news from the peloton
Washington Criterium Championships, Joe Matava Criterium, June 6, 2004
Chad Nikolz, 2004 Washington State Criterium Champion
What a weekend! Cat 3's, two 2nd place finishes back to back! Cat 1/2's, back to back 1-2 finishes!
Ya'll who came out and punched in this weekend, thank you. This was one of our best weekends of the year. Reminds me of a certain weekend in April and a little creek called Boat :)
Hats off to all the 3's who raced aggressively and pulled out two podium finishes in two very fast and tricky courses. I watched Wagner put it all on the line Sunday, just missing the last move in a 3 man break. Drew did a lion's share of work both nights. Tadder punched in to bring back a very dangerous solo move on Saturday night. Everyone! . . . nice work!
And for Chadly, his first state title!
We pretty much rode two perfect races. I really don't see a better way to race. We completely dominated Saturday's event from the field and from the break. Chad countered a last minute Symetrics attack enroute to a 5 second solo win. Mikey cleaned up the rest of the break taking 2nd. JP rolled clear out of the final turn taking 7th, pouring salt on an already open wound.
Sunday was again completely our race. We won all but three primes! No move was clear without us in it. In the finale, it was a total team effort as we put 5 on the front with 7 minutes remaining. Dakin, then Doug, JP to Chad and the hand off to me. Mikey yelled, "We have a gap" as I took us onto the backstretch. Into the riser I found another gear and just buried it - Mike came off my wheel just after turn 3 and rolled easily to his 2nd straight win at Matava. We had strung out the field so bad, I was clear for 2nd, well ahead of the rest. JP again snuck in for one last money spot.
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