Intelligentsia cup is a 10 day series of races in and around Chicago. The series consists of 7 crits and 3 road races and is a scored omnium with your best 9 races out of 10 being scored. It’s a big race bringing high in quality fields for 10 days straight. This was the first time I have raced this many days in a row. So I was super excited. Our team included Tanner Ward, Jacob White and guest rider Ceaser Serna.
Day 1 – Beverly
A 60 minute crit. The shortest crit of the series. It was a super fast race. The field was blown apart early. Tanner was getting into nearly every move the first 40 minutes of the race and towards the end Tanner, Ceaser and I all got into the break with a total of 7 guys. Being so late in the race and knowing most of the major teams we’re represented in the break we knew it had a really good chance to stick. But the break was caught with less than 1K remaining. The pace was so high in the break I was still able to stay 2nd wheel until the 2nd to last corner where I moved to 3rd. I had a good turn of speed the last 300 meters to challenge for the win but ended up 3rd. I was super happy with the race and the way all my teammates raced. Ceaser was 7th and Tanner ended up 15th.
Day 2 – Glen Ellyn
A 90 minute crit. Not a super great ride from me but Tanner got in the early 4 man break that stayed away all day. I was hurting sitting in the group. It was another super fast day averaging nearly 29 mph. Tanner ended up 4th in the sprint.
Days 3, 4, 5 & 6
These days were all tough days for me with my best result only being 13th. I didn’t have bad legs or bike problems. It was just really hard bike racing. Ceaser had a couple top 10’s.
Day 7 – Niles
A 90 minute crit. We had talked in our team meeting before the race and decided that all of us were going to try and ride more aggressive. The first hour of the race was nearly 30 mph and single file. At this speed it’s very hard to send attacks but people were still sending them left and right. Tanner was riding like a mad man chasing down nearly ever attack and getting into multiple moves. I had a couple of goes mid race but it seemed Arapahoe Resources was trying to keep it together for a field sprint. Some where around 12 laps to go Tanner got into a serious move with a few guys and it looked promising but it came back with 8 laps to go and then Kern Haus (rider from Germany) attacked and me and 2 others followed. So with 8 laps to go, roughly 10-12 minutes. We had a 4 man break consisting of 1 Arapahoe Resources rider, 1 Kern Haus rider, 1 Pats Veg Drapac (rider from Australia) and me. Early in the move I was working really hard to make sure it was going to stick. At that point I wasn’t even thinking about winning. Just going for another podium. With 2 laps to go I knew we were going to make it so I eased up a bit. The German put in a little dig with one to go and I looked around and decided I had to shut it down. With 400m to go I was sitting 3rd wheel. Around 250-300m to go the Aussie jumped and I tried to get onto his wheel and with just under 200m left he slipped a gear and bobbled a tiny bit and I was able to get around him. The Arapahoe rider was nearly a bike length ahead of me with 100m to go and I dug deep and just got ahead of him in the last 30m. It was close but I managed to win with about half a wheels length. For me this was by far my biggest win. It felt awesome being able to share it with the team. They all road so hard. At the end of the day being able to get on the podium is just such a good feeling.
Day 8 – Elmhurst
A 90 minute night crit. With the win the previous day I was back into the top 10 on GC so I got a call up. Which isn’t normally a big deal but for this race which was starting in the rain it was a huge gift. A break of 6 rolled almost from the start line. Having the call up helped me get in the early move. Besides it was much safer to be in a small group when it’s raining. We instantly started working well together. Late in the race we heard the race was being cut short. I tried to go one time with 3 laps to go and was shut down quickly. I followed a few other moves and then decided it was going to be a 6 man sprint. I had good legs but bad positioning in the last corner and ended up 4th. I was still super excited to be in the break with a chance to win.
Day 9 – Lake Bluff
A 90 minute crit. Tanner did massive work to bring a 3 man break back in this race. He cut the gap from 45 seconds to 3 seconds. Then 1 guy jumped across and those 4 ended up staying away. It’s interesting to note the break just needed one more engine to stay away. It was a group sprint for 5th for the pack. Ceaser ended up 13th and I was 15th.
Day 10 – Fulton St.
A 90 minute crit in downtown Chicago. Early into the race I knew I was in trouble. My legs have never been this tired before. There was only one serious break and Tanner was able to get in it so the rest of the OBP guys and I were good. The break got brought back in the final laps. It ended up being a group sprint. I was able to get in a really good position with 600m to go. The sprint started early and with 200m to go I started to fade. I ended up 11th. Ceaser was 8th. Ceaser ended up 8th overall and I finished 9th on GC.
All in all it was a super fun 10 days of bike racing and eating pizza. Great courses, great people and great organization. I’d love to go back next year. Thanks to all our sponsors at Oklahoma Bicycle Project: Keith Haney Racing, Schlegel’s Bike Shop, Durbin Larimore Bialick Attorneys, Specialized, Transitions LifeCare, Nathan Elfrink MD, Breast Cancer Screening Center of Oklahoma, Thomas R. Todd MD, First Mortgage Company, and Memorial Hospital.
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