Eugene Boronow of GS Mengoni won the Tour of Newark at Branchbrook Park for the second consecutive year on Sunday. Eugene’s too modest to write a ‘look at me’ race report, but relented when we insisted that he could teach new riders a thing or two about how to read a race and how to win.

The sky was clear, the air was warm, and the wind was calm. Under these conditions, everyone wants to race; riders feel good, and memories of what hard efforts really feel like faded in the long winter months. So our team decided to relax early and let the race happen without us. The back of the peloton is always a fun place in the early season: lots of “Hey, how was your winter?”, etc. That’s where we catch up with each other and talk about stupid things that make us laugh. But then there was the race.

@##=#<2,L>@##=#A small group got a little gap on us, and Ed Beamon (Navigators) decided to bridge up-from the back of the field! He must have had a flag sticking out of his helmet, because guys started whistling and yelling, “Up, up!” as if he was going to bring us all up there. But only one guy responded to the noise: Jon Clifton Moore (Clifton Inc.). Jon is good at sniffing out a good move; he’s often in the winning breakaways. Another guy with a good sniffer is Glenn Schneider (Colavita), who bridged up shortly after.

This was when I (mentally) entered the race. Often in this situation (when a good-looking group is a little bit up the road), a few riders will attack without being able to break loose, or chase hard for a while, keeping the group close. The moment when the chasers lose hope, an opportunity to bridge across presents itself. That’s exactly what happened, and I jumped across.

The work in the group was a bit messy, but we all contributed. Ed Beamon worked hard throughout the race, but eased up later. Given the work he does for the Navigator team, he’s probably only ridden his bike three times in the last month. Roger Aspholm (Westwood Velo) was in the break after winning the masters race earlier in the morning. John Durso (Liberty Cycle) was in there with a team mate. John is a tough guy to beat – here’s an example.

@##=#<1,r>@##=#Ok, like I said, the work of the group was a bit messy. Guys were leaving gaps and not coming through, so someone would have to go up and start the thing rolling again. After being that “someone” a few times, I decided not to do it any more. I didn’t want to waste energy closing other people’s gaps. I got yelled at a few times, but I was adamant; I did my own share, but no one else’s.

The course has a dog-bone shape, so we can see the field and/or chasers coming the other way. My teammate, Peter Salon, was trying to get across to the break. There was one point where he was within 5 or 10 seconds of us, but he was alone and faded. That didn’t stop him, though. He kept trying and eventually made it with Gavi Epstein (my other team mate in the race), Mark Light (Alliance) and another rider (not sure who). Now the group had 16 riders, and everyone was looking for ways to sit on; the group was too big for efficient work. There were lots of attacks and little splits, but there were too many strong legs in the group and nothing worked. But with one lap (6 miles) to go, I took advantage of a lull and got away. It was an odd situation: there were some small attacks and the group had just come together with J.C. Moore dangling off the front, resigned to getting scooped up.

Nobody wanted to be the next to the front, so I rolled off (I had done that a few times earlier, only to get caught). As I approached Jon, I did it quietly and from directly behind. I accelerated sharply past him and went off alone. He went after me, but he was a bit too late. From this point on, I depended almost completely on the reaction of the group behind. If they decided to chase me hard, they would have caught me. But the reaction was favorable and I stayed away. Behind me, Peter also got away from the group and soloed in for 2nd. This was surprising, considering all the work he had done throughout the race. Then there was the group sprint, the field sprint, and then the greasy burger & fries at a local diner.