The Bulletin, Bend / Central Oregon News
NOVEMBER 22, 2009 05:09 AM
bendbulletin.com/Cascade Cycling Classic
more photosRiders work to break from the peloton in two groups during a climb from the Deschutes River west of Redmond during Wednesday’s second stage of the Cascade Cycling Classic.
Rob Kerr / The Bulletin
Two Spaniards take control after a climb during the second stage
Rock Racing’s Spanish cyclists in control after second stage
By Mark Morical / The Bulletin
Published: July 23. 2009 4:00AM PSTIt has been a long few days for Oscar Sevilla and Francisco Mancebo.
But the two Spanish cyclists have now seized control of the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic for their Rock Racing Team.
Sevilla and Mancebo arrived in Bend at 4 a.m. on Monday after a long flight from Madrid, where they had just finished another stage race on Sunday. After a tough day in Stage 1 of the Cycling Classic on Tuesday, Sevilla managed to outclimb other competitors to claim victory in Wednesday’s Stage 2, the Three Creeks Road Race, and ride into the overall leader’s jersey.
Sevilla finished the 80-mile race in 2 hours, 54 minutes, 17 seconds, edging out second-place Peter Stetina of Felt-Holowesko (Garmin Slipstream’s U23 team) by seven seconds. Mancebo was third, 25 seconds back.
Mancebo is also now second in the overall standings (27 seconds behind Sevilla), giving Rock Racing the top two spots in the standings going into today’s Skyliners Time Trial. Chris Baldwin of OUCH is third overall (35 seconds behind), Jeff Louder of BMC is fourth (36 seconds back), and Rory Sutherland of OUCH is fifth (42 seconds behind).
Sevilla, 32, and Mancebo, 33, both speak little English. But through a translator, Sevilla said he felt much better than he did on Tuesday, and that he was happy to have the leader’s jersey. He added that his legs were feeling pretty good for today’s time trial.
Wednesday’s race started at Summit High School in Bend and took riders north past Redmond and Terrebonne, and then east into Sisters. From Sisters, cyclists endured a 10-mile climb, including 2,000 feet of elevation gain, to the finish at Three Creek Sno-park in sunny, hot conditions.
Rock Racing team manager Laurenzo LaPage noted that the climb to the finish line suited Sevilla and Mancebo.
“We knew Mancebo and Sevilla are good climbers, so the only problem for us was they came in late from Europe, because they finished a race on Sunday,” LaPage said. “(Tuesday) was tough. We didn’t know if they would recuperate, but they did. And then we had (David) Vitoria in the breakaway.”
Vitoria, of Rock Racing, broke away with three other riders before the finishing climb. The lead group also included Mike Creed of Team Type 1, Alex Howes of Felt-Holowesko, and Patrick McCarty of OUCH.
A crash involving some 30 riders just south of Sisters split up the main pack, but the four lead riders were eventually caught by the peloton on the climb.
“I talked to Vitoria before the race and told him if he could go in a breakaway it would make a lot of stress for the leader’s team (Bissell), so they have to work behind you guys,” LaPage said. “And once they catch you back here, you can do a little work for Mancebo and Sevilla, and that’s what he did. So he did a perfect job.”
Sevilla, Stetina and Baldwin broke away with about three kilometers to the finish, and Baldwin soon faded. Sevilla got away from Stetina with about 1K to go.
“We were being the aggressors all day, and it was a full team effort,” said Stetina of his U23 team. “We probably each attacked about 20 times … we were all fried.”
Stetina — whose father, Dale Stetina, won the CCC in 1983 and ’84 — said he knew he had a chance to win the stage. But he added that Sevilla was just too strong to the finish line.
“He just straight up dropped me,” Stetina said. “To beat a guy like Sevilla you have to sit in (the main pack) all day and do everything right, like he was doing. All the favorites were sitting in, whereas we were the aggressors today. It was good, though. We were bike racers today, not bike riders.”
Sevilla and Mancebo have impressive, but somewhat dubious, resumes. Sevilla finished seventh overall in the 2001 Tour de France and 18th overall in the 2005 Tour. Mancebo was sixth overall in the 2004 Tour and fifth in 2005. Both cyclists were linked to “Operation Puerto,” a 2006 Spanish doping case reportedly involving some 200 professional athletes. Neither Sevilla nor Mancebo was allowed to start in the 2006 Tour de France because of their ties to the case.
Sevilla was later fired from the T-Mobile team for his link to doping, according to VeloNews. Mancebo decided to retire from racing but later changed his mind and continued racing in 2007.
Now they are two of the top riders on the U.S. domestic circuit, proving as much on the long climb up Three Creeks Road on Wednesday.
“I think we have a big chance to win the overall,” LaPage said. “But we have to wake up tomorrow and then we will make another plan. They (Sevilla and Mancebo) are not the top guys in the time trial, but they always play themselves in the top 10 in Europe. So they have a big chance. They won’t lose too much time tomorrow, so I think we can control the race.”
Mark Morical can be reached at 541-383-0318 or at mmorical@bendbulletin.com.
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