CYCLING: ARMY RACE WEEKEND RECAP

UD cycling team sent 12 members to upstate New York for the Army Spring Classic April 14th and 15th. The weekend featured a Team Time Trial (TTT) and criterium on Saturday and an Individual Time Trial (ITT) and criterium Sunday on the campus of the US Military Academy. The TTT was highlighted by a 4th place finish for the men’s C and men’s A teams. Mechanical issues plagued the blue hens during Saturday’s crit with two riders suffering flats. Steven ended up with a 12th place finish in the A race. Jake Rubin showed some firepower with a 5th place finish in a large combined C field. Rebecca Gripp finished 10th in a strong C field and picked up valuable points for the team.

Sunday started off with the EPIC Army hill climb, a 2.5-mile ITT. The beautiful course took riders through West Point’s campus finishing 650 feet above the start. Jake Rubin took 4th in the C1 field over 30 riders.

Next up was the crit, a 1km course with a short hill and 3 hairy turns. The D1 race featured lots of drama; the officials made a huge error ringing the bell and announcing the finish as the field came by with 2 laps still left on the lap counter. The field continued to race as if there were 2 laps to go and Ralph took 4th in the unofficial finish. On the “official” finish lap he took 11th, his best result of the year. The blue hens went deep in the men’s C race, bringing 5 racers including the triumphant return of Eric “joe cool” Adams. The blue hens came to the front with 5 laps to go and put the hurt on the field. With 2 laps to go Eric Adams went on a flyer and held a solid 5 second gap until about 400m to go. In the final field sprint Jake brought his “A-game” to take a second place finish. Freshman Roberto Espina raced like a seasoned veteran in the intro crit, waiting until the last 100 meters to launch a huge sprint to take the win. The A crit brought even more excitement with the blue hens bringing 3 racers to line for the first time in many years. Eran Preble got in a break early with a UNH and Army rider. Soon after Andre started his assault on the primes taking two-2nd and a 3rd place. In the final sprint Andre went around two riders to take 6th and Eran picked his socks up for an 8th place finish.

It was a very successful weekend for the Blue Hens and as a team we would like to give a huge thank you the Adams’ family for housing and feeding us like kings.  For results for the weekend, visit the ECCC site.

The team continues to move up in rankings and are now in 11th position overall.