Baker wins Tour of Colorado, Gateway and Boulder Roubaix – Jon Baker continues to have a strong 2008 campaign. This past Saturday, Baker took out one of Colorado’s most prestigious races by winning a wet and muddy edition of Boulder Roubaix. The win was a sweet one due to the teamwork involved. Jon Tarkington went in a very early move with Alan Krughoff (Team Rio Grande) and put pressure on the field. When Tarkington was caught late in the race, Christian McCarthy took off on a solo move. Sheldon Taylor (Team Rio Grande) bridged up to McCarthy with only Baker in tow. Upon Taylor’s arrival at the McCarthy rear wheel, Baker launched a textbook attack and held it to the line for the win. McCarthy would finish third. Derek Strong continued a string of solid performances by finishing 6th and Dirk Friel took 7th. Tarkington hung on for 10th.
Baker finished 5th the following day at another Colorado Classic – the North Boulder Park Criterium. With that placing, Baker clinched the Tour of Colorado. In taking that title, Baker won a pair of climbing road races the prior weekend in Grand Junction, CO.
In women’s racing, Anne Lannan took 2nd in the North Boulder Park Criterium with VC teammates Renee Eastman, Lisa Strong and Jenna Allen taking 6th and 9th and 10th, respectively.
McCarthy racks up silvers – in other race news, VC strongman Christian McCarthy notched three-in-row second places in recent weekend races. In all three instances, McCarthy was second to some solid professional riders. McCarthy took second to Heath Blackgrove (Toyota United), Chris Baldwin (Toyota United) and Jason Donald (Garmin-Chipotle) at the Federal Center Circuit Race (Aug 2), Bannock Criterium (Aug 3) and Vic’s Prospect Criterium (Aug 9).
Pinkerton wins Nevada Masters State Championship – VC team manager and long time rider Bob Pinkerton recently took the Northern California/Northern Nevada State Criterium Championship in the 50+ Division at the Carson Valley Classic Criterium.
Kellagher, Barrowclough and Mapes – The Vitamin Cottage pb XP Companies team snagged a few recent victories of note. Bill Kellagher won the 45+ and James Mapes the Category 3 Boulder Roubaix race. Mathew Barrowclough won the Salida Criterium.