AMGEN Tour of California Santa Rosa Criterium - NRC

4th Shelley Olds
7th Virginia Perkins
Megan Guarnier, Emily Zell, Abby Lyn Cooper
Helene Drumm, Kristin Drumm, Kristina Seley.

Showcasing women's racing, the inaugural Women's Tour of California Criterium had a strong show of support from both competitors and fans. Held on the streets of downtown Santa Rosa, the four corner course was longer than a standard criterium course at a little over a mile. With 60 minutes of racing and a very competitive field, the NRC schedule opener was anyone's to win.

The strong NRC teams were represented with Cheerwine, Tobco, Aaron's, High Road, and Proman all sending challengers. The regional teams with Metromint, Norcal Velo, and Touchstone all coming out to test themselves against the best in the country.

It was fierce from the gun with primes of substantial cash winnings called out almost every other lap. A few attacks stretched the field, but the eagerness of the teams to see a field sprint brought the group "compacto" to the finish.

Winding it up the last three laps, Cheerwine put on a great show giving their sprinter, Laura Van Gilder a smooth ride to the finish, with Proman equaling their efforts for their sprinter, Shelley Olds. A final big effort by Olds' teammate Megan Guarnier saw Olds finding Miller and Van Gilder's wheels in the final turn. Tucked tightly in the group of sprinters was the young Swedish rider Emilia Fahlin (Team High Road).

Coming hard out of the final corner, with the city of Santa Rosa cheering the women home, Van Gilder made her bid for the line, with Miller and Fahlin responding. Olds jumped hard to the left and the drag race to the finish was on. Digging deep, Miller swept by Van Gilder with Fahlin making her run at the line for third. Olds came in a strong fourth, with her Proman teammate Virginia Perkins in seventh.

A quick note of thanks to the city of Santa Rosa for hosting a women's race in downtown, as well to Laura Charmeda, race director, for ensuring that the women received a strong support from the media, spectators and sponsors and to Jim Passantino and AEG. The race can only be considered a success, and hopefully it bodes well for additional racing for the women's teams surrounding the Tour of California in the future.
A personal thank you to Marni Matz from Medalist Sports for hooking us up with a great warm up area.

Cherry Pie Criterium
4th Virginia Perkins
5th Megan Guarnier
Kristin Drumm - leadout
Kristina Seley, Kate Ligler, Abby Cooper,Emily Zell,
Kelly Bartholomew.

Most Aggressive Rider award - Megan Guarnier

The team rode an excellent first race of the season with team members new and old. A huge field and a beautiful day. The only two solo breaks of the race were PROMAN racers Kristin Drumm and the other Megan Guarnier who both picked up primes, Kristin 1 Megan 2. Kristin delivered Virginia to the base of the finish hill where Virgina put in a fine effort with Megan following.

Cross World Championships
Treviso, Italy
9th Rachel Lloyd (PROMAN) USA

A phenominal ride by Rachel Lloyd the highest placing US rider. A great way to finish off a long season. Rachel plans to take a short break before a season on the road with the PROMAN ladies.

"It was very slippery," said American rider Rachel Lloyd, who challenged for the podium at one point but found the going tough and went on to finish ninth. "I did not get a good start, I crashed right in the beginning because I had too much air in my tyres, and I kept forgetting to tell the pit to let some out. However, there must have been a couple of pile ups became I was all of a sudden up there [in fourth]."

"It always seems easy to move up there in the big races, but I just could not hold it - my legs were just empty. It is so late in the season, I have been racing since mid-September. I was forced to back off. I was over my head in a sense, and I did not feel it too much but then I just disappeared. I started to recover on the little downhills which allowed me to finish fairly strong."

Valley Of The Sun Stage Race
Win and Podium!

Women 1/2
2nd Emily Zell
This was my second year competing in the VOS Stage Race, and I was eager to improve on last year's result (9th GC). Actually, this year I am eager to race everything after last season's time off! I chose to make the 12 hour drive, knowing that I would have the return 12 hours in my legs for the Women's Tour of California Criterium....
EMILY'S REPORT

Women 35+
1st Giana Roberge
Sunday's weather was finally a day to write home about. Beautiful sunny skies greeted us as we pulled into downtown Phoenix for the final stage of the Valley of the Not so Sunny.

Quickly signing in, I hopped on my bike, pedaling through the neighborhoods, watching the city come to life. Actually I think many of the people I saw were just heading home, but no matter....

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About Proman: PROMAN Women's Team is a Northern California based elite women's Cycling Team comprised of seasoned race veterans and promising rising stars. After a strong breakout season in 2007, PROMAN, a United States Cycling Federation (USCF) team, continues to show impressive results and positive attitudes and is poised for the next level in 2008. The elite women's squad was founded by Nicola Cranmer and is affiliated with 501 C3 non-profit club, Tam Cycling.