Jan. 23, 2010
FONSECA TAKES 3RD AT SEASON OPENER
PATTERSON, CA - As torrential rains swept through northern California for nearly two weeks, the sky opened briefly for this year’s Patterson Road Race - a bright way to open the road racing reason.
Despite dark clouds during registration, the pilgrimage of cyclist was in full force and the Zenn Cycling Team (Tom Skiles, Chris Ott and Scott Fonseca) were ready to ride. The Master 1/2/3 race set off on an out –back course that covered a short 48mi loop that toppled a 2mi climb at the turn around.
The Zenn Team took control early as Tom Skiles in a solo move off the front had two minutes on the peloton. Chris Ott commented, “We really didn’t have a solid plan as our training was so disrupted due to weather. But we knew we wanted to get in an early move and drive it to the climb. Tom did an awesome job”. Skiles was nearly brought back a couple of times, but never relented as each team put a rider on the front to close the gap which worked in Zenn’s favor. After 30K and the first kick up the climb, Skiles was finally brought in to the fold and Fonseca took over setting a hard tempo pace. Fonseca lead up the climb for most of the two miles and then slowed towards the top to wait for Ott who was having an off day. Fonseca remarked “I drove up the climb but could never get a sense of where the top was. Once I finally got my bearings and saw the top I slowed to wait for Chris to bring him back to the four leaders. What I didn’t realize was that they shortened the course and flipped us back at the top which made it tough for Chris to get back to us.” As the four leaders took a hair raising descent they faced muddy conditions and several cattle guards. The leaders sped off towards the finish leaving Fonseca to take a cautious approach in hopes that Ott and Skiles would catch. The first to reach Fonseca was Mauricio Prado an old friend and Junior National Teammate of Fonseca; the next was the combination of Alex Rouch and Tony Homes. “Once those four reached me I looked back to see if Chris and Tom were close,” remarked Fonseca. “Once I didn’t see them I made the choice to continue as these three weren’t going to wait”. The chase would continue for the next 20 miles as four leaders dropped to three. The odds were in the four chaser’s favor to catch the leaders, but the question of timing remained.
Further behind, the third group containing Scott Lee, Keith DeFiebre, Tom Skiles, and Chris Ott, was chasing hard to make a race out of it, but it was Keith Defiebre that was the first to go limp and stopped working. With the most to gain from the group, Defiebre’s defiant lack of cooperation forced the others to attack him, in hopes of detaching him from the group. Defiebre, a strong sprinter, would over power the group if taken to the line so Ott and Skiles took it upon themselves to prevent that from happening.
Ahead the four chasers spotted the three leaders with only a few K to go. It was Prado and Rouch putting in huge turns to close the gap with 2k to go. With the leaders holding on to 7 second gap, Greg McQuaid took the bullet for his teammate attacking with 600 meters to go. The four chase was now down to three, quickening their pace and charging the two leaders. Fonseca jumped first to bridge the gap, but was spotted by Mark Faulkner who sacrificed the win to assure his second place took off bringing the winner Tom Roberts to the line and then followed by Faulkner , Fonseca, and Prado.
Team Zenn brought up the second group but it was DeFiebre that took the sprint for 9th over Ott and Skiles. Overall, it was a great day of racing. Skiles commented, “We came here with really no expectations but walked away with a podium spot.” After the race Fonseca said “not a bad day, but certainly not our best. This recent weather really affected our training schedule so we are pleased with the results, but not satisfied . . . not even close”.
"Stay tuned more to come". . .commented Fonseca
As a side note Zenn has awarded Keith Defiebre the DB of the Week award for his racing tactics. Way to go Keith, I’m sure you’ll be awarded this coveted award again sometime soon.
