Nathaniel Gervez is making a name for himself and for RC Cycling as he is quickly becoming a marked man in the regional peloton.
The team traveled to Greenville, South Carolina last weekend for the final events of the Hincapie Spring Road Race Series. Once again, the race was well-attended with some of the best teams in the country showing up to contest the 60-mile road races on both Saturday and Sunday.
With every race weekend, our elite men's team gets stronger and more dialed in as a unit. We are starting to understand our strengths as individuals and how we can best use them to achieve the best results as a team. Every time we race, it's another opportunity to get better.
Saturday was a 15-mile circuit that the riders completed four times. After a punchy start and a couple of fast laps, Gervez went on the attack and pulled out some of the other big-name riders. His move created a split and a small breakaway of seven riders. Gervez attacked out of that break and only one rider was able to follow. He kept the pace high for the closing miles, driving his two-rider breakaway to the line well-ahead of anyone else. He finished second on the day after initiating that move and driving it all the way to the line without help from the other rider.
Jensen Cervati,
William Dodds and
Michael Gallik remained in the bunch and prepared for the field sprint. They have been working hard on a lea- out train on team rides every week. In the last five miles of the race, their group was still battling for a top 10 finish despite the group of riders off the front. The trio organized, communicated and got themselves ready to contest the final sprint In the end,
Cervati finished second out of the group, placing him in 11th overall, a solid result in such a competitive field.
Alastair Amos,
Ragan Weigel and
Lauren Weigel also competed in the races, gaining more fitness and experience each week.
Sunday the race was much more active from the start, and we had a good amount of wind to make it more challenging.
Jensen Cervati had a courageous and impressive ride, covering all the early moves and finding himself in a very select group of three riders towards the end of the race. The breakaway split and came back together and reshuffled again before it was all said and done. In the end, it was too much for Cervati to cover all the riders in the break and every late attack that was meant to try to get rid of him. He suffered a mechanical and fell back to the chasing group and teammate, Gervez finished with a strong sprint for 10th place overall.
It was another great weekend of racing for the team. Next up, Bryan Park Criterium in Richmond on March 22.
