By John Tomlinson
Nice weather greeted the racers at the 2004 Mengoni Grand Prix, promoted by New York’s Century Road Club Association and supported by long-time cycling patron Fred Mengoni.
The course is just rolling roads through Central Park, and in good weather races typically come down to field sprints. Not this year. In the pro-1-2 race, first-lap attacks by riders including Greg Wolf (Stelvio Teamwear) and Edwin Morel (GS Gothm Toga) came together into a 21-rider break with powerful teams like Gotham/Toga, Ideal Tile, Navigators and ACT-UPMC all having at least two men in the move. The GS Mengoni team missed the break completely, partially due to disarray following a serious accident of 3-time winner Wilson Vasquez. Others decided against going and didn’t make it either: Germany’s Sonke Thiel (Stevens-Hamburg) said “I was on Van Haesebroucke’s [Navigators] wheel when he went up, but I thought ‘It’s too early’ and let him go.”
Mengoni spearheads the chase.
Early in penultimate lap (with about nine miles to go) Gotham/Toga’s Melito “Pulla” Heredia and Ideal Tile’s Bill Elliston got clear of the rest of the break. Elliston described it: “Pulla was going really hard on the downhill leading into the climb at the top of the park. I took a pull and when I moved over, no one else would do anything. So I went after him. He still had a gap on me at the top of the climb, so I yelled, he waited, and that was it — we stayed away. Really he was doing most of the work for the rest of the race. Like a freight train.”
Heredia and Elliston, one lap to go.
Why the attack? With a smile Heredia said, “I wanted to win. I’ve wanted to win this race for years. It was good to have a teammate in the big break, but I was worried about Joe Papp [America’s Cycling Team-UPMC] and the Navigators.”
A few riders, including last year’s cat 3 winner Rob Lattanzi (CRCA/Next), made it across to the break late in the race, as cooperation broke down and the field came close due to chasing efforts from Mengoni, with individuals from CRCA-Conrad’s, CTS and other teams helping out. Mike Henson of CRCA/VisitBritain was one of the riders trying to keep the break clear, but reported that “The group was too big and not enough guys were working.” Still, most of the break was just ahead of the field at the end. As Mike McGinley of CVC-Pig Iron put it “It was nice not having to deal with a huge mob at the end.” In the break, Uruguayan Alvaro Tardaguila of America’s Cycling Team-UPMC won the sprint for third over Van Haesebroucke.
Heredia takes the win. Photo courtesy Marco Quezada.
An early move also worked in men’s 3 race, with six riders getting away early. Fourth place Michael Sherry of CRCA-Merrill Lynch-Stelvio described the move: “The break kind of formed in slow motion. VisitBritain’s Ken Harris was last to join to make the juncture but the main reason the gap got comfortable.” Winner Daniel Byrne (CRCA/Sanchez-Metro) was not very confident leading into the finish. “There was a prime sprint earlier and I got a touch of cramp then.” Bernie McGarry and Tom Cipolla of CTS rounded out the podium.
Daniel Byrne sprints to victory.
The women’s race was the only one that finished in a field sprint, won by Ashley Kimmet of Colavita-Bolla. Kimmet improved one place over the previous year, as did runner-up Catherine Powers of La Grange. Caryl Gale of CRCA-Aquafina was third. Powers, who began racing in New York City, described the finish as “tricky” adding “I used to have it dialed in but it’s been a long time since I’ve raced in Central Park. I like to go early but got a little bungled up when Betty Tyrell launched even earlier and then faded and pulled off to my side. Still, it’s great to be back in New York!”
Ashley Kimmet edges out Catherine Powers and Caryl Gale.