The Sea Otter Classic Pro XC, long known as one of the longer XC's on the national circuit, was shortened due to the unseasonably hot temperatures today by UCI officials. With afternoon temps easily in the mid 90's, the original 38-mile course, was adjusted to a single lap, 19-mile course for the women, and a 29-mile course (19 mile lap + a shortened 10-mile lap) for the men.
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Christoph Sauser
Photo: Brightroom.com |
Prior to the 1:30 pm start time, many pro athletes were not concerned with the heat or disappointed with the change.
"I would prefer to do the longer race but the fast guys are the fast guys and this should not affect the win," stated Saturday's Short Track winner Todd Wells (Specialized). Their tune quickly changed after the start with temps on the tarmac reaching 92F for the particularly large 155-strong, pro men's field.
Team Specialized took control of the race early on with World Champion, Christoph Sauser, leading the first paved climb to a bottlenecked dirt funnel that forced anyone after 15th place to a complete stop. Ryan Trebon (Kona), consistent with his strong start at Saturday's Short Track, held on to Sauser's wheel through the section but coming into the bottom of the Skyline climb, things changed with Burry Stander (Specialized) taking the lead and Wells in a close second with Sauser in third. At the top coming out of the grinding five-mile, windy fire road, Sauser again quickly took control and opened up a 2-minute gap over Wells and Sid Taberlay (Sho-Air/Specialized). Max Plaxton (Sho-Air/Specialized) and Sam Shultz (Subaru/Gary Fisher) both took chase in an exciting dice to work together and catch Taberlay. Following the lead five, a strong group of six chased with a 1.5-minute gap with a dusty and battered Trebon, who crashed on the back side of the course, leading a pack hungry to maintain top ten status.
Close to the race finish, a previously confident and fresh looking Wells flatted out on the last climb at the end of the 10-mile portion of the course.
"Kind of a slow leak that I tried to fix with C02 but eventually had to replace the tube," said Wells.
That gave Plaxton and Taberlay the opportunity for a podium finish. Eventually it was Sauser taking first with nearly a 5-minute gap, followed by second place Taberlay, with Plaxton in third and Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru/Gary Fisher) in fourth.
"I was pretty hot at the beginning...but was more than happy it was shorter," commented Sauser about the heat.
Gould-medal finish
The women's pro field also started in the heat of the day just 15 minutes after the men's race with Lene Byberg (Specialized) taking control at the top of the first climb and making the important first shot through to the dirt. After the winding single track, ruts and dusty conditions filtered out the riffraff in the 48-racer field, it was Georgia Gould (LUNA) leading the final climb by 1.5 minutes.
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Georgia Gould
Photo: Brightroom.com |
"That last fire road is a good section for me, I was feeling pretty strong on it in a pre-ride so I saved a little bit of energy for that and there was a nice headwind that kept me nice and cool on the way up," Gould said.
With Byberg and Catherine Pendrel (LUNA) working together and jockeying for position on the windy fire road section for second and third, it made for an interesting scenario to attempt to catch Gould.
"I couldn't follow her (Gould) in the downhill and the flat sections because she just got those seconds and from there she could just find her speed" Byberg said. Kelly Emmett (Giant) gave a valiant chase for the podium but, exposed in the wind, was not able to catch the Byberg-Pendrel duo.
At the finish, Gould took first by more than a minute with Byberg taking the second place spot and Pendrel in third. Commenting on the pivotal moment where she took the lead Gould said, "I found myself at the front before that (final climb) and Katerina (Nash – LUNA) was right behind me and she said, 'We have a little bit of a gap!' and I didn't know if it was her or not, I just heard 'gap' and I didn't want to work with someone who wasn't my teammate. I blew a corner and she went by and I was like, 'Oh great, now I get to follow Katerina because she's the fastest out there on the downhill,' so I got to ride behind her and then she let me by on the climb and that was sort of where I rode by myself."
Top 3 Women:
- Georgia Gould (LUNA 1:22:45.6
- Lene Byberg (Specialized) 1:23:52.05
- Catherine Pendrel (LUNA) 1:23:59.5
Top 3 Men:
- Christoph Sauser (Specialized) 2:02:54.3
- Sid Taberlay (Sho-Air/Specialized) 2:07:01.9
- Max Plaxton (Sho-Air/Specialized) 2:07:28.5
For a complete list of results, click HERE.