Month: June 2007

I spent a fair amount of time shooting the CSC Invitational this weekend (as evidenced by the sunburn on my face). Some of the better shots are below. I didn’t cover the Men’s 1/2/3 as well as I would have liked to, but if you’re a local rider who’d like to see if he or she was looking good this Saturday, drop me a line and I’ll sort through what I’ve got. Clicking on the smaller photos will take you flickr, where I’ve got them at a higher resolution.

The Men’s 1/2/3 field.

David Bozak (Clean Currents) in first, Peter Cannell (Immediate Mortage/Artemis) in second, and Todd Hipp (Battley Harley) in third.

Team Clean Currents enjoying having one of their own on the podium’s top spot.

This NCVC rider shows what team support is all about . . . (assuming that what it’s all about is a cooler full of food from 7-11).

Laura Van Gilder at the start line.

Liz Hatch, who has quite an online fan club, shows the substance behind the form.

The women’s pro/1/2/3 field.

This is what 90% of the race looked like. Just Van Gilder and (a very smart, but ultimately outmatched) Larson.

Laura Van Gilder is a machine. This is her third win at the CSC Invitational (previous wins in 2005 and 2003).

Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine) reacts to the young man declining to give her a podium kiss. Arlington County Board Member Walter Tejada (second from right) stepped in as an able replacement. He later told me that it was all in the spirit of public service . . .

In the end, it was Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) in first, Rebecca Larson (Aaron’s Corp. Furnishings) in second, and Sarah Uhl (Cheerwine) in third.

This guy, Oscar Sanchez, is aiming for Beijing in 2008. Whether the gets there or not, someone should snap him up for an endorsement deal – he doesn’t stop smiling.

The start of the U.S. Handcycling Criterium Championship – a race that Seth Arseneau would win.

Toyota-United has apparently decided to forgo the women’s demographic and has had these girls (or ones that look just like them – just add peroxide and tan) at most races. I think they collect contact information for marketing. In this photo, one fellow seems to want his wife to see where his hands are, in case I’m taking pictures for the paper.

Who brings an Escalade to a bike race? I share the same view as my comrades over at Racing Union on the matter of Rock Racing (the idea, not the riders).

This poor kid got lost, and went up on stage to find his parents. And then the announcer suggested making him a third lap premium. He was not amused. That’ll the teach the kid to trust adults . . .

Train CSC didn’t quite get it done . . .

Just sitting on someone else’s wheel all day . . .

There’s a rise between the last turn and the line that requires some real power to turn it into a sprint.

The 2007 CSC Invitational Podium

Ivan Stevic talking to Velonews about the end of the race.

Perhaps the only second between his crossing the line and falling asleep when he didn’t have a huge smile on his face.

More about the CSC Invitational on the web:

• In Rahsaan Bahati’s own words.
• Purple Motes gives us a view of the Men’s 1/2/3 race.
• And Tour ’03 of Triple Crankset wonders why the Washington Post wasn’t there. Maybe all the Washington Times banners?
• Velonews’ story here, and I assume that you’ll soon be able to find something at Pez and Cyclingnews, as they were both there.

My recap (and favorite shot of the race) are here.

This is the picture of a very happy man. Rock Racing’s Rahsaan Bahati surprised the crowd, the peloton, and himself with a win at the 10th CSC Invitational, beating out a field full of strong challengers. Ivan Stevic of Toyota-United takes second, with Hilton Clarke of Navigators in third.

The race, which bills itself as the “hardest crit in America”, was 100 laps of a tight 1km course in hot and sunny weather. While this race has historically started hard, many were surprised to see Victor Rapkinski make an early breakaway which came within 15 or so seconds of lapping the field before the teams were ordered to drop the hammer and shut down his chances of rejoining the peloton from behind.

The remainder of the race was a series of small battles for some of the higher value premiums (JJ Haedo found a pair of Dura Ace wheels worth his effort), with Navigators generally setting the pace of the peloton.

Approaching the last few laps, CSC train started looking like it was working to launch Haedo, while a Toyota-United team (without Ivan Dominguez) made it clear that they weren’t giving the race away to anyone.

It was Rahsaan Bahati, though, that had the winning legs in the sprint finish. Bahati, who spent more than a few laps barely hanging on to the back of the peloton, had moved up with a couple of team mates in the last stretch, and battled it out with Ivan Stevic and Hilton Clarke in the final 20 meters.

Bahati called this his “biggest win” since winning the Junior National Road Racing and National Criterium Championships in 2000.

More pictures, including of Laura VanGuilder’s third win of the CSC Invitational, later.

Photos by Mark Blacknell

Don’t forget, your best chance to see pro cycling in the DC area will come tomorrow at the CSC Invitational. Racing starts at 8am, but if you just want to see the men’s pro races, show up around noon. If you’re taking Metro, you can emerge in the center of the circuit at the Clarendon Metro stop. It’s pretty easy to move around the circuit as the race progresses, but my two favorite spots are on the western-most edge of the course (standing in the middle of the Wilson/Clarendon/Washington Blvds. intersection (it will all be closed to traffic)), and the corner of Washington Boulevard and North Highland St. (stay back from the edge, though – it’s a common place for crashes, and there are no crowd barriers to protect you). The most recent pro start list is here. Come check it out.