Team Type 1 added to its early-season success over the weekend when Alison Powers and Jesse Anthony made headlines on opposite sides of the globe.Powers won Saturday’s Bikes and Buffaloes Criterium hosted by the University of Colorado while Anthony captured the King of the Mountains jersey at the Tour de Taiwan, which wrapped up Saturday.
Powers’ victory in the 45-minute race around a flat, fast course at the Boulder Research Park was her third of the year and the 11th overall for the Team Type 1 women’s professional squad. The team makes its official debut later this month at the Redlands Bicycle Classic in Redlands, Calif.
Anthony said his King of the Mountains title doesn’t make up for missing a good chunk of the 2008 racing season with an Achilles heel injury, followed by a broken wrist.
“After a short season last year I really feel like I have something to prove,” he said. “I feel like this is a great beginning to the season.”
Following a loss of time on the second stage of the seven-day, 497-mile (800 km) race, Anthony said he set his sights on going after the polka dot King of the Mountains (KOM) jersey.
“I saw my hopes for a high overall placing slip away and became more focused on creating opportunities for myself and my teammates for a stage win,” the Beverly, Mass., native said. “The first KOM points were up for grabs on stage four, so we didn't have to think about it until that day.”
Scoring maximum points on Friday’s penultimate stage was paramount to capturing Team Type 1’s sixth King of the Mountains title in the two-year history of the men’s professional program. Anthony said teammate Ken Hanson helped him stay near the front and monitor the attacks leading up to the climb that came only eight miles into the 88-mile (147 km) race.
“The KOM leader (Shinri Suzuki of the Shimano Racing Team) attacked early, then blew up,” Anthony said. “But another rider attacked with three kilometers to the top, and I only caught him in the last 300 meters. We sprinted and it was really close at the top, but I got him with a bike throw. I always find it ironic when the KOM sprints are so close.”
Hanson, who was the only other Team Type 1 rider to finish the race, registered the squad’s sixth top 10 placing of the week with sixth on Saturday’s final stage in Taipei City. Only 80 of the original 109 starters finished the event.
“I was happy to place decently well in the sprints,” Hanson said, “but I left the race really hungry for a stage win. Aldo Ino Ilesic and I were not able to stay in contact with each other at the end of the stages early on in the race before he got sick. However, we are getting more familiar with each other and it is only a matter of time before we start to gel and win some big races together.”
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