The squad divided between the Joe Martin Stage Race in Arkansas, where Keck Baker, Sean Barrie, and Adam Farabaugh will be battling against the premier professional teams from around the United States.  You can follow the action at Joe Martin here on cyclingnews.com.

In addition, XO is sending a small criterium squad to Georgia and the Carolinas for a week of NCC and USA Crit Racing known as “Speedweek,” a series of 6 races over 8 days on extremely fast, highly technical courses with significant prize money.

The squad includes Jared Nieters, Frank Cundiff, Development team member Darion Fleming, and women’s squad member Lindsay Bayer.

The Speedweek schedule can be found here and don’t forget that the classic Athens Twilight Crit will be live-streamed on uride.tv!

Finally, a small squad including Adam Switters from the men’s team and Monika Sattler and Ky Hunter of the women’s, will be heading to the Tour de Moore in North Carolina for the professional 1/2 Road Race.

The Twilight Criterium – an aspiring national calendar event with huge prize money – was stacked with Professional and Domestic Elite Riders, and XO Racing landed Ryan Dewald in the winning break, where he managed 3rd in a photo finish, Keck Baker in 5th, and two other riders – Adam Switters and Jared Nieters – in the top 15.

Video of  Ryan Dewald in Photo Finish at Roanoake Twilight

Results here and below

	1	95.61	Curtis Winsor (1 – Pro)	Harrisonburg, VA		187500	44	Kenda/5hr Energy
	2	100.72	Jeff Pendlebury (1 – Cat2)	Fredericksburg, OH		307012	10	Cleveland Clinic Sports Health – RGF Cycling pb Felt Bicycles.
	3	105.83	Ryan Dewald (1 – Cat1)	Mount Penn, PA		89187	27	XO COMMUNICATIONS p/b CISCO
	4	110.94	John Delong (2 – Cat1)	Blacksburg, VA		61583	16	VeloShine Cycling Team
	5	116.05	Keck Baker (3 – Cat1)	New Kent, VA		211712	29	XO COMMUNICATIONS p/b CISCO
	6	121.16	Evan Fader (4 – Cat1)	Morrisville, NC		194569	19	Earthfare/i9 pb Cyclesport
	7	126.27	David Flynn (5 – Cat1)	Winston Salem, NC		277970	32	Velo Shine
	8	131.38	Jeremy Grimm (6 – Cat1)	Orrville, OH		187082	11	Cleveland Clinic Sports Health ? RGF Cycling pb Felt Bicycles
	9	136.49	Benjamin Zawacki (2 – Pro)	Weare, NH		144633	1	Team Mountain Khakis/SmartStop
	10	141.60	Eric Workowski (7 – Cat1)	Kutztown, PA		103440	2	Fuji
	11		Weiss Scott				37	Velo Shine
	12	151.82	Ben Frederick (2 – Cat2)	Harrisonburg, VA		324234	12	Kelly Benefit Strategies/Lateral Stress Velo
	13	156.93	Nathaniel Ward (8 – Cat1)	Winston-salem, NC		217857	26	Embrocation Cycling Journal
	14	162.04	Adam Switters (9 – Cat1)	Midlothian, VA		127093	28	XO COMMUNICATIONS p/b CISCO
	15	167.15	Jared Nieters (10 – Cat1)	Haymarket, VA		220150	7	XO COMMUNICATIONS p/b CISCO

Last weekend, April 15th, XO Racing sent its top road race riders to the uncontested Queen of American Races – the Tour of the Battenkill in Cambridge New York.

Battenkill is the closest that riders in the United States will come to riding a true northern European Spring Classic:  the men’s Pro UCI Race on Sunday featured 124 miles of punchy climbs, gravel and dirt sections, countless flat tires, and the best professional riders in the country.

The squad – which included Sean Barrie, Keck Baker, Adam Farabaugh, and Adam Switters – pulled off  the best team finish of any amateur Domestic Elite team, with Adam Farabaugh finishing in 19th place and Keck Baker in 23rd.  Riders finishing just ahead of Adam and Keck included Tour de France veterans,  international professionals, and the best domestic riders in the country.

From Adam’s race report:

“Battenkill was awesome, fast, and brutally hard, and dusty as heck as you may have seen from some of the pictures.

First lap was fast but pretty much stayed all together until coming back over Meetinghouse where the group really whittled down.  I just caught back on right before after running up a steep loose gravel section where everyone was across the road.  Yo-yoed on and off and chased back on the pavement after meeting house with 5 others for a few k’s.

Lead group was probably down to 30 through the start finish with Switters and I making the split.  Everyone just kept attacking all the way to just before Juniper swamp to try and set the days break keeping the pace guttered at 30mph in a cross wind.  I followed a few moves but didn’t have it to follow the one that finally went [ed note: with Tour rider and eventual winner Francisco Mancebo].

We would go hard on the climbs and dirt sections, especially at the end but just rode steady in-between.  It went hard over the last climb and was fast into town for the sprint for 14th.  I went kinda early as to not get boxed in and started to wane toward the line and ended up 6th out of the group for 19th.  Keck was just behind me in 23rd and he’ll tell his story.

One heck of a race and one of my favorite.  Wish we could do races like that every week…”

More excellent race photos of all teams can be found here

Tour of the Battenkill 2012 Top 25

1. Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Competitive Cyclist in 4:55:54
2. Jesse Anthony (USA) Optum Pro Cycling-Kelly Benefit Strategies
3. Jeremy Vennell (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling
4. Joey Rosskopf (USA) Team Type 1-Sanofi at
5. Mike Friedman (USA) Optum Pro Cycling-Kelly Benefit Strategies
6. Jeff Louder (USA) Unitedhealthcare
7. Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling
8. Benjamin Day (Aus) UnitedHealthcare
9. Bruno Langlois (Can) Spidertech p/b C10
10. John Murphy (USA) Kenda-5-hour Energy
11. Chad BEYER, Competitive Cyclist
12. Tom LAST
13. Devan DUNN
14. Cole HOUSE, Competitive Cyclist
15. Shawn MILNE, Kenda-5-hour Energy
16. Luca DAMIANI, Kenda-5-hour Energy
17. Evan OLIPHANT
18. Kiel REIJNEN, Team Type 1-Sanofi
19. Adam FARABAUGH, XO Racing p/b Cisco Sytems
20. David FLEISCHHAUER
21. Frank Kevin PIPP, Bissell
22. Ian CRANE +11:43
23. Keck BAKER, XO Racing p/b Cisco Sytems
24. Jeffrey PERRIN
25. Aaron FILLION

Nieters and Llloyd at Presbyterian NCC Race in Charlotte NC

This weekend, April 21st and 22nd, the XO Racing Domestic Elite riders head to Roanaoke, Virginia for the Roanoke Twilight Criterium Weekend, featuring an evening – or “twilight” – race on Saturday, followed by a second criterium downtown on Sunday. Prize money is over $5,000.00 for the men’s Pro 1/2 race.

The traveling squad will consist of riders Keck Baker, Ryan Dewald, Steven Gordon, Dave Fuentes, Jared Nieters, and Adam Switters.

For Mid-Atlantic riders staying local, we recommend racing at the All American Road Race in Poolesville, Maryland on Saturday, and the Forth Ritchie Criterium in Cascade, Maryland on Sunday.

For those unfamiliar – a criterium is a bike race held on a short, technical course, many times held on closed off streets in downtown areas lined with spectators.  Criteriums – or “crits” as they are known – are somewhere between NASCAR and short track speed skating: lots of turns, lots of rubbing, frequent crashes, all at high speeds.

(Washington, DC – April 12, 2012) In only its second year as a USA Cycling registered Domestic Elite Cycling Team, XO Racing p/b Cisco is sending squads to two of the most challenging races on the United States National Race Calendar:  The Tour of the Battenkill in Cambridge, NY and the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium in Charlotte, NC.

“In 2012, with XO’s continued support, we’re lucky to be able to send our top riders to the most challenging races on the National Race Calendar.  There’s no doubt that our guys will miss doing their favorite local races, but the opportunity to have race squads at two national events in the same weekend is something we didn’t even dream of when Tom and I started the team,” said team manager and co-founder Eli Hengst.

“Battenkill” as it is known in cycling circles, is one of the most difficult road race courses in the United States, and perhaps the closest course to a European spring classic: the UCI/NRC race is 124miles of rolling climbs, steep pitches, and, of course, frequent gravel and dirt sections throughout.

The XO Racing roster for the Battenkill UCI race includes: Sean Barrie, Keck Baker (2011 MABRA Road Race, TT, and Overall BAR Champion), Adam Farabaugh (Winner of The Jefferson Cup 2012), and Adam Switters.   Monika Sattler and Ky Hunter will be representing XO Racing in the Pro Women’s Race.

At 50 miles in length on a difficult 1.2 mile circuit in downtown Charlotte, Presbyterian is considered one of the most difficult criteriums on the East Coast, and most riders consider it a success to simply survive until the bell lap.

The XO Racing roster for Presbyterian includes: Ryan DeWald, Dave Fuentes, Gabe Lloyd, and Jared Nieters.

Team co-founder and manager Tom Buzas added, “Our best riders have accomplished everything possible at a regional level, and we owe it to them to give them the chance to ride on a bigger stage.  With the Pro races, we’re definitely fighting in a different weight class -  if we land a top 10 in any of these races in 2012, we’d be pretty excited.  And we think we have a guy or two who, on the right day, can do it.”

Domestic Elite Roster (Category 1)

Keck Baker
Nick Bax
Russel Brown
Sean Barrie
Ryan Dewald
Jose Escobar
Adam Farabaugh
Dave Fuentes
Steve Gordon
Todd Hipp
Russ Langley
Gabe Lloyd
Jared Nieters
Adam Switters

Women Domestic Elite
Lindsay Bayer
Monika Sattler
Ky Hunter

Men Development (Category 2)
Dan Drumright
Darion Fleming
Garrett Olsen
Alex Weiler

Sam Bell (JR)

###

Mid-Atlantic racer and staying local this weekend? Register for the classic Carl Dolan race hosted by DC Velo this Sunday – don’t miss it!

This weekend’s race – The Jefferson Cup -  in Charlottesville, Virginia, is nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and is 72 miles of fast rolling roads with one short but difficult climb.

With one of the largest teams at the race, the pressure was on us to be represented in every attack which we were, often times with multiple riders.

We held a team meeting 1 hour prior to the race start and agreed on a race strategy.  Fortunately, it ended up being executed – not always a given when you have new members of a team like we do in 2012.  As has been said, “No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy” and bike racing is fluid and unpredictable.

(A quick aside for the non-racers out there:  although it isn’t always clear, bike racing is similar to alot of sports – in that riders have both defensive and offensive roles to play.

Generally, a team designates one or two “protected” riders – the goal being to let them do as little work as possible defending attacks, and, when the time is right, to launch an aggressive offensive move in a “break” up the road or lead them out in your slipstream (like NASCAR) in a 40 mph sprint to finish line).

The beginning few laps of seven of the ten mile circuit were fast – fatigue had yet to set into many legs and the course’s backside allows for recovery after the small climb.

Breaks (smaller groups of riders attacking the field) would go up the road, but none of the early moves got far for a simple reason:  any team that missed the move was always willing (and able, at that point) to chase the break down and bring the field back together.

With 3 laps, Adam Farabaugh, one of our “protected” riders got a flat tire and a teammate immediately stopped to trade wheels.  This takes only 10-15 seconds with a good wheel change, but effectively ends the ‘sacrificing’ rider’s race. But it helps save the strongest rider for the end.

Chasing a field of 80 riders alone is nearly impossible, so three XO teammates dropped back to help get him back to the field.  In short, they got in front of Adam and went “full gas” until they chased the group down, placing Adam back in the group before the decisive finishing laps.

As this was happening, a break of about fifteen slipped off the front with a 15 second gap, which already had two XO riders present – former pro riders Ryan Dewald and Adam Switters.

Adam sensed that this was the move and “bridged” – ie, rode across from the field to the break – the gap.  This isn’t easy to do.  For example, if a break is doing 30mph – then the bridging rider needs to be doing 34/35 mph+ to get across the “gap.”

This group then extended their lead over the peleton to thirty seconds and eventually more than a minute.

During these last few laps two of the break’s XO riders went into defensive mode, covering every attack while Adam sat in the break, saving his energy for the final few kilometers – or the sprint if needed.

Coming into the last few kilometers the group was all together and with just over 1K to go another Domestic Elite Team – East Coast neighbors Veloshine – sent two riders on an attack that split the larger group.

Adam jumped from the group and held the wheel of the 2 attackers.

The three riders – with XO’s Adam outnumbered 2-1 – increased their gap slightly and with about a kilometer to go, Adam attacked and soloed all the way to the line, finishing over 100 meters ahead of the chasing riders – or about 8 seconds.

XO Riders Adam Switters and Ryan Dewlad finished at the front of the break, taking 5th and 7th and capping off a solid team race.

Congratulations and thanks to our competition – Veloshine, Kelly Benefits Strategies, and others – for a great day of racing.

VeloNation has full story here.

The Pro UCI race is on Sunday, family friendly and amateur events are on Saturday.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/redlands-bicycle-classic-2012/stage-3-beaver-medical-group-sunset-road-race/results

(Many of you know Keck from local races, Adam is new to our squad in 2012).

That’s out of 250+ starters, and in a field stacked with domestic pro teams this helped the team land 13th on the team GC with only 6 riders. As a bonus, one of our guest riders, Tyler Brandt, took fourth overall in the Sprint Competition.

Rounding out the roster were Jared Nieters, Russell Brown, and Steven Mull.

The full squad is scheduled to race at regional classic Jeff Cup next weekend, then off to the NRC/UCI race in a few weeks at Tour of the Battenkill.

—-
Full results at the Redlands official site:

www.redlandsclassic.com/racing-schedule-results/

Thirty-four men’s and women’s domestic elite teams will join 17 total UCI Continental squads in competition for the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar (NRC) as well as the National Criterium Calendar (NCC) team titles in 2012.

Following the February 15 registration deadline, USA Cycling is pleased to announce the 34 squads that will compete as domestic elite teams (DET). Twenty-three men’s DETs are set to contest the NRC and NCC while 11 women’s DETs will compete for America’s pro-am cycling crown.

On the men’s side the 23 elite amateur DETs will join 13 UCI continental teams and one foreign UCI squad in competition for the men’s NRC and NCC team titles. The 11 women’s DETs will take on two UCI women’s teams for U.S. bragging rights.

http://www.usacycling.org/thirty-four-domestic-elite-teams-to-vie-for-2012-nrc-ncc-crowns.htm