Eifel Classic 2009

On Saturday August 15, 33 riders from Germany, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg made the trip to Spangdahlem Air Force Base to test themselves on the 50 kilometer course against the best in USAFE. It was an unusually sunny day with temps in the 80's when racers lined up for the start at 1000 behind the Spangdahlem Commissary. Mr. Geairn made some final radio calls to the Fitness Center staff and a group of volunteers manning intersections to ensure everyone was in place for traffic control.
Here is a blow by blow as seen by Hector:
The three women, Leah Tingley, Franci Corazza and Krista Jones started with the men. The start was slow as riders got into position before the first turn on the course. Martin Heinz from Spangdahlem broke away on the first lap with Tracy Michaud from the NATO School as the pack climbed the back side of the course. The Aviano and the Vilseck teams moved to the front and went to work right away to reel them both back in for the second lap.

On the third lap Heinz made the jump again this time by himself leaving the rest of the pack to chase or defend. Vilseck and Aviano went to work again pulling the pack closer to Heinz on the back side. Lap three also saw attempts by Vilseck rider Leah Tingley and Aviano rider Eric Fitzpatrick to break away and chase down the solo Spangdahlem rider as he rode within striking distance of the pack.

Lap four brought Heinz closer to the group as they turned up the pace once again with the Vilseck team leading the way switching out with Aviano. Heinz glanced back to control the distance between himself and the group as the Spangdahlem team worked to slow down the pack and increase the gap.

On the last lap with Heinz less than 30 seconds in front of the pack, the already fast pace was turned up yet another notch as riders dropped off and the lead group sorted themselves out for positions in the sprint for the finish. An accident on the back side of the course on a turn took Spangdahlem rider Rob Jones out of the lead pack. Chris Vachon stayed back in an effort to try to get him back up again.

The last climb on the course allowed the pack to get within 20 seconds of Heinz, but he found some energy to keep his lead. The Sabers where confident Heinz would maintain his lead for the over-all win as well as the Men’s Senior Category win. Another Saber rider, Chris Meyers, worked his way up after the last climb to sprint for the Men’s Open Category win. A perfect lead out by the Vilseck team put their sprinter, Ronis Gutierrez, within 15 seconds of Heinz for the second place. Aviano rider Chris Fritzche rolled through in third.

The rest of the Spangdahlem team pulled together to defend the Men’s Master Category winner Dan Bagnuolo ensuring a Spangdahlem rider on the podium for every category.
For the Ladies, former Armed Forces Cycling Team member Leah Tingley (Vilseck) raced all 5 laps with the men, beat most of us and took 1st overall for the Women. Francesca Corazza finished 2nd with first time racer Krista Jones in 3rd.

I’m really glad we could keep the Eifel Classic going another year and I’m really happy we had such a great turn out as well as such a great event. If we could get a turn out like this at every road race we can keep the series going and make it better. A huge thanks everyone:
Mr. Geairn and the Fitness Center Staff for their amazing organization and support. Mr. Micheal Schroeder of www.mtb-fotos.de for taking and submitting over 500 event pictures (all of those pictures are here under the "Picture" tab), Chief Booten and the Aviano team for dragging 9 riders 12 hours to Spangdahlem, the Vilseck team, Theran from Baumholder for trying to bring more RACC riders and all of the riders who showed up solo from all over Germany and Belgium.

Thanks for coming out and we hope to see you all again for next years Eifel Classic.

Hector
Saber Cycling