San Francisco, CA - The Giro di San Francisco criterium, held each Labor Day along the streets of Levi Plaza in downtown San Francisco, always draws a top women's field. And this year, it did not disappoint. Even though it is not an NRC event, pro riders from the bay area take to the streets of San Francisco to test their legs in a battle for big money primes and the chance to be crowned the "Queen of the Giro." Taking the start line today was TIBCO's Brooke Miller, the newly crowned National Road Race and Criterium champion, along with several of her teammates, Olympian Christine Thorburn from Webcor and her DS, Karen Brems, Aaron's Katharine Carroll, Cheerwine's Sarah Bamberger and Stacy Marple, and ProMan's Shelley Olds along with many of her teammates. Patella had no teammates today, so she knew she had to ride a smart race. "There were several riders I needed to watch: Brooke and Kat Carroll; but I knew that Christine could be a factor as well," said Patella. "There are a lot of strong riders in this area; but I couldn't cover every move, so I had to be really careful."

The race was aggressive from the gun, with TIBCO launching attacks, and lap after lap there were primes on the line. Patella positioned herself well, and when Miller or Carroll launchedBut it wasn't until 8 laps to go, when Christine Thorburn decided to test her legs and launched a solo attack and immediately got a gap. Her lead grew to about 15 seconds with 5 laps to go. But it was TIBCO that slowly brought the gap down, and Kat Carroll also took charge of the chase. With one lap to go, the gap to Thorburn was closing and Cheerwine's Sarah Bamberger attacked and attempted to bridge up to her. With TIBCO at the front to try to reel it in and lead out Miller, Patella decided to rev her engines and with a half a lap to go, she got to the front. "I shifted down 3 gears, put my head down and hit it hard," commented Patella. "Christine and Sarah were still off the front as I led it out on the last turn. I sprinted and passed both Sarah and Christine, but Brooke never came around me!" Miller took second, with Webcor's Karen Brems claiming 3rd, Thorburn in 4th and Flavia Oliveira in 5th.

Patella heads to Michigan for the Priority Health Grand Prix on September 6-7, and will join teammates Hannah Banks and Taitt Sato for the Women's Tour of Missouri criterium on September 8th. The full VAC team will be racing the streets of San Francisco one more time at the SF Twilight on September 13th.

ValueAct Capital is one of the premiere value-investing firms in the United States, taking large ownership positions in publicly-traded companies and then working closely with company management to generate strong returns. ValueAct Capital is excited to sponsor a dedicated, talented cycling team that embodies the firm’s own work ethic and drive for success. Other sponsors include: Blue Competition Bicycles, Beljum Budder, Columbia Sportswear, DeFeet, Fi'zi:k, Michelin, PowerBar, Reynolds Wheels, Ritchey, Rudy Project, Time, TRP Brakes and Voler

For more information, please contact Team Director Lisa Hunt at lisa@euroduds.com