June 5 & 6, 2009

Sparling & Britton each take a stage at Mt Hood

by Heidi Swift

June 5, 2009
Jamie Sparling bettered his escape companions to win the final stage of Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Sunday in Hood River, Oregon. Paul Mach finished 34 seconds back in the main field to safely defend the overall race lead he took on Thursday.

Mach's Bissell team rode the stage safe to keep the s 13-second classification lead over Chris Baldwin (OUCH). After a series of attacks, a group of ten got away from the field.

The 10-man break was pared down to eight with Jamie Sparling (Truck Red Truck), Justin England (CalGiant-Specialized), Aaron Olson (Oakley/Sidi), Corey Collier (Rio Grande), Adrian Hegyvary (Hagens-Berman), Allen Krughoff (Rio Grande), Adam Switters (CalGiant-Specialized) and Erik Slack (Bobs Bicycles). The group rode stayed away for more than half of the 75-minute race, gapping the field by as much as 30 seconds.


June 6: Wy'East Road Race, 92 miles
Rob Britton (Trek Red Truck) climbed his way to victory in Mt. Hood Meadows, Oregon, after a hard 148-kilometre stage in the wind Saturday. He finished ahead of classification leaders Chris Baldwin and Paul Mach by few bike lengths. "It was Baldwin's race to lose," said Britton of the classification duel. "I was in tenth place [overall] so I was obviously going for the stage win. The last one kilometre or so I just sat and tried to wait and play it smart." Baldwin started his charge about 200metres to the line, but he nor Mach could stop the charge of Britton.


Photos courtesy of Heidi Swift