2002 San Rafael BMC Software Criterium

2002 San Rafael BMC Software Criterium

by Karen Brems

About 80 of the top US women criterium riders and their teams lined up in downtown San Rafael Saturday for the chance at a $10K prize list. This race has gone big time. My goals were to see some riders I haven't seen in a long time and pick up some cash. I figured my best chance at the latter was in primes. Even in my best days, I wasn't too successful at elbowing my way through a swarming pack to dive into the last corner of a crit. My best sprints came after a long, hard RR. Typically, the top teams and riders are more concerned with trying to win the race than with primes. This was the case last year, and Laura Charameda and I traded off taking most of the later primes that went up to $200. There was a fairly large break that lapped the field, driven by eventual winner Ina Teutenberg of Saturn, so the pace in the pack wasn't that high.

This year, Ina was in Holland helping Petra Rossner win the final World Cup race and the overall title. It made it quite a different race. The dominant teams were Saturn with about 5-6 riders and Diet-Rite also with 4-5. They attacked continually all through the race, keeping the pace very high but nobody ever got more than 50m off the front. The first 2 primes were for $100 and I think Laura Van Guilder took both of them. Laura is probably the best US sprinter at the moment and has won the national criterium title numerous times and has now been selected to represent the US at the World Championships in Belgium next month. I knew there was absolutely no chance I was going to beat her in a sprint, so I decided to wait until later primes when she hopefully decided to conserve for the finish. The next time the prime bell rang, they announced $200. In San Rafael, the sprint basically starts going into the 2nd to last corner. There is a long, downhill drag into it and then the last 2 turns are right in a row. I didn't see Laura at the front, so I jumped as late as I could to get to turn 3 first which I did. I came out of turn 4 and started my sprint. Tania Duff-Miller was apparently on my wheel and she passed me in about 3 pedal strokes. OK, so I guess sprinting isn't ALL about position :). Tania didn't used to seem that fast!

The next prime lap, a Diet-Rite rider was off the front by 50m before they rang the bell. I didn't want to chase her down myself since I knew I would then have nothing left to sprint with, so I kept myself in the top 3 waiting to see if she would get caught. I went through the turns at the front of the field, but Diet-Rite still had about 20m and I knew I couldn't close that in time for the line. I was coming to the conclusion that I wasn't going to get any primes from the pack since the real sprinters were taking those - I needed to try to get away somehow. This wasn't easy either though since when I looked down at my speedometer on the UPHILL straight, we were generally doing 28mph. I don't have the fitness to make too many efforts in a race anymore, so I had to be selective. I followed a few attacks, mostly by Saturn riders in hopes of countering them, but people were given a pretty short leash on the prime laps. It also seemed that enough riders still recognized me that I had a shorter leash than most. Don't they know I'm old and retired and train 10 hrs a week now?? Helene Drumm made a good attack on the start/finish straight and there was a hesitation in the pack and she held her 20m gap all the way to the line for $300!

At one point, a Saturn rider attacked on a prime bell and I bridged up and we had a gap, but she was fading, so I tried to counter but Nicole Freedman caught on my wheel. I didn't want to tow her to the line, so I slowed but we had a slight gap, so she kept going and led me through the last corner. I sprinted off her wheel and came up even with her for about 3 pedal strokes and then she was gone. I definitely don't have the speed I used to!

The last 15 laps or so of the race, the pace went up a notch and Kim Davidge and Kim Bruckner (US TT champ) traded off blistering attacks. They could only stay off a lap or 2 though before the hungry field caught up. They took a prime or two though, which were now all up to $300. At this point, I figured all I could do was hope to get some kind of placing at the finish. I knew the money went at least 20 deep.

The last 2-3 laps, it was a constant effort to stay near the front, but I knew it was critical. On the final lap, I figured Saturn would try to lead out Suzanne Sonye. Sure enough, on the final lap, going through the start/finish, one of the Kims (Bruckner I think) started driving at the front. By turn 2, I made it into 3rd position. The problem was rider 2 was not a Saturn and they seemed to have only 1 leadout rider which isn't enough for for a whole lap. Kim started to fade a hair and going down the back straight, and the inevitable swarm happened. I lost some positions, 9 to be exact. I went through turn 3 in 12th (after nearly getting hooked by the rider going for 11th) and that's where I finished. Laura Van Guilder, riding without a team, took the win over Joanne K. from Diet-Rite and Tania Duff-Miller. Susanne Sonye was 4th. Laura's win moved her ahead of Petra and into first on the ProTour standings and also into the lead in the NRC standings.

I think at least 1/3rd of the field were dropped and pulled. Yukie bowed out of the race early, not feeling well. Troy rode well and made several appearances at the front. Unfortunately, there was a crash in the last few laps and she left the race on a backboard. I talked to her as the EMTs loaded her into the ambulance after the race and she said she was fine. She didn't look too beat up, so I hoped she was right. I guess she hit her head so they wanted to check her out. I later talked to her at the meeting and she is OK except for a slight whiplash.

Overall, it was a fun race and the crowds were great - not the level of the SFGP, but pretty good for a local crit. I had no trouble sitting in the pack, and with some effort, I could usually get where I wanted to be. I just don't have the speed anymore to sprint against the "big girls" nor the fitness to stay OTF for a whole lap at the pace they were going and those were the only ways to get primes this year. I actually placed higher at the finish though than last year. I also made almost twice as much money for 12th as I did for winning the Giro SF!