March 27, 2010
Ryan Iddings places 3rd at Independence Valley Road Race
The first real big race of the year was on Saturday with the 80 mile Independence Valley Road Race. This is one of the harder races in the Northwest with two climbs per lap. A total of four laps makes up the race. The teams goals were to get someone up the road early in the race, and then hope to have a couple more riders bridge across during the first part of the race. In past years an early break has managed to stay away since riders tend to faulter on the climbs.
Mike Hone was the first attacker of the day. The moment the race went live, Mike Hone attacked and soon had over a minute gap on the peleton. Mike as able to stay away and get out of sight and out of mind for some time. The gap increased to nearly 1 min 40 secs at one stage but soon after the first lap and Mike being away for over 20 miles, he was caught by the next chase group.
Patrick Stanko, and a few other riders had bridged up to Mike. As the lead group rolled up the road, Ryan Iddings was also able to leap across to the lead group and soon the Lenovo team had 3 riders in the break. Ian McKissick who was a former winner at IVRR was being marked heavily by the HSP squad. Adrian Hegyvary from Unitedhealthcare/Maxxis also bridged up and the group began to roll away.
Coming into the second climb on the second lap, Iddings was making sure nothing would get away without having a Lenovo rider in the break. He was attentive and a small gap opened up where Adrian Hegyvary, Todd Herriott and Galen Erickson split up the lead group. Ryan was fortunate to make this lead group and the four riders began to roll away from now the chase group. Stanko and Hone were now getting a free ride as the remaining riders had to play catch.
On the third lap up the steep 4 minute climb, Ian McKissick and a couple other riders bridged across to the first chase group. We decided we wanted to see how the break would end up and gave Ryan his chance to get a good result.
In the final lap, Ryan lost contact with Hegyvary and Herriott but was able to hang on and solo in for 3rd place. Ian McKissick and Morgan Schmit broke away from the chase group and McKissick took 5th. Patrick Stanko also broke away and ended up 6th while Ian Tubbs soloed from the chasing peleton to take 12th place.
It was a pretty successful day out on the road. Four guys in the top 12.
RESULTS
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3rd Ryan Iddings
5th Ian McKissick
6th Patrick Stanko
12th Ian Tubbs
