April 16, 2004 – Lyne Bessette and Eric Wohlberg were on the podium today on the Laguna Seca Curcuit Race (Stage 2 of the Sea Otter Classic). The circuit race was held on the same Leguna Seca Race way as yesterday's time trial, speeding down the corkscrew descent and up a steep climb on the back side of the 2.2 mile loop. During the women's race, strong winds made it difficult for attacks to stay off the front as they raced 17 laps stage. It was not until a strong attack was put forward by Christine Thornburn of Webcor and Kristin Armstrong of T-Mobile that a break began to stick. With one lap remaining Lyne Bessette of Quark and Tina Mayolo-Pic of Genesis bridged the gap at the base of the final climb. Bessette gave one final attack that would take her all the way to the win at the finish line. “Our [Quark] plan was to remain patient and let others take care of the race,” said Bessette as she cleaned up after the race. “My teammates are strong and are behind me 100%, so I wanted to do something strong today. I wanted to do something good and strong but only once and the best opportunity was on the last lap.” Bessette is now in the leaders jersey entering into Stage 3, a 100 mile road race. The men's race found Trent Klasna of Sierra Nevada, Mike Jones of HealthNet/Maxxis, and Eric Wohlberg of Sierra Nevada on today's podium. The men covered 27 laps as strong attacks were fired from the beginning. With only three laps into the stage, a break of 12 were strong enough to stay off the front and work in the wind until the finish. Working hard in the break was Eric Wohlberg of Sierra Nevada and his teammate Trent Klasna to try to keep the break as far away from the field as possible. With Chris Horner of Webcor and his team pulling the field they were not able to reach the break in time for the final lap. Klasna attacked the break bringing Michael Jones of HealthNet/Maxxis with him. They finsihed first and second respectively, with Wohlberg crossing the line in third just seconds after.

Women

1. Lyne Bessette (Quark)
2. Tina Mayolo-Pic (Genesis)
3. Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile)

1. Trent Klasna (Sierra Nevada)
2. Michael Jones (HealthNet/Maxxis)
3. Eric Wohlberg (Sierra Nevada)