Park City, UT (June 24th, 2005)

 

Hello All,

Lee Rosenthal dug deep into the "suitcase of courage"
to quote Bob Roll and came up trumps with a fantastic
6th place in this mornings U23 Criterium here in Park
City.

82 of the best U23's from across the country lined up
in the shadow of the Deer Valley Ski Resort to contest
the Criterium Championship. Among the 82 where 4
Sakonnet riders; Swain, Kuhl, Hayes and Rosenthal. The
5th member of the Team (Andy Guptill) was unable to
start as his bike had not arrived after an epic 25 hr
journey that started in Belgium on Thursday morning.

The race started out fast and immediately roughly 20
riders lost the tail end of the peleton in the first
lap. With 12 men in the filed it was TIAA-Creff's race
to win or lose. After just 2 laps a break of two men
gapped the peleton, one being 2004 U23 Road Champ Ian
McGregor (TIAA-Creff) and Kyle Gritters (SeaSilver).

The other 10 TIAA's blocked the field and the gap
grew.
The five star favorite Tyler Farrar (HealthNet)
continued to try and get across. Each of his effort
spat out 10 more riders from the peleton. With 50 laps
to go out of 60 Rosenthal counter attacked a Farrar
move and found himself off the front with the company
of another TIAA (Craig Lewis).

In the first group Gritters and McGregor kept gaining
time on the field. Rosenthal and Lewis also kept
moving away. With 30 to go a solo bridge by Sterling
Magnell (Monex) reached Rosenthal/Lewis.

Back in the field it was a frustrating day for Farrar
as TIAA kept him locked down by continually following
and not working with him. The situation almost came
to blows as Farrar lost his cool with his TIAA
chaperons.

With 15 to go McGregor/Gritters lapped the field and
in the confusion Farrar stormed off the front with 7
riders as company. In the ensuing laps this group of 7
reached the Rosenthal/Lewis combo. Rosenthal could
have bowed out at this point after a courageous race
yet it was Rosenthal who went on the attack!

His effort brought Farrer/Magnell out of the group and
up to Rosenthal. On the climb to the line (is this a
crit?) Farrar "hit it again" and Rosenthal was not
able to latch on. It was now a 2 man chase for 3rd and
4th place.

Rosenthal then sat alone for the next 8 laps just 12
seconds ahead of Mat White (FioradiFrutta) who also
exited the 5 man chase group. With 3 to go White
caught Rosenthal and a strong counter attack found
Rosenthal again on his own fighting for 6th.

In the end LeeRo road the race of his life and did in
fact finish 6th just ahead of the small group
sprinting behind him. At the front Grinters out
sprinted McGregor for the Stars and Stripes jersey
(dispite continually being bullied by TIAA riders in
the final laps).

Provisional results where:

1st Kyle Grinters* (SeaSilver)
2nd Ian McGregor* (TIAA-Creff)
3rd Sterling Magnell* (Monex)
4th Tyler Farrar* (HealthNet)
5th Mat White (FioradiFrutta)
6th Lee Rosenthal (CRCA/Sakonnet Technology)

* Designates a Proffessional rider
note: rougly 22 riders finished the event