Binghampton, N.Y. – Team TIBCO came into Saturday’s Chris Thater Memorial Criterium with the deepest strongest team, and they raced like it. In what was the final race together for the crit crew, the team literally started attacking from the gun and didn’t stop attacking until the final lap, when Emma Rickards, Lauren Tamayo, Katharine Carroll and Joanne Kiesanowski lined up on the front of the race, took control and then delivered Brooke Miller to the win.
“It was simply an awesome team effort,” said Miller, who put in the first attack for Team TIBCO on the first lap of the race. “We had talked with (directeur sportif) Jeff Corbett before the race about how to approach it, and we agreed that because we had such a strong team here, we wanted to be aggressive and wear down the field. Tina (Pic, Colavita Sutter Home) and Laura (Van Gilder, Mellow Mushroom) ended up having to chase down a lot of moves and I think that took some snap out of their legs at the end.”
Pic came to the race with several teammates, but lost Catherine Cheatley to a mid-race crash. So Pic and Andrea Dvorak had to do much of the chasing as the Team TIBCO riders launched attack after attack.
“We keyed off of each other perfectly,” Miller said. “As soon as one of us was caught, another one of us would counterattack.” As a result, Team TIBCO had someone out front leading the race for 22 of the 40 laps run in the 35-mile race.
With the bunch mostly together coming into the final lap, Team TIBCO took over the front of the race, with Rickards driving the pace. Tamayo took over next and drove it to the 500-meter mark. With Carroll on the front, Kiesanowski and Miller eased off and let her get a gap in a bid to take the win solo.
“Tina reacted to the move and started her sprint early,” Miller said. “I didn’t want her to slip away so I immediately told Jo to go.”
As she’s done several times this year, Kiesanowski took Miller through the last turn and left her to do what she does best: sprint to the win. And Kiesanowski also did what she’s done on a number of occasions after dropping off Miller, continuing her sprint to take 4th place behind Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Verducci) and Pic.
