Last weekend the RC Cycling Team wrapped up a successful season of Road Cycling in Madison, Wisconsin at the Collegiate Road and Criterium National Championships. Nathaniel Gervez showed that he can contend with the biggest riders from the most prestigious cycling colleges. His impressive 14th place finish in the Road Race was hard-earned, and we are confident that big things lie ahead for this young talent.

We fielded a team of four riders, only half the allowed starting spots for each college, which put us at a disadvantage tactically against other teams with eight riders. However, we were up to the task and had a plan going into the race to ride in full support of our leader, Gervez. Jensen Cervati, Michael Gallik and William Dodds rode as hard as they could to protect Gervez from vicious gusts of wind up to 25 miles per hour. They shepherded him along the course early in the race, trying always to give him a wheel to follow and a body to hide behind on the windy, unrelenting course. The race would cover 84 miles over isx laps of a 14-mile circuit. The terrain was rolling farmland with wide-open stretches of road and wind coming from all directions, forcing several riders off the road into ditches. 

The race was one of attrition where only the strong survived. By the last lap, only 18 riders remained and Gervez was one of them. He was isolated without teammates, fighting to hold his own against teams with multiple riders and tactics meant to dislodge and drop any competition. But Gervez refused to lose the group and even initiated an attack late in the race to see if he could surprise the big teams and get away. Unfortunately, there was too much fire power left in the group and too big a price on the line with a national jersey being awarded to the winner. He came to the line at the same time as all the strongest riders and did his best to sprint, finishing in 14th on the day.  We couldn't be prouder of this result and the fight that Gervez put up to stay in the race until the end. He is a champion and his day will inevitably come. 

The Criterium Nationals course was underwhelming compared to the road racecourse. Riders would contest the title on a 1-mile rectangular course over 1-hour and 20 minutes of racing. Nothing about the course made it possible to avoid a massive field sprint at the end, even though several teams and riders would try. The best and only tactic on the day was to stay protected, conserve energy and hope that when the last 10 laps came around, we had enough power left as a team to make an impact. 

We had a plan to ride in support of our sprinter, Cervati. We knew it would take the maximum effort from all four guys to outsmart and out-sprint the big teams, once again with more riders than us. When it came time for the plan to play out, adversity struck like it almost always does in this beautiful but humbling sport. Michael Gallik suffered a mechanical with six laps to go and even though he arrived in the pits before the free lap rule was in effect, the officials refused to let him back in the race. This left us without our most important piece to the puzzle. Gervez and Dodds took initiative and tried to rally in support of Cervati, but it was just too late. Bad positioning, untimely crashes and complacency in the final laps, left us empty handed in the end. Cervati crossed the line in 21st, a disappointing finish for a sprinter who just never had a chance to open up a sprint. 

On the women's side, the race played out the same. The course did not lend itself to any exciting race tactics, so Lauren Weigel and Ragan Weigel did what they could to stay protected in the bunch, conserve energy and stay out of trouble until the inevitable field sprint began. Lauren finished 17th and Ragan finished 27th.  They raced smart and always looked like they were comfortable and in control. It was never going to be easy racing with two riders against six from all the big teams, but they held their own and they continue to grow stronger and build confidence with every season. 
 
Next up, the team grows from 13 to 17 riders in the Fall, and we continue to build this program to be able to battle with the best!