Finally the finale!

Saturday was the fifth and final stage of the Tour of Ohio. So far the race has been extremely exciting in the way the race was promoted and how the Inferno team has been dominating and how great the weather has been all week. All of that was about to change.

The stage was set to be about 50 miles of a circuit race right here in Granville, OH. A stretch out to the farms, 4 times around a 7 mile circuit with two points sprints, the run in to town and then 10 laps of a 1+ mile circuit around the college with paver hills, sharp corners and slick newly painted pavement.

The stage started with the announcement that there were no bathrooms again and severe thunderstorm warnings. How bad could that be? It is the mid west and I dont think thunderstorms mean anything, right?

Well, the first raindrops began to fall as a Kenda rider attacked from the gun.Our own tired cat 3 rider Josh Jamner covered it like a pro. The pair quickly build a lead and Lee Rosenthal bridged up. Two. A few miles later up came No Nickname Nate. Three. Then, as Inferno was in panic and tried to cover the move, up comes Adam Bomb. Four. Very nice.

As my faithful readers may remember, Inferno has been somewhat difficult to deal with all week. They were both leading the points race and upsetting Justin Lindine. Not good. At the criterium, Justin was attacking the points sprints to steal them out of spite and now was in 3rd place in that competition. So, when Inferno sent their green jersey up to score on the breakaway, TARGETRAINING would have nothing of it. Leero stole the first sprint and then da' Bomb and Nate totally pump-faked the world champion and went 1-3 on the second sprint. They were going crazy.

In the breakaway Nate and Josh were drilling it as Lee covered moves and Adam totally messed with the Inferno guys. "what, you want to drift back and leave a gap, I can leave a gap too. Its all good. Oh, now you want to go fast, I can go fast! That's a nice bike, I got a nice bike too." Awesome. They were absolutely dumbfounded by the strength and tactics and started to chase from the field as the move dangled at only 30 seconds on this super fast course.

Right about now the storm kicks in. Lightning, thunder, hail stones and what I think is a funnel cloud start to hit the field. The race turns right into 40 mph cross winds. I am in the caravan and scream over the radio to protect Justin. All of a sudden, Ben, Will and Dave are at the front of the main field with the throttle wide open and slam the group into the wind. Imagine Team CSC but when they are actually fast and working together!. There are three splits in the field and we have all 4 of our riders in the front group and another four in the breakaway. Super sweet.

As the storm got worse, I thought that maybe the promoter would cancel the race when we get back into town so I radio up to the breakaway to make sure we are the first into the college circuit. Adam Bomb destroys the break with two other riders as the rain pours down onto the slick twisting mid west roads.

Meanwhile, back in the field, Ben, Will and Dave have kept Justin calm and covered. Ben is telling him to be patient. Good stuff. As the field gets into town, bang! they hammer the group and Justin hits the hill on the first series of college circuits. They are slippery and scary but Justin doesn't even bother with the small chain ring. He is gone. Justin Wolverine Lindine is off the front in a blinding thunderstorm going sideways through the corners. He coasts past the remnants of the breakaway and into the lead. Inferno is in full panic behind him as the yellow jersey is losing ground. This is incredible. The team has absolutely hammered the race to perfection!

Justin comes around the last and pumps his hands in his now signatory chicken dance salute. Victory. Holy crap! This is awesome. This kid absolutely rode the finale to perfection. As the rest of the team gathered around to congratulate him, all of the Inferno riders came over to say hello and offer "good job, well done". It looks like the team and its riders have finally arrived. They can work and score in this area and in other areas. They worked perfectly together and got better every day. Just fantastic.

Watching the race unfold and the team grow from the Volvo each day was just fantastic. Thank you so much.

The squad takes a few days off before heading to Cox Charities Criterium and Unionvale RR next week and then of course Fitchburg after that. We really appreciate all of your support and good thoughts!

Kyle WolfeManager, TARGETRAINING Racing Teams
www.targetraining.com