by Todd Markelz

Team: Dave Allen, Rob Amatelli, Sam Bennett, Scott Cox, Todd Markelz, Craig Roemer, Oli Ryan, Matthew Sloan

Everyone always looks forward to Snelling. In many ways it feels like the official kick-off to the road racing season in northern California. With a strong squad of eight starting, TMB had lots of cards to play in either a breakaway situation or a full field sprint.

The morning of the race was cold. My Garmin read 35 degrees on the starting line and most of the field was bundled up to race in full leg warmers. There was one notable exception though. Rob is not “most of the field” and he wouldn’t be caught dead covering up his glistening guns no matter what mother nature threw at him. After a shivering neutral roll out we arrived at the 12 mile loop that our field would complete a total of five times.

As soon as the moto-ref pulled off attacks started to fly. A thinly veiled attempt just to get warm? Perhaps. Riffelmacher from Olympic Club was active as were a number of Pete’s and Thirsty Bear riders. The first lap was defined by persistent attempts by various sets of riders to form the early break. Per the pre-race plan TMB was all over the front of the race ensuring representation in each and every move. It was an excellent piece of team racing and on numerous occasions I found myself chasing down a move only to get reeled back by the field, only to see another attack fly, and smiling as a teammate shot past me to cover it.

Late into the first lap a 10-or-so man break formed containing our own Rob along with other contenders such as Riffelmacher. Their gap grew as the rest of the field relaxed but it didn’t stretch very far. Always insight, the breakaway sat out front for the better part of a full lap but eventually fell apart and was reabsorbed. There was a relative calm as the race crossed the finish line and headed out onto lap 4.

After the right hand turn onto Keyes Rd, the long straight shot heading west on the course, the wind had started to pick up blowing in from the south. The field began to stretch and I was sitting about mid-pack when I saw a streak of blue pass me on the right. It was Claudio of Thirsty Bear and he was accelerating in an attack. I jumped onto his wheel and we shot off the front of the field. Knowing Claudio is strong on the flats and would be willing to collaborate to establish a break I quickly pulled through and kept the pressure on. After three or four rotations we started to get company as the field felt the danger of this late race move. Cottell made the bridge, along with Evans, Coble, and a few others. The group settled around 8 strong and everyone started working with the exception of Evans who was content to just sit on.

Lap 4 flew by and our lead over the field grew to about a minute and a half. We crossed the finish line to begin the fifth and final lap and I was pretty confident that the break would stick to the end. After turning on to Keyes Road for the last time Evans put in a surprise attack from the back of the break which definitely didn’t go over well given the amount of work he was not doing for the previous full lap. Coble chased him down and order was restored. Heading into the final 5km several members of the break were starting to fade and it was clear a further selection was imminent. On the hill after the bridge I got to the front and started to lift the pace. This strung out the break and tailed a couple of people off the back. I kept the pace high around the right hand bend and into the two rollers that are effectively the final bumps before the finish. Still on the front I started to accelerate again when I hear yelling followed by the crashing of carbon on asphalt. Apparently Coble jumped from the back of the break to come up alongside me. In the process, a rider attempted to grab his wheel but collided with another and a crash ensued taking out several others. Coble and I pressed on without looking back and Evans was able to avoid the tangle and chase back up to us. The three of us rode into the finale still about a minute clear of the field.

We turned onto Figmond Ave (aka the crappy part of the course) and the games begin. Coble is doing most of the work on the front, I start taking half pulls, and Evans continues to sit on. Coble starts getting nervous and continues to look back. Eventually he’s telling me that the field is coming and we need to keep riding or we won’t make it. Given the field contained our sprinter for the day, Sam, I wasn’t overly concerned with getting caught so I continued light pulls in an effort to save up enough to try and best Coble and Evans in the sprint. But Coble was determined to stay away and he worked just hard enough to ensure that outcome. Coble led through the final corner, I was in second wheel, and Evans was behind me. There was a crash from another field on the right side of the road in the final stretch and a race ref was waving us to be cautious which ruled out a surprise early jump. While clearing the crash I eased up and Coble rolled alongside my right. As soon as we started the small climb to the line I opened up my sprint with Coble accelerating along side me. He quickly pulled ahead and I got onto his wheel. Unfortunately I didn’t have enough to pull around him and crossed the line in 2nd. The fast chasing field was a mere 30 seconds back and Sam completely smashed everyone to take 4th. 

Of course winning is always better but I left the day satisfied. I felt great throughout the race and that is a good indication for the rest of the season ahead! The team also rode super strong all day, especially in the early stages of the race. Everyone was aggressive yet smart at the same time. Although I was the one who was lucky enough to end up in the race winning move, had that move failed I’m confident that a teammate would have been there to force the next one!