Daniel Byrne (CRCA/Merrill Lynch–Hincapie Sports) treated himself to the perfect birthday present, winning the Harriman 3 race with a sprint from a small breakaway group.

The decisive move came on the third lap, when Matt Howard (CRCA/Blue Ribbon-Translation.com) rolled off the front “by accident. I rode tempo for a while to see if anyone would come along, then when the moto came up and told me I had 15 seconds I figured I should try to stretch it a little, see if I could make it to the feed zone. A group of five caught up just past the start/finish with 2 to go, and that was our break.”

Back in the field Tom Bencivengo and Jason Beerman (both Champion Systems Racing) would drive the chase, but with Jon Orcutt and Michael Sherry (both CRCA/Merrill Lynch–Hincapie Sports) blocking, the break held a steady gap.

The break worked together, with Fernando Ferreira (Mclagan National Financial/FASTAR), playing a little possum. On the last lap, Stephen Cummings (Kraynicks/Mezzatesta) attacked at the top of Tiorati. The remaining five riders worked together to keep him in sight, intentionally delaying the catch to wear out a strong Cummings. Ferreira countered and caught Cummings, with Byrne stuck to his wheel. Howard, Ed Ceccolini (Westwood Velo), and Justin Waynick (Spinners Cycling) were gapped. Coming into the sprint, Byrne jumped too early, because “I was just so damn excited”. With Ferreira steadily gainly ground, Byrne gave an extra kick: “I could sense him coming off my wheel, but there was no way I was going to let anyone come past me, this was my special day!” At the line Byrne held on by a wheel, with Cummings third.

Hap-py Buthday, Mis-ter Pwesident…

Howard hung on against Sean Barrie (Rockville Harley-Davidson/Bicycle Pro shop), who had charged out of the chase group. Waynick finished next, while Ceccolini was swallowed up by the pack.

Matt Howard, shattered by the effort.

All photos courtesy Marco Quezada.