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 May 7th, 09. Kiwi Heath Blackgrove took a stunning victory at the 30th Annual Athens Twilight series late last month reports RoadCycling NZ's Stateside correspondent Daniel Carruthers.
The atmosphere at the 30th Annual Athens Twilight was electric. Fans lined the entire course shouting their support for the pro racers. The Twilight, dubbed one of the world's most insane criteriums, is one of the biggest events in the USA, and flagship of the USA CRITS Speed Week and National Series.
Some might call the 2009 edition of the Twilight not as insane as previous years, because of the fast and furious racing that lined up the 150 riders in single file for much of the race. Crashes were surprisingly few this year, with only one major crash in the middle of the peloton on lap two of the race.
Blackgrove takes a stunning win
(c)Brandon Andrews Photography
New Zealander Heath Blackgrove (Team Hotel San Jose) victory was against a star-studded field of top U. S. criterium specialists and top international riders. Going into the final lap, Blackgrove was on third wheel of the three-man breakaway with Mark Hekman (Team Mtn. Khakis) leading the charge. Hekman was first to come out of the final corner, but lost steam, and Blackgrove easily over-powered him to register an exciting victory in his first Athens attempt.
This was Blackgrove's first competition in Athens, and he said he had heard a lot about the race and that it was very special. "Athens Twilight is now up there on [my] list of race wins--definitely up there, especially in front of such a great crowd. It was such an adrenalin rush."
How it unfolded
About 140 riders took to the start-line at 9:00 p.m. and, from the gun, the pace was unrelenting-stringing out riders in single file on the super-fast 1km circuit. Speeds were often in excess of 50km/h, rarely slowing down. A mid-pack crash on lap two took down a dozen or so riders, and this further compounded the problem with riders getting gapped out the back and then getting pulled from the race.
John Murphy (OUCH) and Kyle Walmsley (Colavita/Sutter Home) rolled out to the front early on, and built up a handy lead, which they maintained for almost half the race. On lap 46, it was all back together again and, several laps later, after numerous attacking moves from different teams, a five-rider breakaway jumped clear. This breakaway contained big names in Johnny Sundt (Kelly Benefit), Frank Travieso (Champion Porche), and John Murphy (OUCH), and they held a slender 17-second lead after 54 laps. This lead was reduced to six seconds when Bernie Sulzberger (Fly V Australia) got on the front and drove hard for three full laps.
With the break within striking distance of being caught, riders were trying to leapfrog across. The break increased to eight riders, including Heath Blackgrove, who had shown super-human strength to bridge up on his own. There was also a chase group of five riders with the peloton fanning out and easing up slightly. The breakaway was strong and well oiled, working together seamlessly.
The chase group, with a rider from Team Kenda leading the way, caught the break and suddenly the front group had 13 strong riders with ten laps to go. For the type of course and the late stage of the race, the 13-man break was probably a bit too big to be successful.
With about eight laps to go, while there was hesitation among the breakaway riders, Heath Blackgrove attacked with conviction and established the winning breakaway of three. Blackgrove was determined to ensure that this was the winning breakaway by taking long and strong pulls on the front. They established a commanding lead that kept increasing with every lap, and the rest of the 13-man breakaway sat up to be re-absorbed into the charging peloton.
Mark Hedman leads the charge on the final straight
(c)Brandon Andrews Photography
With five laps to go, the break of three had an advantage of 23 seconds, and the win was guaranteed with the field racing for 4th place. Blackgrove took the win beating out a tired Mark Hekman in the final metres. Relatively unknown Adrian Hegyvary (Hagens-Berman LLP Cycling) burst onto the U.S. criterium scene with an outstanding performance to take third place after working very well in the final breakaway. Ken Hanson (Team Type 1) took the frenetic bunch sprint for fourth place.
Blackgrove is an extremely talented all-rounder, but he was acutely aware that his only chance of winning this prestigious race was from the breakaway. "I knew I had to win from a breakaway like that. I knew the race ends in a sprint, and that my only chance was a breakaway. I had teammates who could come through if I got caught. We had options. To win away from home is pretty awesome."
 RoadCycling.co.nz's Stateside reporter Daniel Carruthers is an elite cyclist based out of Austin, TX racing for his sponsor Hansaton Hearing Systems and is also covering various cycling events with his journalistic writing skills. You can keep up with his own happenings by following his blog: www.poweredbyusana.blogspot.com. He will be representing New Zealand at the Deaf Olympics in Taiwan later this year.
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