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Joe Martin Stage Race: Brown and Roth second overall, Glaesser top under-23

April 28, 2014
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ROTHOn Thursday, Ian Crane of Jamis Hagens Bermen powered by Sutter Home won the opening 4-km pro men’s prologue at the Joe Martin Stage Race. The uphill time trial set the tone for the weekend of racing. Two Canadians placed on the podium; Jordan Cheyne (SeaSucker/Gutenplan Coaching) and Ryan Roth (Jet Fuel-Norco) in second and third respectively. Bruno Langlois of 5-hour Energy presented by Kenda was the only other Canadian in the top 20, placing 18th. The prologue was a precursor of what was to be a solid four days of racing for our Canadians competing south of the border.

The 180-km second stage was a challenging circuit. The day’s biggest climb at 133 km proved decisive as it took the jump out of many in field. Former WorldTour rider, Juan Jose Haedo used his experience and strength to win ahead of teammate and GC leader Ian Crane. Jet Fuel-Norco set up team leader Ryan Roth successfully to finish fourth on the stage, which bumped him up to second in the GC, while Cheyne held on to third on GC.

Travis McCabe won Stage 3. The Team SmartStop  rider has been on an absolute tear since winning the opening stage at the Redlands Bicycle Classic about a month ago. A 40-rider bunch sprinted for the stage win. Jet Fuel-Norco was able to place Roth into the top 10; he finished ninth on the stage maintaining his second in GC.

The final stage was a 85-minute criterium that featured a brutal climb on each lap. A mere 37 riders finished the entire stage as it is one of the hardest criterium courses on the NRC. Roth placed fifth on the stage keeping his overall second on GC. He was unable to unseat eventual overall winner Ian Crane who managed to finish two spots ahead in third on the final day’s racing.

Of note, Jet Fuel-Norco raced perhaps their best NRC race as a team in recent years. Joe Martin’s final team classification indicated that the squad placed eighth out of 19 teams, a great showing by a squad led by one of Canadian cycling’s most respected racers, Ryan Roth. His performance at the race put him in third in the NRC overall standings.

On the women’s side, two Canadian women, Laura Brown (Colavita/Fine Cooking) and Jasmin Glaesser (Team Tibco/To the Top), were in the top-10 of opening time trial event, finishing fourth and sixth.  For the road race, the two riders, who race together on the national team pursuit squad during track season, were the top Canadians once again: Brown in 10th and Glaesser in 11th. Glaesser was at the top of the under-23 group. On Saturday, the pair were back in the top 10. This time Glaesser finished ahead of Brown: the Tibco/To the Top rider came across the line in fifth place, while the Colavita/Fine Cooking rider was seventh. On the final day of the race, Brown got on the podium, finishing second in the criterium. The performance also put her in second overall at the end of the race. Glaesser finished in 11th place, which still got her the best young rider jersey and fifth overall.

The NRC’s next stop is the Tour of the Gila in Silver City, N.M. beginning  Wednesday.