Press Release
Victory gives Toyota-United team welcomed lift;
Pic earns 2nd Anniston victory in women's race
Anniston Star
By Joe Medley
Sports Writer
May 4, 2008
Hilton Clarke crosses the finish line to win the men's pro event at the Sunny King Criterium on Saturday. Clarke's Toyota-United teammate Caleb Manion finished third.
What a victorious-yet- ominous weekend for Toyota-United Pro Cycling. Its four riders overpowered Jittery Joe's eight in the final two laps to push Hilton Clarke to victory in Saturday's Sunny King men's pro criterium in downtown Anniston.
Another of its riders, Henk Vogels, scored a stage 4 victory in the Tour of the Gila in Silver City, N.M. Not bad for a team that learned Friday that its title sponsor would not renew once the current three-year contract runs out after this year. Toyota Motor Sales, USA has "shifted strategies," according to a top marketing executives.
The team's riders must, well, ride it out. "I know Sean Tucker is going to be making a strong effort to keep the sponsor going," Clarke said Saturday, referring to the team's owner. "This team is a brilliant team, so fingers crossed, and we're just going to keep winning.
"That's all we can do." Tina Pic did what she does so well in the final sprint of Saturday's pro women's criterium here, marking her second Anniston victory in three years and fourth criterium victory in a week. This in what she has said will be her last year of full-time competitive cycling.
As for the men's pro race, Clarke and his three teammates stayed among a pack of riders who lapped the field. They overpowered a team double its number in the final two laps.
Not only did Clarke win the race, but teammate Caleb Manion took third. Dominic Rollin and Ivan Dominguez, two of the team's top sprinters, burned out to help position Clarke for the final sprint. A gassed Rollin and Dominguez dropped back in the final lap, finishing 14th and 33rd, respectively.
As late as four laps to go, all eight Jittery Joe's riders crossed the finish line ahead of the lead pack. They made up the lone team that sent the maximum number of riders.
Clarke said he knew Toyota-United's four were stronger than Jittery Joe's eight. "If you know Ivan Domingez, he won a stage of the Tour de Georgia," said Clarke, from Melbourne, Australia. "We could've been last here with a couple of laps to go, and he would have gotten me to the finish."
Clarke made it three victories in the USA Crits Speedweek. He also won at Beaufort and Walterboro in South Carolina on Tuesday and Wednesday, all following completion of the Tour de Georgia last weekend.
"Tonight, I definitely felt tired," Clarke said. "But I felt tired in these three races I won.
"But in Tour de Georgia, I helped Ivan and kept building my form, and it paid off." Health Net's Karl Menzies took second place, making it a top-three sweep for Australian riders.
Health Net, the defending USA Cycling team points champion, brought six riders Saturday. Rory Sutherland, the 2007 individual national points champ, finished 30th.
Saturday's women's pro race saw Pic, racing for Colavita-Sutter Home, avenge a final-sprint loss to Cheerwine's Laura Van Gilder here a year ago.
Van Gilder, the 2007 USA Cycling national points champion, finished fourth. Pic, who turns 42 Friday, hardly looked on the verge of retirement Saturday. She powered ahead of the field by about three bike lengths in the final sprint.
She pumped her right fist in the air and soaked in cheers from the crowd of about 300 at the finish line. "I didn't feel like it," Pic said when told of the margin of her victory. "I was just like, 'Woooo!' One more day." Four Colavita riders broke to the front with two laps to go, and three Cheerwine riders broke on the first turn of the final lap.
"People were in and out … but it was so long to the finish, so I just waited," Pic said. "I think it's about timing."
Cheerwine's Kelly Benjamin took second, and Advil/ChapStick's Jen McRae was third. Pic is a four-time national points and criterium champion. She said last year that she would likely ride out 2008 and retire.
Saturday's victory followed up her criterium victories at Beaufort, Greenwood and Spartanburg earlier this week. In the glow of her victory Saturday, she sounded slightly less certain about her plans to retire.
"I think so, yeah, although I don't know," she said. "I love it. It's really fun. "I talked to my husband, and he was like, 'Maybe another year', but we'll see."