"
One day later, at the BMW Performance Center in Greenville, Team Type 1 was again an integral player in the series' second race. This time the development team was allowed to strut its stuff, independent of the professional riders. The course covered a 0.9-mile outer circuit, and was slated for about an hour and ten minutes.
Early in the race, a breakaway group of three emerged from the pack, never to be seen again. Desperate to put a rider into the winning move, Team Type 1 relentlessly attacked the group, but to no avail. Said Helms, "After the first attack we made several attempts to get across but they were all covered by the group. We decided to wait for the sprint and try to win the sprint." When it became clear that the sprint was going to be the best place to showcase Team Type 1's talent, the riders began to align themselves for the big finale.
Despite having only trained together for a short period of time, developmental riders Justin Morris, Stradford Helms and Simon Bennett set up a picture-perfect lead-out train for Olaf Kerkhof to win the field sprint. Helms spoke highly of the team's composure in the run-up to the finish line, saying, "With one to go, Johnny Clarke (of UnitedHealthcare presented by Maxxis) tried to steal our wheel so we did a little bumping to prevent that, and Olaf and Justin were put in the perfect position for the sprint." With that, the sprint was on, and the team delivered Kerkhof to the line in the perfect spot to grab fourth place. Kerkhof was narrowly beaten to the line, but still managed his first top five result of the season. And managed to hold of Clarke in the process.
Developmental team director Tim Powell was especially impressed with his team's performance, remarking, "These guys have only been riding with each other for a few weeks, and have really bonded into a great unit."
With that, Team Type 1 wrapped up its first weekend of racing in the young 2010 season with a win and a pair of top five finishes. Beyond the results, both professional and developmental team members showed that they are coming together well as a unit, and will be a formidable group when the season begins in earnest.
On February 27 and 28, the developmental team will travel to Florida for the Tallahassee Omnium, while the professional team will head shortly thereafter to the OCBC Cycle Singapore, March 6-7.
reported by Jacob Sisson
