Rome velo 

Cycling Team  2008 

The race was set along a course which looped the perimeter of Lake West Point.  The 1^st lap of the 34 mile loop was uneventful.  On the 2^nd lap at the KOM, four riders broke free of the peleton and gained a rather sizable gap.  The peleton seemed indifferent to chase down the attack.  At 5k to go, Rome Velo’s Tony Blansit launched an attack to soften the peleton for teammate Matt Stahl.  Tony was caught at 1k to go and Matt was in a good position for the sprint finish.  Just outside the 200 meter mark a massive crash took out almost the entire peloton.  Matt and Tony both managed to avoid the crash.  Matt went on to take 3^rd in the field sprint for a 6^th place finish and Tony finished 13^th.

 Final Results                T.T                   Criterium          R.R.      Stage

 
Tony Blansit                  7th                        6th                13th        7th                                         

Matt Stahl                     12th                      3rd               6th          8th     

BLANSIT ROCKS TOA!!!!!! Rome Velo cat 4 racer, Tony Blansit makes his mark in GA cycling by taking two 2nd place finishes, back to back.  Buford Crit and Gainesville Crit!!

Rome Velo elite rider Adam Sitz takes hard fall in Gainseville TOA 2/3 crit.  Our team mate, Adam, had horrible luck after in the last lap of the crit. Adam was behind another rider whose tire blew out in turn three, causing a large pile-up of bikes.  Adam was the worst off, landing hard on anther riders frame.  Adam suffered 3 broke ribs, and a partially collapsed lung.  Get better soon buddy, we will need your help later this summer!

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Adam grabs 7th in Cumming Circuit 5.12.08    

Sandy Springs Pays Out!          May 4th, Chris and Aaron went over to Sandy Springs GA for the Sandy Spings Challenge Criterium.  The crit was 40k, and lasted about 50 minutes.  The plan was to always have one of the pair up front, to make the break that looked good.  Aaron went with an attack on the 4th lap that failed.  Chris was up next and bridged onto a 5 man group that attacked through the uphill start /finish.  The break did not waste and time, and the pace was fast.  One rider was quickly dropped, and the break was set at 5 guys.  Two were racing for Iron Data, one from RBM, a Cycleworks riders, and Chris for Rome Velo p/b Harbin Clinic.  After 25 mimutes of super hard riding, the break lapped the field. Ahhh, rest.  But not for long as the catch was within 8 laps to go. Aaron went to the front to try and control the pace and prevent any leaders from doing another attack.  There were attacks.  Chris and Aaron both covered a number of them.  Aaron was a little puffed byt the end, and Chris went to the front alone.  Chris made an acceleration up the final climb to try and shake the feild, but it only resulted in stretching the field out, which is also a good thing.  Chris rode hard tempo on the front for the last lap, in hidsight it would have been better to try and make others work, but at least this way you can't get crashed.  So at the end, Chris was able to keep pace, but got nipped at theline by 2 other guys to finish 3rd.  Aaron stayed with the field to grab 11th after going around a wreck on the last corner.    Sadly, no one was there to take pics...         

Stahl dominates GA Cup!!!   Matt Stahl takes 4th in the Crit and WINS todays road race!  Matt competed in the 4/5 35+ division and was supported by team mates Tony Blansit and Chris Logan.  Matt also finished a respectable 15th in the TT and an estimatd 3rd overall for the weekend Stage race.      In the Elite (Cat 3) field, Chris McGee and Adam Sitz represented the team all weekend.  Chris finally has found his crit legs, and took 5th place in Saturday night's crit against a full field of 3's.  For the TT, Chris came in 21st, Adam 35th.  Road race, both riders finished in peleton, not having the legs to mix it up in the sprint.

 Rome Velo racer Tony Blansit cat's up.  Welcome to the 4's Tony!                                                    

Matt Stahl 2nd in Crit!!!!!

Matt brought home the silver for Rome Velo in the 4/5 crit on Sunday at Gainsville GA Cup for Rome Velo p/b harbin Clinic.  Pictures and video will be up soon. 

Chris and Aaron had a rougher time, but finished strong in the pack of the cat 3 finish.  There is always next week....Chatanooga.

Matt attacks!!!

Chris and Aaron chillin on the start line.  "Just chill bro."

Gainesville Race Report 4.5&6                                 Rain soaks the boys for RR and TT.  Well, as one team mate put it... we didn't wreck.  Chris, Aaron, and Matt entered the stage race to represent the team.  Chris set the best time for the team in the morning TT, 22:09 for the 8.5 mil hilly course.  Aaron was 23:20 and Matt 24:12.  However, this was not close enough to the top riders, the pace was set by Iron Data's Jim Wueste at 20:38, leaving Chris the best placed Rome Velo rider at 19th out of 50 Cat 3's.  The rain continued for the road race 2 hours later.  A new course faced the peleton this year, a 25 mile loop with more turns than a crit!  Plus a very steep climb for the KOM.  The boys had a another hard time. Chris and Aaron pulled out at the end of the first lap along with about 1/2 of the Cat 3 field after the peleton shattered on the KOM.  Matt, racing in the Cat 4/5 field, stuck it out and finished in the main field of his pack.    Stay tuned for the report with pictures from the crit on Sunday.  The boy are angry over Saturday and looking for redemption!!  

Perry Race Report         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PJ7PhlXXPs For Adams thoughts on the TT, then check this one to see Aaron ride the Perry Pave' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItKD0WOprmY All we can say is it was the hardest race we have ever done.          

GA CUP Albany Report

Chris in the Albany Cat 3 Crit. A 9 man breakaway took all the glory.  Chris made a hard effort to bridge but couldn't.  Though he still had some gas to motor the last lap and take 3rd in the field sprint, for a 12th place finish. Aaron also represented the team in the Cat 3 crit, and finished his first 3 crit strong.... next time he has got to turn the screws. Chris and Arron participated in the stage race and finished mid pack in the other events.

Chris Logan and Tony Blansit participated in the Competitive (cat 4 & 5) over 35 field.  Bot guys are still finding their race legs for the  year, we expect they will come to form in Spring.  We also had Scott Gibbs show up to help Tony and Chris L.  Thanks for coming out guys!

   Also held in Albany, the Albany Marathon.  Mike Sprouse again crushes the competition to take 1st in the Handcycle division for Rome Velo p/b Harbin Clinic!!!!              

   Tundra Time Trial Feb 16th 2008 Hiram GA Quick results.  Tundra TT is an out and back individual time trial of 9.5 miles.  The course is realtively flat, with no corners.

9th in cat 3 Chris McGee 22:30

26th in cat 4 Matt Stahl 24:04

21st in cat 5 Derek Jones 24:13

41st in cat 5 Tony Blansit 25:08.......I think the sport is growing, there were 102 regeistered cat v's. wow.

Good job everbody, I think we all need to start doing more threshold intervals!! - Chris M.

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Da boyz after Gainesville GA Cup