Joe Martin Stage Race 2007

Joe Martin Stage Race – all one can say is WOW.

Rubicon sent it’s “A-game” to this tough NRC event . . . And so did all the other domestic PRO teams in the US -Dang!

Day 1, Stage 1 – 110 mile, hilly road race. Our plan was to keep quite on this day and follow wheels and make sure Aaron was ready to go if any of the marked GC riders launched an attack. For this trip we made the decision to run a dual leadership with Aaron and Richard, which worked out great, having two sets of eyes working together calling out shots. Matt Brandt the youngest of the young guys was put in charge of watching over Aaron and he did an excellent job of riding back to the caravan collecting water bottle and taking them up front for the guys. A break went from the get go and at one point in the race it had 11 minutes on the field, Priority Health was doing a good job at controlling the field, until the closing miles of the race when Healthnet and Toyota-United decide to bring it all back together. In the end it turned into a field sprint, with a lot of slicing and dicing action, but all the Rubicon guys stayed up there and had a solid ride.

Day 2, Stage 2– 94 mile road race in the morning and Time Trial in the evening. This was going to be a long day . . . Guys had to be up by 5:30 am for breakfast and ready to race by 8am. This meant, I, Team Mom had to be up by 4:30am to make there breakfast and get there water bottles set for the day’s event. BIG shout out to Adam Coker and Justin Slarks of ORBEA for helping out big time in race prep and riding shot gun in the van.

This stage was a circuit style road race whereas the guys would travel around a 20 mile course 3 times. Our plan today was to come out fighting, and the guys did just that. Richard, Matt and Dan all launched attack after attack in the first 20k of the race and they where continuously chased down by Priority Health, Health Net and Toyota-United. Priority Health launched a counter with stuck for most of the day at 1 minute 30 seconds. Again, Matt, did an excellent job riding back into the caravan collecting drink bottles for the team, making sure everyone was well stocked with fluids. As we went into the last lap of the event, a larger group of riders made a break for it –20 in all. Rubicon rider, Dan went into pursuit mode and took Aaron from the field to the break to make sure he was staying with the top GC riders, but in the end again, the bunch would have none of it and everything came back together for another field sprint.

Day 2, Stage 3- Uphill Time Trial this is the stage Rubicon has been waiting for. This is where the GC riders will set there placing as this time trial is very short and goes up hill. It’s all or nothing time. All the guys where ready, our plan, Aaron was to ride like the wind, Richard and Brad started just in front of  him so they where our team “bunnies” or pacesetters for Aaron to catch. This year, everyone brought their A-Game, as Rory Sutherland of Healthnet threw down – he broke the course record with his time of 8 minutes 11 seconds and set the standard. Aaron gave it everything and came in with a time of 8 minutes, 57 seconds placing him 28th, Dan Harm threw down a excellent time of 8 minutes and 54 seconds placing him 22nd on GC, even, Matt Brandt clocked in at 9 minutes 22 seconds placing him 55th.  So there you have it, game over, Healthnet has the win unless there whole team falls down. All the guys of Rubicon had an excellent ride, we gave it everything and that’s all you can ask for.

Day 3, Stage 4 – Fayetteville Criterium; 85 minutes plus 3 laps. New game plan for the team. Since where not in the top 10 for GC, we decided to for go our GC placing for Aaron and come out fighting, all or nothing. Dan was to hang onto the field as he was placed 22nd over all on GC, everyone else was to go out fighting. 3 laps into what is considered one of the hardest criteriums in the US, Aaron went on the attack and flew up the steep home straight hill. Alex Candelario of Jelly Belly’s bridged up to Aaron and together had a nice little break away going, two more riders bridge and it was game on . . .however a Healthnet would have none of that and they rode at the front of the race and brought them back. Again about the 40 minute mark, Aaron launched another blazing attack up the steep front straight climb to try and bridge up to Priory Health’s Ben Jacques-Maynes who was off the front, but again, Healthnet brought everything back, nothing was going to stick, and in the end, Rubicon rider Dan Harm, hung in there and finished 26th of the day.

Final GC placing for Team Rubicon – 141 riders started, 70 finished.

16th Dan Harm
47th Kirk Carlsen
51st Aaron Tuckerman
53rd Matt Brandt
65th Richard Speer

Final Team GC -

Pro - Cat 1 Male Team Classifcation   

1.  Toyota-United     28:40;35
2.  CAICO