The rolling and often twisty roads of the 33 mile lap featured one significant climb with time bonuses at the summit, although the field was put under considerable pressure on each passing, it was positioned far enough from the finish to not play a significant factor in the outcome of the race.  However, the warm temps coupled with the 10 finishing loops and three opportunities for bonus seconds proved to be the deciding factors in the outcome of the stage.

With Team Mountain Khakis occupying the first two spots in the overall and Team Panther’s Paul Martin slotted in third just one second in front of another Mountain Khaki rider, the bonus time available on each passing of the KOM was a goal of the top riders and with the time gaps relatively tight over the top ten riders, breakaways were kept to a minimum leading into the climb on the first lap.  Paul climbed well on the first and was able to score a single second bonus while Andy Clarke suffered an untimely puncture just a few miles from the base of the climb.  Over the top, most of the group reunited, while Kelly Benefits rider Cheyne Hoag put in the huge solo effort and quickly built up a 50 second advantage.

Andy Clarke was able to chase back to the field while Mountain Khakis kept the gap manageable and the rest of the field was content to wait for the second ascent of the climb.  Hoag was able to just hold off the lead riders for the second offering of bonus seconds, while Paul was slotted in with a select group of chasers a few moments later and myself not too far behind in a group of ten.  Within a mile, the lead group was up to 15 riders, but the heat and terrain began to take it’s toll on the race animators, allowing a lead group of 30 riders to form.  Unfortunately for Andy Clarke, another mechanical and a detour off course would take him out of the running on the stage.

Paul and myself, along with the Mountain Khakis riders provided much of the race animation on the relatively flat and fast run in back to Columbiana as we began to focus on the time line at the entrance to the finish circuit and the bonus time available on the first and fifth passing of the finish line.  I was able to latch on to a small group 1.5 miles out from the time line, but the field was more or less back together as we began the false flat to the line, I made my move 200 yards before the last corner, maintaining a small advantage to score the first bonus.

The attacks were fast and furious over the next few laps, the quite long false flat taking a toll on the greatly diminished field, I followed a hard acceleration by second place on overall Matt Cooke, setting me up well to score the second bonus sprint much like the first.  With 10, 6, and 4 second bonuses on the finish and Paul so close to reclaiming third on overall, I moderated my efforts in the lead group of five, but was then forced to solely respond to all the eventual attacks.  With one lap to go, race leader Rosskopf from Mountain Khakis was close to making the junction to our group, just as he came charging through, his teammate Cooke made a blistering attack 500+ yards from the finish.  Cramping and twitching all over the place, I gave it all I had left, overtaking both riders 100 yards before the last corner, holding off the teammate duo before finding the nearest bit of shade to lie down for a good stretch.  Paul finished quite strongly just behind the remainder of the break in 8th, with the rest of field literally finishing in groups of ones and twos.

- Kirk Albers