THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Toyota-United's Justin England takes his second Nevada City crown
One of the strongest pro fields in recent history competed at the 48th Father’s Day cycling classic in the Sierra foothills town of Nevada City, California on June 15th.
As thousands of spectators lined the streets of this historic and bicycle-crazed town, it became clear with 10 laps to go in the men's race that the 48th winner of the Nevada City Bicycle Classic was likely to be one of the two riders who had built a 30-second gap from the pack.
Either BMC's Scott Nydam — the King of the Mountains winner in this year's Amgen Tour of California, was going to score one of the biggest wins of his career, or Toyota-United’s Justin England — Nevada City's 2004 champ — was about to become a two-timer.
England attacked with three laps to go, and Nydam watched him go.
"He looked back and stepped on it. And I just couldn't respond," Nydam said.
England attacked at what turned out to be just the right moment, earning a 10-second gap on the climb to the top of the course.
England's emotions were running high after being handed the first-place hardware, proclaiming his love for the race and the city that serves as its host.
"This is, by far, the coolest race in the U.S.," said England, who was without teammates at the race.
"The crowd here is amazing, the turnout and field quality is incredible, the course is unbelievably hard and, of course, there's always the death march at the end."
Women's
In the Women’s 1/2 event, a local racer — Erin Moeschler of Team SERT/FORD/TONC gave the crowd something to cheer for early on as she stayed in the front of the strong field, but it became apparent mid way through that neither Moeschler nor the rest of the field would stay in touch with Cheerwine’s Sarah Bamberger for long.
Bamberger broke away from the pack mid-way through the race and stayed away solo the rest of the way, finishing 45-seconds ahead of second place finisher Betina Hold and third place racer Ally Stacher.
