Valley of the Sun Stage Race, which took place in Phoenix, February 17-19th, was a promising season opener for the Women’s Vitamin Cottage Cycling Team. Unfortunately the team ran into some bad luck with crashes and flats, but the good news is we got it over with early in the season, and from here on out it is smooth sailing.
The Valley of the Sun Time Trial was a flat and fast 14 miler. We placed well with Carmen Small in 9th, Sharon Allpress in 32nd (suffering from a cold), and Beth Fisk sitting pretty in last place because she flatted half way into the TT. Fortunately she only had to walk two miles before her reliable teammate Sharon came screaming down the TT course to pick her up.
The women’s road race was pretty mellow (at first), and the girls were itching to race. There were sketchy moves from the get go, and the race contained five crashes. One woman being life-flighted out. Unfortunately for VC, the GC leader Carmen was in the last crash of the day with less than 1K to go. Beth and Sharon set her up for a fast finish, but she was caught up behind someone that was too eager and took out Carmen. Carmen ended up with the same time (since it was within 1K) and moved up to 8th place. Sharon got 5th in the road race with her wicked uphill sprint.
The final day was the downtown criterium. The girls were all pretty worried about this race since the road race held so many wrecks. Surprisingly the criterium was much safer than the road race. The Vitamin Cottage team raced like a team. They had full-forced attacks, countered attacks, and ended up winning some primes along the way. The VC girls were very proud of their efforts, and surprised with their fitness. Carmen ended up 8th in the general classification. Beth and Sharon did a great job of keeping her up there and protecting her throughout the race.