Evie’s Valley of the Sun report

by alex

Section head text.

Evelyn Stevens moved up a new field, P/1/2, and raced in a new state, Arizona’s prestigious “Valley of the Sun” stage race, but the result was the same old. She spent the race at the front or off the front, inflicting maximum pain and came away with a very convincing win. She graciously sent us a report:

TT: Well the TT did not go quite as planned, I was almost to the half way point when I heard the unfortunate poof of my front tire going flat. So I just had to wait for the van to pick me up, they gave me last place time plus 30 seconds. That was a total bummer.
Road Race: There were about 80 plus women at the start line, a few Pro teams with race radios and me in dead last place.  After a bit I got myself to the front of the pack just to see the dynamics of the race, chase a few attacks and do a bit of pulling. At the QOM there was a crash that I was behind, I fortunately got around it and back to the front group.  The race continued for a while with a couple of the teams throwing attacks but with nothing really sticking.  We were about half way through the last lap, when a Metro girl attacked, once we brought her back in, a girl from Veloforma attacked and I hopped on her wheel.  We quickly gained a good gap on the field and she said she was cooked, but she wouldnt sprint me at the line if I pulled. So I kept pushing hard and then noticed after a while that I had dropped her.  I finally made the turn and was just hoping I could get the climb before I was swallowed back in by the field. I was able to hold them off, hit the climb and crossed the finish line with just a few seconds to spare.
Crit: Well I guess they weren’t expecting me to win the RR, because I was not posted in the results. After squaring it away with the officials and getting the results updated it was time for the Crit. I somehow managed to shimmy my way to the front of the start. This being my third crit, I was definitely nervous. At the beginning of the second lap, I picked up my speed to get to the front of the pack and gained a gap on the field.  About the fifth lap a Metro girl bridged to me and we kept a half or so lap advantage for the rest of the race. At the last corner she came around me at the finish and took the win.
After a bummer of a start on Friday the weekend turned out pretty well, Overall I think I went from last place to about 28th…
There was a good CRCA showing as well with Brubaker and Kyle doing well in the 3s (kyle got 10th overall), Chaput in the 2’s and then the empire and mengoni guys in the Pros.

14 Comments

Anonymous

Two Empire guys in the top 10 of a tough Pro field filled the likes of Ouch, Bissell, Rock Racing, Ride Clean, Slipstream…..

Anonymous

She gets 1st in the RR and 2nd in the crit and only 28th GC because of the tt mishap. tt’s are kind of lame, and should count as a smaller proportion of GC in a stage race. Anyway, well done!

Anonymous

having timed stage races is lame. The top ten of the stage race for the men is basically the same as some stupid TT. The guys just same times the RR and crit and won the stage race. Points are more interesting.

That woman should be at least top 3 with those results in the RR and crit.

Anonymous

it seems that the TT is definitely unfairly weighted in such a short stage race. The road and crit stages are completely useless in GC if you can just crush a TT and sit in for two stages. When a stage race is only three days, the TT should be shorter (maybe even Cannibal) or a points based omnium would seem to make sense. that being said, if you have a mechanical during a TT, and lose a ton of time, that’s the way it goes. If you break down in the road race and don’t have a support vehicle nearby you potentially suffer the same fate.

ralba

Now I do – congrats on your achievements thus far. Just be safe and don’t get injured.

Best,

Ray Alba

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