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The fifth stage of the Tour of America’s Dairyland featured the first of the ToAD series two road race stages, both which carry double points towards the overall standings. Mike Sherer initiated an eight man breakaway with Frankie Diering near the midway point of the race that stayed away and Mike finished fifth on the day. No other riders from the top ten in the overall standings made it into the move and Sherer’s strong ride moved him to the top of the overall standings with a four point lead over Rudy Napolitano (Helen’s Cycles) and Chad Hartley (Kenda p/b Geargrinder).

The 8 rider move quickly built and maintained a steady gap of one minute for most of the race. At one point the field took nearly 30 seconds off that margin due to strong attacks from the Bahati Foundation team, Hartley and a chase by the Bike Religion team, but the gap went back out over the next two laps.

Frankie Dierking (Team Wisconsin) attacked the leaders with one lap to go and maintained a 10 to 20 second gap for the remainder of the final lap. Napolitano excaped his breakaway companions just before the final climb to take second place and the remaining breakaway riders waited to duke it out on the long slog up the final climb.

The race was held on the 4-mile Road America car and motorcycle track and featured a brutal headwind climb at the end of each lap. The rest of the course was winding, windy and rolling and seemed to be extremely well received by all the riders. It wasn’t uncommon to hear riders claiming it was one of the funnest courses they’d ever raced on.

Rain and a short lightning delay did little to slow down the second stage of the Tour of America’s Dairyland. This course was a brand new, tight, 4-corner affair in Thiensville and riders on the front went full gas from the gun to stay out of trouble and make life miserable for anyone behind them. Ryan Freund was one rider on the back from the gun because he left work in Cary, IL at 3:45pm and arrived at the race 5 minutes before the start. He rolled up to the line as the first riders were clipping into their pedals- he hadn’t even buckled his helmet yet (which the officials quickly noticed!).

Around the midway point of the race Mike Sherer escaped with two other riders, including ABD alumni and current Kenda p/b Geargrinder pro rider Rob White. The three built a lead of up to 45 seconds that stayed around 30 seconds for most of their escape. However, as the roads dried with about 20 laps to go the Mountain Khaki’s team went to the front and strung the field out, taking off about two seconds per lap of the break’s advantage.

The move was caught with 5 laps to go and four riders counterattacked. The move included Burlington road race winner and Argentinian national champion Juan Pablo Dotti of Team Aerocat, local man Jim Stemper of Kenda p/b Geargrinder and John Grant from Roadhouse. They dangled precipitously off the front of the still-Mountain Khakis led peloton and on the final lap Grant made a hard move on the backside to keep the move alive. Grant had a two bike-length gap going into the final turn with 150 meters to go but Dotti closed hard and fast to take the win. Mountain Khakis rider Isaac Howe slipped past Stemper for 3rd. Defending ToAD champion Chad Hartley (Kenda p/b Geargrinder) finished in 7th and with enough points to take the overall lead.

UPDATE: Click on photo above to view a video of the podium presentation.

Ryan Freund won the first stage of the Tour of America’s Dairyland, winning out of a breakaway that was all but absorbed by the field in the final sprint. Freund jumped around Team Kenda powered by Geargrinder rider Chad Hartley for the win and former Pro criterium champion Raashan Bahati won the field sprint for third place.

Freund almost didn’t make it to the race as he came straight from his job two hours away and was caught in traffic. He was the final rider to check-in before the officials closed registration.

When asked about how the final laps played out, Freund said, “I was feeling good and put in some hard pulls, but the whole time I was just thinking, ‘How am I going to beat Chad.’ He’s a fast sprinter, but I knew that he was concerned with the overall standings and I think that lead him to do a little more work in the sprint. I’ll be getting married next weekend so I was able to just focus on getting the win today.”

Hartley joked, “Last year I went down to the ABD Cycle Club’s Fall series and beat up on Ryan at his club’s race, so I suppose it’s only fair that he came up and won the race that Geargrinder sponsors.”

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