Odd finish at Thater: Schneider gets the win as Team TIBCO takes 1st, 3rd and 5th

August 28, 2010

Binghampton, NY – Team TIBCO/To the Top finished out the 2010 season with a show of force, as Samantha Schneider won a two-up sprint over Cath Cheatley (Colavita-Baci) to earn the win at the Chris Thater Memorial, her first career NRC victory. Joanne Kiesanowski won the bunch sprint for 3rd after Team TBICO took over the front of the race on the final lap. Brooke Miller finished 5th.

“The team raced really well today,” said directeur sportif Emma Rickards. “The girls were aggressive the whole race. Meredith Miller was off solo for a while. Megan Guarnier was off solo for a while. Colavita was very active, too. But there wasn’t a move they made that we didn’t cover.”

Which is also how Schneider, the reigning U23 national criterium champion, found herself off with Cheatley, who made a late move that Schneider covered.

“Rush (Buchanan, Colavita-Baci) was off the front and I knew another Colavita rider would attack when she came back,” Schneider said. “So I positioned myself next to Cath because she’d already been attacking earlier and I figured she’d go again. When she went, it was actually pretty easy to go with her.”

The duo put their heads down and worked together to establish a winning gap. “I worked with her to get the gap going, but I didn’t realize we’d gotten as much of a gap as we did,” Schneider said. In fact, the gap had gone out beyond 0:30.

Then in the last couple laps, Rickards told the young sprinter to sit on as much as possible.

“There’s a nice little climb on the course and Cath is a good climber,” Rickards said. “Cath attacked a couple times on the climbs but Sam was straight on her wheel each time.”

The duo came through much of the last lap side by side, with Cheatley hitting the gas out of the last corner.

“When she went, I got on her wheel,” Schneider said. “It’s pretty far from the last corner to the line, maybe 350 meters. I committed to going up the right side, but Cath was heading that way, so when I went at 250 meters, I made sure to get past her pretty quickly so the barriers weren’t an issue.

“I worked a lot on riding in breaks during the winter but I hadn’t been in one all season,” she said. “I was getting a lot of crap from everyone about that. So it’s good to finally get in one in the last race. To get in a break with Cath was fantastic. I have a lot of respect for her. She’s a really classy rider and she was really driving it today.”

Behind them, Team TIBCO took control of the front of the race with a lap to go, intent on delivering Kiesanowski to the last step on the podium.

“On the last lap we had Megan, Meredith, Brooke and me lined up on the front, with Kristen (LaSasso) covering any late moves,” Kiesanowski said. “There was a lot of fighting on the back straight but I found Brooke’s wheel and the girls did an awesome lead-out. It was just a great day all around. Sam rode a good tactical race. She’s a very smart bike rider and obviously strong, too. This was a great way to finish the season.”