April 16, 2005 (Monterey, California) – On a Friday that veterans agreed was the most-attended Friday in Sea Otter history, an estimated 10,000 people watched, rode, shopped and played, while in the pro events the competition intensified on Day 2 of the 15th annual Sea Otter Classic at Laguna Seca. The leader’s jersey changed hands in three of four events held in the pro Mountain Bike and Road stage races.

Stage two of the Mountain Bike Stage Race consisted of a short but grueling two-mile individual time trial, with the riders climbing for nearly half the race. Three time world champion Alison Sydor (Rocky Mountain/Business Objects) of Canada proved to be the fastest of the women’s field, finishing two-tenths of a seconds ahead of Sue Haywood (Davis, West Virginia – Trek/VW), with Kelli Emmett (Colorado Springs – Ford Racing) in third. Defending champion Alison Dunlap (Luna Woman”šs MTB Team) of Colorado Springs, who won the opening stage, could manage no better than fourth. Dunlap finished 12.2 seconds in arrears to Sydor, and lost the leader’s jersey to her rival by two seconds.

In the men’s race, held on the same circuit, Stage One winner Bart Brentjens (Team Giant) of Holland began the day with a comfortable 38-second lead, and retained his leader’s jersey while finishing third on the day. Canada’s Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis), winner of the 2004 U.S. national off-road series, proved to be the quickest in the time trial, finishing 1.8 seconds ahead of Liam Killeen (Specialized) of Great Britain. Kabush’s time was fast enough to propel him into third place in the overall standings, 54 seconds behind Brentjens, and 12 seconds behind Florian Vogels of Switzerland, who was second in stage one.

The pro road riders faced an arduous circuit race on the Laguna Seca Speedway in their second stage of the Sierra Nevada/Kodak Gallery UCI Road Stage Race. The 2.2 mile circuit features a steep, three-step climb, followed by a plunging descent, with strong winds adding to the difficulty. In the opening Prologue time trial, Tina Pic (Quark), of Dalhonega Georgia had had the fastest time, but was relegated to fourth after “jumping the gun” in her start. For the circuit race Pic made sure that there was no doubt – sprinting clear of a small breakaway group in front of the main field to take the stage win after 17 laps. Race leader Kristin Armstrong (Boise, ID – T-Mobile) finished second, and national time trial champion Christine Thorburn (Menlo Park, CA) took third. Pic also took the leader’s jersey after time bonuses were factored into the standings.

The men faced 27 laps of the same circuit, and the Health Net-Maxxis team of Prologue winner Gord Fraser (Canada) took charge. An early breakaway of more than 20 riders was gradually whittled down by the halfway mark to less than 15, with Health Net-Maxxis well represented by four riders, including Fraser and his team mate Chris Wherry (Boulder, CO), second in the overall standings. Fraser’s team reduced the numbers again with 10 laps to go when they took it to 8 riders, then, with four laps remaining, the group split again leaving Wherry, his team mate Doug Ollerenshaw (Portland, OR), David Clinger (Los Angeles, CA – Webcor) and Serbian Ivan Stevic (Aerospace Engineering) to contest the line-honors. Displaying an impressive turn of speed, Stevic easily won the stage, from Wherry and Clinger. Chris Wherry (Health Net-Maxxis) takes over the General Classification (GC) leader’s jersey, based on accumulated time after two stages.

Mountain Bike Stage 2
Women:
1st Alison Sydor
2nd Sue Haywood
3rd Kelli Emmett
4th Alison Dunlap

1st Alison Sydor
“This course is a little deceiving in a couple places because it doesn’t look technical but coming
down the descent is really bumpy. You want to go light and fast because with a course like this,
it’s easy to make mistakes.”

2nd Sue Haywood
“I think riding this race it’s nice to have a short time-trial to keep the time gaps from getting
too big. Four days with three short events keeps time gaps short leading up to the final cross
country.”

“This race is nicely suited to someone like myself- a power rider- and it’s a shorter course than
last year, which I have a lot of experience on.”

“There’s something strong about being the underdog but experience trumps it every time.”

3rd Kelli Emmett
“So far it’s been a slow start to my season, I know my form is going to come, I just don’t know
when!”

“I started out the race just behind someone one and Mary McConneloug ˆ who missed her start ˆ
passed me on the hill. I thought I was doing terribly, like 15th place so I was so surprised when they told me I got third.”

“This is an epic course ˆ so bumpy ˆ and I tried to sit on the bike and just pedal through things
rather than coast the downhill.”

Men:
1st Geoff Kabush
“I’m disappointed we gave up so much time (to winner Bart Brentjens), but this will help a bit. I
felt really fast on the second half of the course, and I made time on the rider in front of me.
On this course you just try to go smooth, tuck on the downhills and just measure your efforts out.”

2nd Liam Killeen
“To be honest I would have preferred a little longer course, like 20 minutes.”

“You know every second is crucial in a short race like this. I made one mistake cutting across a
line on a descent and going across the grass. Trying to get the smoothest line possible was a big
advantage to gaining time in this race.”

3rd Bart Brentjens
“Geoff (Kabush) won last year, and he is the best rider in North America right now, so I knew he
would be strong here. I think doing that long race (in South Africa) last week slowed my legs down a bit. I can do the steady speed like yesterday, but today you have to go a little deeper.”

Sierra Nevada/Kodak Gallery UCI Road Stage Race – Stage 2
Women
1st Tina Pic
2nd Kristin Armstrong
3rd Christine Armstrong
Under 23 Rider Lauren Franges

1st Tina Pic
“Of course you don’t stop to think about it sharply, you’re thinking about some kind of redemption

“The climb goes up then levels off but then there’s that last little kicker and that was really
tough. It seemed like the attacks happened before that last kicker.”

2nd – Kristin Armstrong
“I am ready for a lot of climbing power”


3rd – Christine Thornburn
“Super awesome race went out hard and then tried to recover and recover and recover”
“The sprint was that hardest part today”
“She (1st) put her total heart into the last kilometer”
“I was worried about being attacked the girls have a good jump”
“You have to get the job done”

U23 Lauren Franges
“It was a really hard day today going into the race. I focused on getting active and staying
strong over that climb”

“Sure, a race like this puts pressure on me and causes me to rise to the occasion.”

Sierra Nevada/Kodak Gallery UCI Road Stage Race – 2
Men
1st Ivan Stevic
2nd Chris Wherry
3rd David Clinger

Chris Wherry, GC leader, 2nd in stage.
Asked about his thoughts on holding the yellow jersey: “We will keep it within the team. It is unfortunate that we couldn’t keep Gord Fraser in the lead group today. He would definitely have won that sprint. Some of those attacks late in the race were pretty hard.”

About the second, final, stage tomorrow: “We have so many guys in contention, there are four of us. We can easily send somebody else up the road if we want to put pressure on the other teams.”

“I know I have good form, and I’ll still have it tomorrow. But this course doesn’t suit me well. I like long mountain climbs, not the short, steep climbs here. But with this kind of form, who knows?”

Ivan Stevic, 1st place in Stage
From Belgrade, Serbia. First visit to USA, 3rd race. This is his third race. The first two races were the Redlands Classic and at Ojai. Stevic is a first-year professional. He won 20 races in Italy as an amateur. His best win as a pro was the final stage of the Tour of Montenegro.

“I like these kind of races. The course is hard and it makes a natural selection. If you have the legs, you will be there at the end. But I expected 15 or 20 riders in the sprint, not four. Actually, I was hoping to do well tomorrow, I was not expecting the win today, but you don’t pass up these opportunities when they present themselves!”

“I have to thank my manager, Radisa Kubric. He told me I had to watch only the HealthNet team, to use my head and to wait until the final three laps.”
“I do not have any particular strength. I am an all-rounder.”
“I do not like the long climbs, I prefer short climbs like these.”

David Clinger Webcor
“We had so many guys in the field”
“The break went away so early I wasn”št sure it would hold.”
“This is the first time I”šve seen Ivan Stevic. I am looking forward to tomorrow”šs race.”

The Sea Otter Classic is the largest, most celebrated cycling festival and exposition in North America. The 15th annual Sea Otter Classic is known throughout the cycling world as the racing season”šs kick-off event and is now in full swing at the Laguna Seca Recreation Area in Monterey, California.

Sea Otter is sponsored by SRAM, Sierra Nevada, Kodak EasyShare Gallery, Clif, SIDI, Easton