Max Lippolis: Showing how to race a stage race at Fitchburg

Fitchburg is one of the great stage races of the Northeast.  It has been around the longest -- 51 straight years.  The course is unforgiving: first day is a 3 mile circut with a finishing hill that peaks around 8%.  The second day is a road race with a fair amount of climbing that ends in a 4 mile climb up Watchusett Mountain that peaks over 15% at the top. The next day is a challenging time trial and the final day is a classic 3 corner criterium with a 180 degree turn.

Max went into the race with no teammates -- sometimes even racers don't race.  (I know I am at home sick on July 4th weekend but was not going to do Fitchburg). 

So how did Max handle this?
He won the circuit race.  So he is in the leader's jersey.
Then he wins the road race by 30 seconds.  Maintains the leader's jersey with no teammates.
He eases back and gets 9th in the time trial -- locking in 3rd place in the GC.  Oh, he doesn't have a time trial bike...
And finally, he gets 3rd in the criterium, holding on to 3rd place.

That's a season of results in 4 days.
Congratulations Max.
ps -- Max won the Nutmeg Games 40+ race in June.  He's pretty darn fast.