OLYMPIC CYCLISTS COMPETE IN NEW YORK CITY AT MENGONI GRAND PRIX ON AUGUST 27

by John Tomlinson

Although New York City did not get the 2012 Olympic Games, New Yorkers have a chance to watch an Olympic champion go for the win this Saturday in Central Park. American Marty Nothstein, gold medal winner in the Sydney Games cycling competitions, leads a very strong field in Saturday’s Mengoni Grand Prix, to be held in Central Park.

Nothstein, of the Navigators professional team, is bringing top teammates as well — including Russian Olympians Vassili Davidenko and Oleg Griskine and the reigning Irish national champion David O’Loughlin. This is Nothstein’s final year of racing, and he faces strong challenges in trying to win the Mengoni Grand Prix for the first time in several attempts.

Among the other favorites are two riders from the Dominican Republic who both now reside in New Jersey. One is last year’s winner Melito Heredia of the Toga Bikes team. The other is another former winner (and a former Dominican national champion), Roselvert “Pollo” Marte of the GS Mengoni Team. Marte, like Nothstein, is renowned as a sprinter, so if the race is still together for the finish at the top of Central Park’s Cat’s Paw Hill, look for those two to fight it out again.

The GS Mengoni team also boasts one of the top up-and-coming riders in the Northeast, 23-year old Lisban Quintero. That team, like the race, is sponsored by Fred Mengoni, a former competitive cyclist from Italy who has played a key role in the development of bike racing in the US through support for many past champions. The GS Mengoni team includes Discovery Channel cyclist George Hincapie, former world-professional champion Mike McCarthy and 1984 Olympic gold medallist Alexi Grewal (all of the US) among its alumni. Mr. Mengoni, who made his fortune in real estate in New York, considers himself one of Greg LeMond’s closest advisors.

Saturday’s race includes a range of other top riders. The Colavita-Sutter Home pro team is sending two riders — local hardman Todd Herriott and Italian David Frattini, a former winner of the amateur Tour of Italy.

The UPMC-America’s Cycling Team is also back, with a squad including 2002 winner Joe Papp and two former Uruguayan national champions — Alvaro Tardaguila and Mateo Sasso. Like the Colavita riders, all three are adept at breakaways and will certainly try to escape the fast sprinters like Nothstein and Marte before the finish.

Nerac.com is sending a group of young professionals, while the Jittery Joe’s-Kalahari pro team will be led Saturday by former junior world champion Jeff Hopkins.

Other top participants include Wendy Cruz, who captured the inaugural edition of the Tour of Puerto Rico earlier this year, and Emile Abraham, the top rider from Trinidad and Tobago, now on Team Monex. And last year’s runner up Bill Elliston is not only showing great form these last few weeks but is joined by Argentina’s Alejandro Acton on the Target Training team. Among members of the promoting club, Kevin Molloy of the CRCA-Axis team will lead the charge.

In the women’s race, Ashley Kimmet of Colavita-Cooking Light returns to defend her 2004 and 2002 wins. She’ll face local sprinters such as Caryl Gale of CRCA-TEAm Lipton, Sarah Chubb-Sauvayre of CRCA-Comedy Central, Ashley McCullough of Deno’s Wonder Wheel and Hannah Long of CRCA-Sanchez-Metro.

In addition to a share of the $5,000 prize list, each race winner will receive a jersey by Champion Systems.

Start time is 6:00AM. Expected finish time is 7:15AM for the 30-mile women’s race and 7:40AM for the 42-mile men’s event.

The Mengoni Grand Prix is organized by Century Road Club Association. Founded in 1898, CRCA is one of the largest and oldest bicycle racing clubs in the US. For more information, visit www.crca.net.

The event follows the drives around New York City’s Central Park, which was designed in 1858 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux. The park is an oasis covering 843 acres in the heart of New York City’s backyard that is visited by 25 million people each year. Central Park is home to a wide range of grassroots sports as well as major events including the annual New York City Marathon, the Olympic trials in cycling, and the World Archery Championships. For more information about this special place, visit www.centralparknyc.org.