Winfield Crit: Sherer Doubles as the Team Sweeps the Top 4

The Verizon u25 p/b ABD took places 1-4 on Sunday

In what’s quickly become a habit for him, Mike Sherer stormed to victory at both days of the Winfield Criterium Weekend. On Sunday his teammates accompanied him on the podium as the squad swept the top four places in an impressive display tactics.

Saturday’s Twilight Criterium continues to grow into a neighborhood block party as residents lined much of the course and one resident handed out “King of the Hill” prizes at a prime line in front of his own party. This year Tim Allen handed out five weber grills, gift certificates for pizza, bottles of wine and over $400 in cash. The team was determined to take as many prizes as possible and Ryan Freund shot off the front early in his first race back since breaking his collarbone just four weeks ago. Ryan stayed off the front for much of the race while his teammates patiently waited behind, and Mike Sherer picked up any primes that were being handed out to the main pack. After Ryan was caught there were a few attacks but in the closing laps it was all together as Will Nowak and Hogan Sills lead Sherer throuh the start/finish with one to go. The pressure stayed on over the climb as riders made their last ditch efforts to move up. Diving into the technical downhill the team had their man Mike Sherer right where they wanted him and he jumped hard out of the last turn to hold off a charging Patrick Fasse (Bicycle Heaven).

In Sunday’s race the team sat in early to see how the 40 lap affair would unfold. Verizon Masters rider Mark Swartzendruber made the early move of the day- attacking on the first lap to build a 20 second gap that he would hold for the first 10 laps. He was eventually joined by Start2Finish rider Scott Pearson and it looked possible that the strong veterans could ride away with the race. However, soon after the duo connected a strong group of eight riders bridged across that included Sherer, Freund, Nowak, Rob Kelley (Bicycle Heaven) and 2006 winner Bryce Mead (Texas Roadhouse). With two teammates in the break Mike Sherer sat on as they neared taking a lap on the quickly dwindling field- then within one lap he bridged across to the group and he, Hogan and Waylon went to the front to keep the pressure on and the other nine riders from lapping.

With Sherer up the road it was now Nowak and Freund’s turn to enjoy a few laps rest, but soon it was Freund who jumped across alone. Once Sherer learned he had a teammate coming across he let off the gas a bit, only to head right back to the front once Freund re-connected. At this point the remaining eight riders still had not taken a lap on the main field but another group of three was pursuing them- including Hogan Sills and two Verdigris riders. Sherer and Freund jumped up to those three chasers and the now five-strong group worked together to eventually catch the initial break with two laps to go. This put Hogan and the two Verdigris riders in contention for fourth place — because before the groups came together Will Nowak had jumped out of the break to go after third place on the day.

On the final lap Sherer and Freund played the delicate balancing act of not catching their teammate up the road so that he could take third, and also leading out Hogan to grab the fourth spot. Hats off to the two Verdigris riders, Bob Karlow and Wayne Simon, who grabbed 5th and 6th on the day.

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