November 8, 2009 – Team Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com Team Newsletter. Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com returned “home” to the Cycle-Smart International UCI Weekend, in its 19th year, and saw its riders take home wins in front of their hometown crowds. For more information, go to www.cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com.
The Cycle-Smart International weekend was a homecoming of sorts for Team Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld, as team members Jeremy Powers and Jamey Driscoll headed to Northampton, Massachusetts, while team captain Tim Johnson elected to take a weekend to catch up on some much needed recovery. It was a particularly positive weekend for Powers, who headed down to Mystic, Connecticut, to help raise helmet awareness. In so doing, Powers attracted over sixty people to the awareness ride and raised over $2,000 in the process.
Before Powers was able to head to Mystic to fight for a worthy cause, he and Driscoll together raced day one of the Cycle-Smart International cyclocross weekend. Powers, as has been his style all year, launched the first attack only meters after taking the holeshot, quickly drawing out the day’s competition, which involved teammate Jamey Driscoll. “We were just thinking, best case scenario was to get away and capitalize on that, and once we had a gap, keep it steady, but those guys are riding great, so it wasn’t easy,” Said Powers. “I didn’t put in any attacks that were able to gap Jeremy off, and in the last kilometers or five hundred meters, he’s a really tough guy to beat,” said Driscoll.
Powers and Driscoll took turns attacking and whittling down the lead group until only the two Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com teammates remained. Shortly thereafter, the gloves came off, and the attacks came fast and furious. It was a determined Dan Timmerman (RGM Watches – Richard Sachs – Radix) who gave Driscoll and Powers the biggest scare, when he valiantly closed to within five seconds, but the combined efforts of Powers and Driscoll ensured a team victory. “Once we knew the win was between us, we started to throw down against each other,” said Driscoll. In the end, Driscoll led Powers into the final corner, where Powers took his cue and sprinted away for the victory, besting Driscoll in the final charge for the finish line. “Jamey’s not the guy you want to go to the line with, he’s a really good sprinter. It’s good to win it in front of my hometown crowd; it was a pretty big high on the things I wanted to do list for this year, even though I wasn’t talking about it all year long. So many people and friends were out there hoping to see me do well,” said Powers, who was keen to thank all his fans for their help and support.
While Powers took leave of Northampton on Sunday to raise helmet awareness, Driscoll was left to fly solo and try to improve on his result from Saturday. Driscoll managed to get a good start, showing improvement from previous weeks, and was at the front before the field had covered the course’s prologue loop. With $200 on the line after the first full lap, Driscoll hit the gas, claiming the prime and never looking back. “I was planning on just going really hard all day, and the first lap prime really helped with that,” Said Driscoll about his fast start. Driscoll extended his lead out to 20 seconds, before Nick Weighall (Cal Giant Berry Farms/Specialized) began to close the gap. “I did get pretty nervous when Nick took the gap down from 20 seconds down to 10 seconds, that was really impressive, but I tried to keep things clean and hold on.” Showing poise and maturity beyond his years, Driscoll didn’t panic, focusing on riding his final laps to perfection, closing out his first win since CrossVegas, after a succession of near misses.
Following the restful week at home, Cannondale/Cyclocrossworld.com will head to the third stop on the USGP tour, the Mercer Cup in West Windsor, New Jersey, where the team will aim to defend the USGP leader’s jersey that rests on the back of Jamey Driscoll.
