Team Type 1’s Hanson Runner-Up At Speed Week

Atlanta – Ken Hanson’s victory Saturday at the Dilworth Criterium and his runner-up placing at Sunday’s Global BMW Sandy Springs Criterium propelled him to a second-place finish overall in the USA CRITS Speed Week series.

Hanson’s win was his first of the season and the 12th overall for the Team Type 1 men’s professional squad. Mark Hekman (Team Mountain Khakis) earned the Speed Week series crown while Carlos Vargas (Team Hotel San Jose) finished third.

Hanson said competing in seven races in nine days allowed the squad to get familiar with each other and hone its sprint lead-out. Hanson and teammate Aldo Ino Ilesic combined for nine top 10 finishes, including a third-place for Ilesic at the Downtown Walterboro Criterium on Wednesday.

“Aldo and I have a good relationship,” Hanson said. “It doesn’t matter who wins, as long as we are able to give 100 percent for each other. It was good to at least get one win this week.”

Hanson, the reigning U.S. Elite criterium champion, scored his victory in Dilworth, S.C., in a race that was cut short by lightning in the waning moments of the 75-minute rain-slickened event.

“I got where I wanted to be for the last 300 meters and jumped on the right lead-out train for the Fly V Australia team,” Hanson said. “With 100 meters to go, I was sitting second wheel and I knew I had it.”

Team Type 1 Director Sportif Vassili Davidenko said the win was much deserved after a solid team effort. In addition to Ilesic and Hanson, Team Type 1 was represented at Speed Week by team co-founders Phil Southerland and Joe Eldridge as well as Jesse Anthony, Timothy Hargrave and Dan Holt. Southerland and Eldridge have Type 1 diabetes.

“The guys raced smart and represented the team in all the important breaks,” he said. “We made some very big progress since the beginning of the week and everyone raced very professionally.”

While half of the Team Type 1 men’s squad was competing in the Speed Week series, the other half was racing in the SRAM Tour of the Gila in Silver City, N.M. Darren Lill’s 11th place there led the team in the five-day stage race. Next up for the squad is the Joe Martin Stage Race Thursday through Sunday in Fayetteville, Ark.