Natural Grocers pb XP Companies riders Dirk Friel, Joe Pinkerton and Jon Baker
The NGXP team capped a succesful weekend with Jon Baker finishing sixth in the Nevada City Bicycle Classic, a race that in 2009 included Astana teammates Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong. The Astana trio was using the race as part of their final tuneup for the Tour De France, which starts in July. In front of an estimated 20,000 spectators, Armstrong took the victory ahead of Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling) and Levi Leipheimer. The Nevada City Classic is the second oldest race in the US, and past winners include the likes of Greg Lemond. The race takes place on a tight hilly criterium course. With or without the pro-tour riders, the race typically shatters early into small groups. The 2009 edition was no different with only one third of starting field finishing the race. All four NGXP riders (Jon Baker, Dirk Friel, Joe Pinkerton and Randy Reichardt) had solid races and did not look at all out of place racing against the worlds and the nations best.
Sunday's Nevada City Classic followed on the heels of the Tour De Nez, which took place on three stages over the same weekend. The team rode well in support of Jon Baker. Baker's second place in Friday's Truckee criterium along with his overall win of the sprinters jersey (not bad for a climber) were the highlights of the weekend. Other noteable performances included Friel, Reichardt and Pinkerton all finishing in the top five of the field sprint in the Reno Criterium (stage 2), a stage in which Baker finished 10th. See race reports and photos for the weekend on cyclingnews.com (nevada city classic, tour de nez) and pezcyclingnews.com. Also check out Dirk's SRM power file from Nevada City at trainingpeaks.com. Dirk's peak 5 minutes was 409 watts and he held 307 watts for 90 minutes.
Lance Armstrong leads Ben Jaques-Maynes, Jon Baker and Chad Gerlach at Nevada City
Jon Baker gets a starting line callup at Nevada City
Riders at the start of the Nevada City Classic - Joe Pinkerton (Natural Grocers) starts near Armstrong