Cascade Cycling Classic preview • Sunday, July 14 • The Bulletin
Cascade Cycling Classic 34th edition of Central Oregon’s cycling stage race • July 16-21
Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin file
Francisco Mancebo competes in the time trial during the 2011 Cascade Cycling Classic.
MEN’S PREVIEW
Spain’s Mancebo seeks his third straight CCC title International riders have claimed the past four overall titles in the pro men’s race at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic. Spaniard Francisco Mancebo will be looking to make it five straight in the week ahead as he goes for his third consecutive Cascade crown. Mancebo, 36 and from Avila, Spain, has raced all three of cycling’s Grand Tours, including seven appearances in the Tour de France, where he has managed to place in the top 10 an impressive five times. He was awarded the Maillot Blanc (best young rider) in the 2000 Tour de France. Currently leading the men’s individual National Racing Calendar (NRC) standings, Mancebo is a stage-race specialist who also excels in time trials. “He’s still cleaning everybody’s clock in the NRC races, and he’s definitely the favorite,” says CCC on-the-road race director Brad Ross. “He’s just such a complete all-around rider. He can win the
time trial, and then he can win the hardest climbing stage. He’s the most complete all-around rider in the United States.” Mancebo, who rides for 5-Hour Energy, finished sixth in the Tour de France in 2004 and fourth in 2005. In 2006 he was linked to the Operation Puerto doping case — a scandal that involved several of the world’s most famous cyclists at the time — and he was not allowed to start the Tour de France that year. Other pro men’s cyclists to watch include Phil Gaimon, who rides for Bissell and lives in Athens, Ga. Gaimon recently signed with Pro Tour team Garmin-Sharp for 2014. “He’s super aggressive,” Ross says of Gaimon. “He’s not the kind of guy who will sit in and wait for everybody else to fade. He’s an attacking, aggressive cyclist. He’ll attack any time, any place.”
Climbing to the top The CCC is set to challenge hundreds of the nation’s top professional cyclists By Mark Morical The Bulletin
It is not only the longest-running professional cycling stage race in North America, it is the most challenging. The 34th annual Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic runs Tuesday through next Sunday across roads in Central Oregon, and once again the country’s best pros are set to battle on
some of the toughest climbs in the West. The CCC is one of six races on USA Cycling’s prestigious National Racing Calendar (NRC), and the field for this year’s Cascade is robust: nearly 200 pro men’s riders and nearly 100 pro women. “There’s no other NRC race that has this level of climbing,” says Cascade race director Chad Sperry.
—Mark Morical
WOMEN’S PREVIEW
Giro Rosa winner, former CCC champ set to compete
Rob Kerr / The Bulletin file
Mara Abbott rides during the 2010 Cascade Cycling Classic on her way to the title.
Fresh off her victory in one of the most prestigious races in women’s cycling, Mara Abbott is set to compete this week in the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic. Abbott, a 27-year-old from Boulder, Colo., won the overall title at the eight-stage Giro Rosa in Italy last week, besting Italian time trial champion Tatiana Guderzo, who finished second overall, and Germany’s Claudia Hausler, who finished third. A former women’s road race national champion (2007 and 2010) who rides for Exergy, Abbott also won the overall title at the Cascade Cycling Classic in 2010. “That’s probably the biggest race in the world for women,” CCC race director Chad Sperry says of the Giro Rosa. “Just being able to have her coming off that win in Europe is a huge bonus for us.” Abbott also won the Giro in 2010. Another pro women’s racer to watch this week is Oregonian Jade Wilcoxson, from the town of Talent near Medford. Wilcoxson, who rides for Optum, won the women’s road race national championship in Tennessee in late May, and she finished fourth overall at the Cascade last year. Alison Powers, who rides for NOW and Novartis for MS and resides in Pinecliffe, Colo., is returning to defend her 2012 overall title in the Cascade Cycling Classic. “It’s going to be a stacked women’s field again,” Sperry said. “All the big pro teams in the U.S. will be here.” —Mark Morical
The CCC, at a glance What: The Cascade Cycling Classic is a multiday cycling race with a prologue and five stages. When: Tuesday, July 16-Sunday, July 21 Where: Locations across Central Oregon; turn the page over for maps and more information on every stage. On the web: Race overage at www.bendbulletin.com/ccc; official website is www.cascade-classic.org
Above, cyclists compete in the McKenzie Pass Road Race during the 2012 Cascade Cycling Classic. Ryan Brennecke / The Bulletin
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