Team TIBCO continues Podium Parade with Selle San Marco

Merced, CA – Team TIBCO continued its preparations for the next race in the NRC series later this month with the pair of races in Merced this weekend: the Merco Downtown Grand Prix and Foothills Road Race.

With the season just barely under way and training camp not scheduled for another two weeks, the team is using the NorCal races as something akin to mini camps.

“Because it’s early in the season, we’re using these races to work together,” noted Team TIBCO’s Lauren Tamayo. “These races will get us set up well for the rest of the season. In that respect, this was a very successful weekend.”

Perhaps the only thing that would have made the weekend a total success was a trip to the top step of the podium. Instead, the team had to be satisfied with a pair of second places from Brooke Miller, as well as a third place from Tamayo in the criterium on Saturday.

A Tale of Two Races

The criterium and the road race, which had for some time been the traditional start of the NRC season, featured two very different sets of tactics from Team TIBCO. For the criterium, the team’s plan was to ride defensively, control the race and then take over at the end to set up for the sprint. The team executed the plan flawlessly.

“Normally we race really aggressively and we are always attacking, but today we wanted to race 100 percent defensively," said Brooke Miller. “We had the numbers to make the race a bunch sprint so that’s what we did. We covered and killed” every attack that went, including a number by the three riders from Columbia-Highroad.

Team TIBCO waited until late in the race to take control. “In San Jose, we took control with three to go and it was too early,” Miller said. “Today, we wanted to wait to form the lead out with one lap to go. With three to go, it got swarmy and panicky, but we showed patience. We wanted to practice organizing late in a race."

Everything went perfectly except the sprint. A moment’s hesitation by Miller coming off Tamayo’s wheel allowed Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (Columbia-Highroad) to get the jump. And as Miller noted, Teutenberg is one of the best sprinters in the world, and hard to get around when she has that edge. “And I’m still not in top form yet and you need to be on top form to beat Ina,” Miller said. “My sprint really isn’t that good right now. But Ina is the one I want to race against and beat because she’s one of the best.”

Sunday’s Foothills Road Race saw a return to the team’s usual aggressive style of racing. “We were on the offensive today,” Tamayo said. “We did a lot of attacking trying to break up the field and wear down Columbia. I think every one of us was in a break at one time or another."

And while the rolling course alone isn’t hard enough to create a selection, the weather conditions usually are on the open, west Central Valley course. However, the normally wicked crosswinds weren’t present today.

“The course wasn’t selective enough and there just wasn’t much wind today,” Tamayo said. “I think maybe we worked so hard trying to force a break early, we didn’t have the legs left toward the end to break up the race.”

Instead, it became apparent that the race would come down to another sprint. “We started setting up in earnest with about 5 km to go,” Miller said. “With 2 km to go we lined it up on the front. Our plan was to have Amber (Rais) attack going over the last roller before the line and keep going to the finish. She went at the perfect time and Emelia (Fahlin, Columbia-Highroad) couldn’t respond. Ina chased Amber down and I was on her wheel right where I wanted to be. But I just couldn’t get around her.”

Rais finished 4th, while Tamayo finished 5th.

“Everyone did their job today,” Miller said. “We didn’t lose today, we got beat, and there’s a difference. Losing means we did it to ourselves. I have no problem getting beat. That just makes us hungrier.”

“Even without coming away with a win, this was a good weekend,” Tamayo added. “It was a great learning experience for the girls. And down the road, this kind of practice will help us in races like Redlands and the Liberty Classic.”

Miller concurred, noting how she is still in the midst of a learning curve, as well. “Last year, I usually just relied on Lauren for lead-outs,” she said. “This year, I have five or six teammates lining it up for me. I’m still learning how to work with that. But this is two weekends in a row where we executed our race plans perfectly,” she said. “We all feel really good about how things went.”