Team Colavita/Fine Cooking Takes 4th and 5th at the Amgen Tour of California Women's Circuit Race and Individual Time Trial

Team Colavita/Fine Cooking Takes 4th and 5th at the Amgen Tour of California Women's Circuit Race and Individual Time Trial Team Colavita/Fine Cooking squeezed onto the jammed packed start line of the inaugural Amgen Tour of California Women's Circuit Race this past Sunday. With a registered field of 109 riders, consisting of some of the top talent in the world, Team Colavita/Fine Cooking knew they'd have their work cut out right from the opening gun.  The atmosphere in downtown Sacramento was electric, as hundreds of race fans lined the course.  The 1.5 mile four corner circuit course, on a very windy day, made for an exciting day of bike racing. The women's teams were not holding back as attacks and counter attacks were constantly being fired off the front. With no attacks looking promising on the wide open course the trend turned toward keeping the pace blistering fast as average laps speeds exceeded 27 mph! As things got down to the business end, it became clear this race was going to be won out of a field sprint.  With three laps to go Team Colavita/Fine Cooking was preparing to organize for sprinter Erica Allar when disaster struck and riders Mary Zider and Jen Purcell were caught up in a race-ending crash.  Allar quickly adjusted with her remaining teammates Olivia Dillon, Laura Brown and Lindsay Bayer to set up the final sprint. Allar showed great positioning into the final lap of the race and was able to hold on for a chaotic, yet solid fourth place finish.  The team was very pleased with this result in a field of this caliber.   The following day would see Laura Brown, representing Team Colavita/Fine Cooking, in the invitation-only Women's Individual Time Trial.  The time trial course consisted of a 12.5 mile loop that began and finished in Folsom's historic district.  Brown has consistently proven her ability to deliver in time trial events and displayed that once again in a stacked field of time trial specialists. Brown turned in a very impressive time, finishing in 5th place, just :40 seconds off of the winning time.