Eddy Van Guyse interviews Ryan Freund.

Ryan Freund climbed on the podium for the second time at the Superweek- this time after taking third place at the Lake Geneva criterium. 17 riders ended up taking at least one lap during the race, including Ryan’s Verizon p/b ABD teammate Mike Sherer. However, Ryan joined fellow lappers Shaun McCarthy (Garneau) and Zach Davies (Grove Subaru) to make it one more time around so that the trio were the only riders that went two laps up.

Going into the finish Sherer kept Ryan is as good of a position as possible to help him fend for the win, but the pair was “jammed up” on the back side in the final lap. Freund was still quite satisfied with third having also put in a day at the office at his job as a structural engineer before heading up to the race.

Ryan Freund finished second in front of a hometown crowd at a tough day two of Superweek. Freund and Texas Roadhouse rider John Grant, who finished fourth, were the only two Americans to crack the top six.

Freund and the entire team rode aggressive from the start as the Geneva course featured a tight section through turns two, three and four that quickly made life miserable for riders at the back. Several groups rolled off early until eventually a group of 12 separated from the main field. Freund attacked several times but it wasn’t until he had the right mix of breakaway companions, namely a representative from Garneu, Texas Roadhouse and the Colombian National team- who each had two riders in the group of 12- that Freund was able to get away. Freund escaped with Grant, Passeron (a former Tour De France and Paris-Nice rider now on Garneu), and Carlos Ospina from Colombia. The four went on to lap the field before the halfway point of the race and then their teams went to the front to bring back the other eight riders who were still dangling half a lap up.

Once the race came all back together the fireworks began as the four leaders tried to escape one another. Another split of 10 riders went off the front again with Grant missing out. He and his teammates went to the front but the lead group contained two Garneu riders, two Colombians, Freund and five other riders now racing for 5th through 10th and they worked well together to maintain their lead. Freund knew he needed to isolate his two rivals, Passeron and Ospina, from their teammates and attacks began again in earnest with 15 laps remaining. With about 10 laps to go, despite cramping up and stretching through every other turn, Freund managed to escape again with just Passeron and Ospina, insuring it would just be a three man fight to the line.

Going into the closing laps the three riders showed the effects of two and a half hours of racing 73 laps of the tight 6-corner course. There worked steadily and didn’t attack one another. The final lap almost resembled a match sprint as they cautiously eye one another, waiting to open the sprint until the final 200 meters. It was Passeron coming first into the final turn with a healthy gap to the line and Freund just getting Ospina for second place by a mere inch and a half.

On the podium all the riders thanked the great crowd in Geneva, who had nothing but positive things to say about this first-year event.

Big crowds in Beverly.

The Superweek opener in Beverly is notorious for being a hard man’s race where big groups roll of the front and take a lap on the field. The team knew that going into it, but unfortunately we weren’t able to do anything about it. Roughly 45 riders lined up for the start and the smaller field only made the race that much harder. With a larger field there are more riders and teams to go after the early moves and there’s also a big group to float backwards through if you’ve been on (or off) the front putting in a big effort. With a small field your time to recover is literally cut in half if not even more. Our lone finisher on the day was Waylon in 27th, who really toughed it out in final 20 laps to continually close gaps and remain in the hunt for a prize money place.

Riders opened the hostilities immediately and by the fourth lap the winning move had been established: two Kenda/Geargrinder riders, two Australia Fly V riders and a rider from the Columbian National team. John Meyers recognized the threat and buried himself to go after it but without much assistance from the field behind it wasn’t enough. Danny was right there as well but a moment’s hesitation cost him the chance to make the move. The lead five stayed on the gas hard over the next few laps to establish their move, confident that their teammates behind were covering any attempts at bridging across. Even after the leaders were clearly away their pace hardly seemed to drop in anticipation of the two plus hours of racing ahead of them. Eventually another Fly V rider and member of the Columbian National team rider escaped the field and were the lone two chasers for much of the race.

The field received a boatload of consolation prizes in the form of $100, $200 and even $300 primes throughout the night. A total of $3400 primes were handed out over the course of the race, including several two and three place primes.

Just as the leaders were about to catch the field a large group split off the front of the field but the Kenda riders in the field brought it all back together as the leaders caught the field with around 20 laps remaining. Eventually the Fly V and Colombian rider also made the lap which meant seven riders total had gone a lap up. In the closing laps Bernie S. (Fly V) and Chad B. (Kenda/GG), both of whom had already lapped, escaped the field again and with one to go it was apparent the winner would be one of them. Bernie attacked Chad on the last lap and came through the final turn with a three second gap that gave him plenty of time to celebrate his second win on the Beverly course.

The crowd was absolutely enormous and definitely got into the race. The Beverly area has really embraced the event with a huge festival and front-yard parties around the entire course.

Next up is Geneva, practically a hometown race for us with Prairie Path Cycles’ locations right in Winfield and Batavia. Ryan Freund will be joining Waylon, John, Danny and Hogan in the hunt for our young team’s first Superweek win.