Team Type 1's Powers Runner-Up, Stevens A Lip Smacker At Fitchburg Longsjo

Fitchburg, Mass. – Team Type 1’s Alison Powers earned her fourth top-three finish at a National Racing Calendar (NRC) stage race Sunday while Jen McRae placed runner-up on a stage for the second time at the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic.

Powers finished 20 seconds behind overall winner Evelyn Stevens (Team Lip Smackers) following Sunday’s Workers’ Credit Union Downtown Criterium. McRae was second to Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) in the 25-mile (40 km) race that was comprised of 28 laps of a hot dog-shaped course in Fitchburg, Mass.

While Powers did earn her team-leading 18th podium place of the season, the U.S. national time trial champion said she was a little bit disappointed she didn’t win the race overall.

“I definitely wanted to win, but you can’t win every race and I did take a break after the Nature Valley Grand Prix,” Powers said. “Every day of this race, I felt like my fitness was getting better and better, so I’m right on track for nationals at the end of the month.”

McRae said the strategy Sunday was to preserve – or improve – Powers’ place in the overall standings, while also aiming for the stage win.

“I wanted to use the last corner to get the gap and then try and hug the inside line all the way to the finish,” McRae said. “Unfortunately, Tina came by me right at the line. All in all, this was a good race for us and we had a break through with our criterium racing. We finally clicked. That’s key going into criterium nationals next month.”


In the men’s race, Team Type 1’s Michael Creed finished fifth overall and teammate Darren Lill was sixth as Sunday’s criterium created a shake-up in the final standings. Zach Bell (Kelly Benefit Strategies) overtook Tom Zirbel (Bissell Pro Cycling), who had been leading the four-day, four-stage race from the start.

Creed finished fifth on the final stage to wind up 20 seconds behind Bell, while Lill was 33 seconds back in the final overall standings. Matt Wilson (in fourth, above) scored Team Type 1’s best placing in Sunday’s 50-mile (80 km) criterium.

Photos: Courtesy Mark Suprenant.