The CRCA Grant's Tomb Criterium took place under clear skies with unseasonably warm temperatures as nearly 500 racers treated spectators to a terrific season kick off all while helping raise money for the CRCA Junior Development Foundation. With a significantly expanded schedule there were ten fields of racing, so there are lots of results to go through.
In the Euris Vidal Memorial Elite Men's Championship race a four man break escaped relatively late and despite a strong chase by CRCA/Foundation, the gap held through the finish where Cole Archambault (Greenline Velo) took the win. Cole also won the Men's 3 field at last years Grant's Tomb Crit. Rounding out the breakaway were Glenn Ferreira (Metra), CRCA member Michael Margarite (CRCA/Weather Channel) and Will Dugan (CCB).
The Elite Women's Championship featured equal prize money and saw Amy Cutler (FCS) repeat her 2013 win, edging out a trio of CRCA racers, specifically Fabienne Gerard (CRCA/e2Value), Brittlee Bowman (CRCA/Stan's) and Rose Long (CRCA/CityMD), in a field sprint.
In the Men's 2/3 race a trio escaped early and despite CRCA member Stephan Hoffman (CRCA/Lupus) being outnumbered by two QCW racers in the break, he took the win ahead of Colton Valentine and Bill Ash. Cole Archambault proved to be the best of the riders behind, taking fourth in a prelude to his later victory in the Euris Vidal Memorial Elite Men's Championship.
The Men's 3/4 p/b MODSquad Cycles featured plenty of fast racing but the peloton stayed together through the finale where CRCA member Josh Rovner (CRCA/Sixcycle-RK&O) took the win just ahead of teammate Daniel Cleiman (CRCA/Sixcycle-RK&O). The all-CRCA podium was rounded out by Joe Grgic (CRCA/e2Value) who took time between directing the race to ride his bike.
The Women's 3/4 p/b Rockstar Games and Signature Cycles featured many racers who had already raced in Central Park as part of the CRCA Grant's Tomb Omnium. In the end this one came down to a field sprint with an all-CRCA podium featuring Shane Ferro (CRCA/Rockstar Games), Cassandra Maximenko (CRCA/Stan's) and Lisa Vandivort (CRCA/CityMD).
The Men's 4 p/b IRC Tires USA was the biggest field of the day and came down to a close field sprint and another all-CRCA podium of Ryan Fisher (CRCA), Matthew Moocarme (CRCA/Organic) and Alex Sanborne (CRCA/Foundation).
The Women's 4 p/b hatchMAP was won by Team Yacht Club's Kathryn Cumming, edging out Sara Yancovitz (CRCA/Stan's) and Hannah Todd (Pink Rhino Racing) in a field sprint.
The all new Juniors race was free to participants as part of CRCA's support of junior development. The race was won by Ian Keough (Hot Tubes Junior Development) who edged out CRCA Junior Development's Kaan Sarci ahead of another trio of CRCA Junior Development racers in Justin Strauss, Galen Xing and Abraham Latorre.
The Masters 40+ field featured a long three man breakaway that held a big gap over the peloton for much of the race, though it came down to just 14 seconds in the finale where Peter Vollers (Vermont Overland) beat out his CRCA breakaway compatriots, Erin Korff (CRCA/Axis) and Andrew McGee (CRCA/Rapha).
The Men's 5 p/b IRC Tires USA saw 55 racers in competition with the field sprint won by Alianksandr Kochatau ahead of Michael Lombardi (CRCA/Lucarelli & Castaldi) and Donovan Clarke (King Kong).
Overall it was a great day at the races and we'd like to thank everyone that came out, including all of the volunteers associated with the event. A special thank you goes to NYSBRA President Jeff Poulin who made the trip down to New York City to officiate the race and to PR Timing who once again did an excellent job with compiling results for each of the ten different fields of racing. Also thank you to NYC Parks, the National Park Service, Riverside Church and the NYPD for helping make this non-profit community event possible. Also thank you to Dr. Alaia for providing medical support for the races.
Full Results
For the complete results from the 2014 CRCA Grant's Tomb Crit please visit our friends at PR Timing (link below). Complete results will be uploaded to USAC later this week.
