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Colavita/Fine Cooking/Stradalli brought a versatile
squad of sprinters, time trialists, and strong all-arounders to the North
Star Grand Prix in Minnesota. Day 1 - stage two (stage 1 was a
morning time trial), at the St. Paul Criterium Dillon took a
solo flyer to win the first sprint points competition ten laps into the
race, and was able to hold her solo move for the next five laps.
With time bonuses on the line, teams were not willing to let Dillon
remain off the front and she was eventually reeled back. However,
Dillon had a different plan and several laps later, she broke away again
from the pack for the next sprint points competition with 8 laps to
go, securing her place as the "Penn Cycle Most Aggressive
Rider". The fast paced and technical course was filled
with many crashes, one of which caused Lindsay Bayers and Whitney Schultz
to go down late in the race. Both riders were OK and able to start the next
day's stage. Lenore Pipes held great position in the final laps ending
the day with an impressive 6th place finish.
Photo
Credits Jonathan Devich
Dillon continued to ride strong through
the remaining stages and heading into the final stage sat 11th overall in
the general classification (GC) and 2nd in the sprints point
classification. The final stage, The Stillwater Criterium, includes
the famed Chilkoot Hill, with an average gradient of
18%. The famed hill climb along with the very
technical downhill turns always weeds out the field very
quickly, giving the stage the reputation as one of the hardest in North
America. Olivia Dillon, went in with high motivation to finish in the GC
top ten and as a result of smart, tactical racing she did it!
Dillon finished in 10th place overall and took 3rd place in the
overall sprint competition.
A small squad consisting of Erica Allar,
Jessi Prinner and Jen Purcell will head to the Tour of America Dairyland's starting
on June 19th in Wisconsin. Two of the 11 events fall on the NCC Calendar
- on Saturday, June 21st the Giro
d' Grafton and Sunday, June 22nd The Waukesha Carl Zach Cycling
Classic. Both events will be key races the squad will
certainly look to secure podium spots to help Allar maintain
her overall lead in the NCC individual competition. Team
Colavita/Fine Cooking/Stradalli is also looking to re-gain the top spot back in the
Team Overall Classification.
Ready to ride like the pros?
Check out these tips from Team Colavita riders and staff:
to read Olivia Dillon's "Mixing it Up!"
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