From: lars@craycos.com (Ron Larson)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.racing
Subject: Celestial Seasoning Classic, Stage 2
Date: 27 Aug 92 18:48:24 GMT
Organization: Cray Computer Corporation

Swart takes second Celestial stage; Vail's Doyle grabs fifth

Walters edges Demet for women's win

By Tom Horrocks
Vail Daily Sports Writer

COPPER MOUNTAIN- Race leader Steve Swart helped his Coors Light Cycling
Team solidify its dominance by winning the second stage of the
Celestial Seasonings Bicycle Classic Friday.

Swart, who also won the prologue on Thursday in Boulder out-sprinted
teammate Michael Engleman in the 86-mile race from Copper Mountain to
Beaver Creek.

Coors Light's Davis Phinney finished third to complete the sweep. Coors
Light holds the top three places overall going into today's Vail Pass
time trial and Vail Village criterium.

For the time trial, the women start at 9 a.m. at the Children's
Fountain and the men start at 10 a.m. For the criterium, the women
start at 2:15 p.m. and the men start at 4:15 p.m.

Eight miles from the finish of Friday's stage, Swart, Phinney, Engleman
and Team Shaklee's Richard McClung broke away from the main field.
McClung was dropped by the more powerful Coors Light riders but held on
to finish fourth.

Vail's Chris Doyle finished fifth after winning the field sprint.

"I kind of expected this of myself," Doyle said of his fifth-place
finish his best result of the year.

"I spent two years in Colombia with some of the best climbers in the
world . . . so you sort of expect it of yourself after a while.
Sometimes, like the last couple of months, things have been going bad
and then you have a good ride like (Friday) that makes you feel a lot
better."

Doyle moved up from 62nd to 20th overall, 2:49 behind Swart.

Coors Light, one of the most dominating team in the country, let the
other teams battle it out for most of the 86-mile race.

"Coors Light rode it smart," said Colorado Road Club rider Kurt
Walters, who finished 5th. "They weren't chasing anything even though
they had the lead. Other teams, for some reason, would chase down the
break when it should have been Coors Light's responsibility. They let
everyone else do the work and then when it came to the hills when it
really mattered, they just took off."

The first real threat to the leader's jersey came 23 miles into the
race when Colorado Cyclist rider Carlos Ravelo attacked, a move that
grew to nine riders, including Phinney, and a 35-second lead over the
next three miles before Ravelo and an IME Bollo team rider dropped back
to the field.

With the break at seven, including Phinney and Alan McCormick, the 1988
Vail Village Criterium winner, they extended their lead to 1:40 heading
around Turquoise Lake.

"It was really nice just to get out and get a group and the guys were
all saying 'hey let's just see if we can get ahead . . . and maybe
we'll stay ahead,' " Phinney said. "It was getting everybody to pull
through and roll through. But it just felt really good to get out in
front".

The break stayed away until Coors Light rider David Mann and McClung
caught them near the top of Tennessee Pass. But the break didn't last
long as the main pack reeled them in with 19 miles remaining in the
race.

However, a counterattack sent six riders off the front including
Phinney, Swart, Engleman, McClung Andrew Lawson and Richard Mason. But
Mason and Lawson were soon dropped, leaving four riders to battle out
front in what proved to be the decisive move.

Despite the victory, Swart feels that Engleman will move into the
leader's jersey after today's time trial.

"He understands that it's nice for me to have the jersey because he's
expecting he'll take over the jersey after the time trial because he's
in his own element there," Swart said.

Engleman won the 1991 Vail Village Criterium.

The women raced their second stage, a 50 mile event, on a 1.5-mile
course around Copper Mountain Village.

Team Kahlua rider Tricia Walters out-sprinted National Team rider Dede
Demet and Carol Ann Bostick for the victory.

Overall race leader Inga Thompson finished in the main pack but
surrendered her leader jersey to Walters, her Kahlua teammate.

The field stayed together for the first six laps of the 35-lap event
until three riders broke away on lap seven However, the break didn't
last long and soon the field was back together again.

On lap 18, Janice Bolland, riding for the National Team, broke away and
stayed out until there were 5 laps to go when Thompson and Sally Zack
caught her. Soon after the main field caught up, Demet, Walters and
Bostick countered with what proved to be the decisive break.

Walters, who didn't work with Bostic and Demet on the last couple of
laps, played it smart by drafting off Demet and sling-shot around her
for the stage win.

"That was a perfect time for her to go," Walters said of Demet's attack
"I saw her go and I went thinking that it might not work because we
were all pretty tired, but it did.

"I was getting advice to not work on The last couple of laps because
they were far enough back that they weren't going to catch us. We
(Kahlua) needed a stage win so it worked to my advantage and that's
bike racing."
-- 
Ron Larson                       |   If pro is the opposite of con,
Cray Computer Corporation        |   what is the opposite of progress??
lars@craycos.com  (719)-540-4232 |              Frank & Ernest
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.racing