Alexis Rhodes Sprints To 2nd Place At San Dimas Hospital Road Race
San Dimas, CA - The Team Vera Bradley Foundation women were on a mission today. Their goal was to get in a breakaway and go for the stage win. They did not disappoint, as Alexis Rhodes succeeded in a break of 5 riders by a mere 12 seconds over a hard charging field, taking 2nd to Colavita/Baci's Kelly Benjamin. HTC-Columbia's Kim Anderson was 3rd.
The race was aggressive from the start. And Rhodes initiated the first major breakaway of the race on the second lap of the 8-lap, 56 mile circuit race. "There were some attacks, then I countered and Chloe Hosking (HTC-Columbia), Rebecca Much (TIBCO) and Heather Logan (Colavita/Baci) came with me," said Rhodes. The foursome got a gap of 1:15 heading into the feed zone on Lap 4. "When Chloe got dropped from the break, I knew that HTC-Columbia was going to bring it back." And it was Ina Teutenberg and her HTC-Columbia teammate, Evelyn Stevens that attacked at the base of the QOM climb, which caused the field to shatter. "They caught us after the climb," said Rhodes. "And there was a bit of re-shuffling and I managed to get into the next move." That next break was the move that stuck. Joining Rhodes, Benjamin and Anderson in the break were TIBCO's Amanda Miller and Nanoblur-Gear's Anne Samplonius. "Kelly Benjamin was sitting on most of the day, and Kim couldn't really work. I attacked a few times to shake things up, but Kelly had the legs for the sprint."
Rhodes garnered enough sprint points and time bonuses to move up to 7th overall and take the points jersey going into tomorrow's criterium. "The team rode a fabulous race," said team director, Lisa Hunt. "This was their first race together, and it's just going to get better and better."
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