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Support Team TIBCO: Get your 2009 clothing now!

July 3rd, 2009

Show your support for Silicon Valley’s fastest start up by getting your 2009 Team TIBCO cycling clothing. It’s the exact same, high-quality Squadra clothing that the team wears.

We have all the basics in stock now: bibs, shorts and short sleeved jerseys. We also have all the outer gear you need for year-round riding: insulated leg warmers, thermal jackets, long sleeved jerseys, wind jackets, wind vests and more. Show your support, or help get someone you know on a bike in 2009 by giving them the gear they need to get going. Or do some early holiday shopping and share your team spirit this season by giving official Team TIBCO gear, It's all here! Click here to download our clothing order form and sizing chart. Happy shopping!

 

Starnes rides superb team effort to solo win in Burlingame.

June 29, 2009

Burlingame, CA – Alison Starnes of the TIBCO Women’s Pro Cycling Team did something Sunday you don’t often get to do in a criterium: show off your time trialing ability.

Starnes took advantage of excellent teamwork by her TIBCO teammates the first half of the Burlingame Criterium, attacking solo with 14 laps remaining and staying away on her own to take the win.

“Before the race, Kat (Carroll) told me to stay near the front,” Starnes said. “I was working my way back up there and then Brooke (Miller) told me to go.”

She popped around teammate Rushlee Buchanan coming through the start/finish area and hit the gas. Behind her, Team TIBCO made sure to cover every attempt to chase her, and for several laps, no chase organized, allowing the 24-year-old Starnes to open a gap that reach more than 20 seconds with seven laps to go.

“I really wasn’t thinking about the win until maybe eight laps to go,” said Starnes. “But when I came through and still had a good gap, then I just put my head down and drove it.”

Finally, Shelly Olds (Proman), who has been one of the hottest riders of late, posting a number of strong national wins in June, attacked out of the main bunch in pursuit of Starnes. Immediately, TIBCO’s Carroll and Alison Rosenthal jumped on her wheel.

Olds put in a huge effort over the next couple laps to carve Starnes’ gap to under 10 seconds, but could get no closer than eight coming into the bell lap. But with Carroll on her wheel, Team TIBCO had played the race perfectly. Even if Olds had caught Starnes, Carroll was in perfect position to counter-attack and ride off with the win.

Instead, Carroll was more than happy to attack Olds out of the final corner to take 2nd place, while Miller easily sprinted in for 4th place out of the bunch, with Amber Rais, who had been active early in the race with a five-lap solo attack, rolling for 6th place.

“This was a great team win for us,” Starnes said. “We all worked really well together. And it’s always good to win a race in your own backyard. We had a number of sponsors who came her to watch us. And a lot of us had family and friends along the course sheering us on. It just gives us extra motivation to put on a good show.”

Kiesanowski, Meredith Miller take 1st and 2nd overall at Wyoming stage race.

Joanne Kiesanowski and Meredith Miller headed north from their Colorado base to contest the two-day, three-stage Dead Dog Classic around Laramie, Wyoming this weekend, and took home most of the spoils.

Kiesanowski, who won this race in 2005 as well, won all three stages of the race to earn top overall honors, while Miller, who won the 2008 edition, took a pair of 2nd places as well as a 3rd place en route to 2nd overall.

“It was a really fun race,” Kiesanowski said. “It’s really beautiful up there, and the courses are really challenging. Meredith was awesome, and it was great to have a teammate to ride with up there.”

Within the first 30 or so kilometers of the first stage, it became apparent that this would be a three-women race, with Rebecca Much (Webcor) providing the main competition.

“The first stage started at about 8,500 feet of elevation, descended to about 7,500 and then climbed up to over 10,000 feet,” Kiesanowski said. “Within a few kilometers of the first climb, it was just the three of us riding together. On the descent, Rebecca and I got away and we worked together toward the finish. The last 11 miles was really hard, with rolling climbs all the way to the finish, plus a solid cross headwind.”

The two rivals worked well together, but with 8 km to go, Kiesanowski attacked and opened a gap to Much and kept adding to it, finally finishing nearly three minutes ahead of the Webcor rider, while Miller rolled a little over two minutes further in arrears.

The TIBCO duo went into Sunday morning’s crit looking to get Miller closer to Much ahead of the Sunday afternoon time trial in hopes of overtaking 2nd place in the race against the clock.

“Our plan was to try to get me away to pick up some time on Rebecca before the time trial,” Miller said.

With time bonuses also available out on the road, Miller went on the attack early with one other rider and opened a solid gap. Much was forced to chase Miller to keep her gap to the 3rd place rider.

Kiesanowski played it perfectly. “Jo counter-attacked when I got caught,” Miller said. “Rebecca had to let her go because she was pretty gassed from chasing me.”

The New Zealander went solo for the final seven laps to earn the win by more than 20 seconds. Behind her, Miller sat in and recovered for the closing laps, and on the back stretch, attacked Much to take 2nd place on the stage and grab some extra bonus time.

Kiesanowski closed out a perfect weekend by taking the time trial by three seconds over her teammate. Much experienced some bad luck out on the road, flatting near the mid-point of the course, without neutral wheel support. She was forced to ride the remainder of the TT on the flat, and relinquished 2nd overall to Miller.

“We felt really bad for Rebecca,” Kiesanowski said. “I don’t know that she’d have finished ahead of either of us if she hadn’t flatted, but she probably would’ve held 2nd overall.”

In an act of sportsmanship, the TIBCO duo gave Much an additional share of the prize money.

Beveridge wins Canadian U23 time trial championship.

Julia Beveridge won another Canadian national championship Saturday, this time taking the U23 time trial championship. She covered the 20km course in a time of 29:58, nearly 0:52 faster than the second place rider. Her time would have placed her second in the elite woman’s time trial.

 

Rais rocks Reno: a near sweep of the three-stage race on the way to the overall win.

June 22, 2009

Reno, NV – Somewhere between all the interviews with the Reno media and spending time with her family and friends in her home town, Amber Rais found time to win two out of three stages of the Tour de Nez, finish second in the other one, and comfortably take the overall title of the three-day race.

Rais didn’t waste any time, winning the opening stage Truckee Criterium on Thursday on the wheels of a blistering lead-out by teammate Rushlee Buchanan, who was making her return to racing after suffering a fractured wrist at the Dana Point Grand Prix April 26.

Rais ended the weekend the way she started, taking the win Saturday in the Village at Northstar-at-Tahoe circuit race, albeit in an unusual manner. Rais originally finished second in the race to her TIBCO teammate, Alison Starnes. However, because of some confusion in the pits, Starnes was sent back into the race as if she could take a free lap following a mechanical. While this is standard practice during most criteriums, on the longer course at Northstar, no free laps were allowed. Once the confusion was cleared up, race officials had no choice but to disqualify Starnes and award Rais the victory.

In between her two wins, Rais took a close second place at the Reno Criterium Friday behind Katerina Nash (Luna). “I joked with Katerina after the race Friday that we should trade wins because I beat her up in Truckee, where she lives, then she beat me in Reno, where I’m from,” Rais said. But that was the only blip on the weekend for Rais.

“I really wanted to do well in this race,” the 28-year-old Rais said. “Tour de Nez is my hometown race. My whole family was here, as well as my fiance’s parents. There’s nothing better than winning in front of your family and friends.”

Rais gave plenty of credit to her teammates, who were instrumental to both wins. Team TIBCO used its four riders well on Thursday, racing aggressively throughout and always having riders up the road in breaks.

“Everyone did great work on Thursday,” she said. “The team really set me up well for the sprint, and Rushlee’s lead-out was amazing!”

Saturday saw similar control from Team TIBCO, though they had to make due with one less rider, as Buchanan had crashed during Friday’s race in Reno and opted not to continue to protect her still healing wrist.

Instead, it was the team’s youngest member, Jerika Hutchinson, who did the damage. Hutchinson is on great form right now, having taken 2nd place last weekend at the notoriously difficult Pescadero Road Race in the Bay area.

“Jerika took charge early and took strong pulls for a number of laps and ended up dropping half the field,” Buchanan said.

“Jerika was fantastic,” Rais added. “When she went to the front, there had been a split in the field and by the time she was done, the front group was down to just eight riders.”

Meanwhile, Rais took advantage of her teammate’s work and sat comfortably in the shrinking field, saving herself for later in the race and keeping an eye on her closest rivals for the overall omnium title.

Mid-race, Starnes experienced mechanical issues and rolled into the SRAM tent for some quick assistance. Once they had things worked out, the pit crew put her back into the race as if she was allowed the free lap, but also in the group ahead of the one she had been in before she had the mechanical.

Starnes bridged to the front group, recovered a bit, and then attacked. “Our plan was to try to get Ali the win, so she could take the points and help protect my lead,” Rais said. “When she got up to the front group, it looked like everything was going to plan, but there was a lot of confusion, and none of us in the front group knew what had happened.”

As planned, Starnes attacked hard in the closing laps, opened up a solid gap and used her time trialing abilities to hold on for the apparent win, with Rais sprinting in for 2nd place. However, when officials cleared up the lap issue, Starnes was relegated and Rais given the win. Either way, Rais had the overall wrapped up.

While the three-day race did offer some minor frustrations like what occurred on Saturday, overall it went as well as Rais could’ve hoped, and she got to spend a relaxing Father’s Day with her entire family on Sunday.

Solo efforts bring Julie Beveridge a stage race title and Brooke Miller 2nd at Nevada City.

 

Two other Team TIBCO riders earned strong results over the weekend flying the team colors solo.

Perhaps the largest crowd on record lined the streets of Nevada City to watch the pro women take on what is considered one of the hardest circuits on the racing scene. Of course, some of those thousands of people may have been there to see Lance Armstrong, but no matter. “We don’t get to race in front of crowds that big very often,” said Team TIBCO’s Brooke Miller.

The women put on a pretty good show for the fans. Miller, racing solo, finished 2nd to an on-fire Shelly Olds (ProMan), who benefited from having several teammates with her in the race.

Early on, ProMan set the pace to soften up the field, quickly decimating the peloton and leaving only a small front group of six to contest the race. “I was in there with Katerina (Nash, Luna), Shelly and two of her teammates,” Miller said. “One of Shelly’s teammates attacked and stayed off for several laps. Katerina and I had to do the chasing, and as soon as we caught her, Shelly countered and we just couldn’t follow.”

The front group eventually lapped the rest of the field, and it was left to Miller to battle with Nash for 2nd place. “I attacked her a couple times on the climb but I couldn’t shake her,” Miller said. “She’s a really strong climber, but I was able to take the corners a bit better than she did.”

In the end, the duo came to the line together and Miller was able to hold off Nash for 2nd.

Farther north, the team’s rising Canadian star, Julie Beveridge, took on Western Canada’s top women’s teams solo during the two-day, three-stage Banff Bike Fest, which she likened to the recent Tulsa Tough.

Beveridge dished out plenty of punishment on her own, starting Saturday morning with a dominating 0:46 win in the opening time trial stage, run on a 21 km course. She just kept going in the Saturday evening criterium. Beveridge joined a break initiated early by one of the other teams, then attacked solo and motored around the 1km course in downtown Banff until she had lapped the entire field, easily taking her second stage win of the day.

All she had to do during Sunday’s 52km road race was stay near the front and stay out of trouble to preserve her solid general classification lead. She did so quite well, joining a three-rider break that stayed away to the finish, where she came 2nd to Alison Testroete (Total Restoration) and easily secured the overall win.

 

Team TIBCO fights to the end, secures overall team title at NVGP.

June 15, 2009

Stillwater, MN –Team TIBCO was rewarded for its consistently strong, aggressive riding all week at the Nature Valley Grand Prix, taking home the overall team general classification title for the six-stage race.

Katharine Carroll and Joanne Kiesanowski both finished in the top 10 of the final, difficult stage, the Stillwater Criterium, considered one of the hardest circuits on the U.S. race scene. The high placings secured 4th overall for Carroll and 7th overall for Kiesanowski.

“The girls rode great all week,” said Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. “They rode really well as a team. That aspect kind of got away from us in Montreal and Philadelphia. But we found it again this week. They worked well together, and they were the prime aggressors of the race this week.”

The teamwork showed particularly well in Brooke Miller’s stage win Friday evening in Minneapolis. “The last lap was one of the best lead-outs we’ve done all season,” Corbett said. “We had five girls on the front the last lap leading out Brooke. It was textbook.”

Team TIBCO consistently placed riders in the top 10 of every stage, with Miller taking her stage win and 3rd place in stage 5, while Kiesanowski scored 2nd place in the second stage. The team also place six riders in the top 20 of the opening time trial.

“We always want to get the overall win,” said Kiesanowski, “but we showed that we were the strongest team overall again this week. It was a testament to the team that we finished all eight riders as well.”

Carroll agreed with the assessment. “The team GC was an accurate representation of our efforts all week,” she said. “We tried to be aggressive each day. We may not have gotten the individual GC, but we were up there all week.”

“We tried to make Kristin (Armstrong, Cervelo Test Team) work hard and tire her out,” Kiesanowski added. “We dictated a lot of the attacks this week. And Brooke’s break in Stage 5 was race-changing. It was good to finally have a move that stuck to the end.”

That effort continued throughout the final stage, as well. “Stillwater is just a really hard day,” Kiesanowski said. “It would’ve been good for one of us to get in the move with Kristin, but once you miss the move, it’s hard to catch back up on this course, especially when it’s someone as strong as her up front.”

But overall, Corbett was very pleased with the team’s performance, and noted that “Jo and Kat did a great job to hang in the front group Sunday. The race blew to pieces pretty early and they rode really well. Amber (Rais) and Julie (Beveridge) also did great work trying to bridge up from the second group to the first chase group. And Lauren finished really well even though she had a pulled muscle in her ribcage that prevented her from really going deep.”

Beveridge and Rais both finished the stage in the top 25, while Tamayo still finished both the final stage and race overall in 13th place.

“The whole week was good,” Kiesanowski said. “We rode really well together. I’m looking forward to the next stage race.”

Kiesanowski and the rest of Team TIBCO will have to wait a month for that, when the Cascade Classic kicks off on July 18. In between, Brooke and Meredith Miller, Carroll and Tamayo will all travel to Italy with the national team to participate in the Giro d’Italia donne, the women’s Giro.

 

Miller follows her stage win with 3rd in Stage 5 of NVGP.

June 13, 2009

Mankato, MN –Team TIBCO’s national road and criterium champion Brooke Miller earned a hard-fought 3rd place in Stage 5 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix Saturday, the notoriously difficult Mankato Road Race.

In what Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett described as a “bizarre day,” Miller took her podium spot out of a break of six riders that formed about 90km into the 134km stage. The break benefited from a game of chicken in the peloton, with Team Type 1, which missed the break, looking to race leader Kristen Armstrong (Cervelo Test Team) to chase, while Armstrong waited for TT1 to start the chase to protect 2nd overall Alison Powers.

The game went on long enough for the break to open a gap that neared four minutes at its largest, before Armstrong finally started to give chase, with Miller the birtual race leader on the road.

“Even when they hit the finishing circuits with 12km to go, the gap was still out over three minutes,” Corbett said.

The finishing circuits – four trips around a 3km circuit including about 1.6km of climbing that averaged 14% - proved decisive. Alexis Rhodes (Webcor), who had attacked at the same time as Miller to establish the break, rode off solo, dropping Miller and Dotsie Bausch (Jazz Apple).

“The circuits were hard for me,” Miller said. “I’m not well suited for this kind of course. It hurt going up that hill. For climbers, it’s fine. For sprinters, not so good. But I love this stage, even if the circuit isn’t suited for me.”

Miller’s move was a counter attack of a move that contained TIBCO’s Julie Beveridge, and was the culmination of another day of aggressive riding by Team TIBCO.

“We started attacking about 20km into the stage,” said TIBCO’s Joanne Kiesanowski. “At one point, after one of the turns into a crosswind section, we tried to line it up and see if we could splinter the field, but the crosswinds weren’t strong enough today.”

Instead, the team put Brooke Miller, Meredith Miller, Amber Rais, Emma Rickards and Beveridge on attack patrol, which Kiesanowski, Katharine Carroll and Lauren Tamayo – the team’s highest placed riders on GC – remained protected in the peloton, conserving energy for the hard finishing circuits.

“We wanted to keep pressure on Armstrong, and Team Type 1,” Kiesanowski said.

While the tactics worked for Team TIBCO, one of the unintended beneficiaries was Webcor, which was basically going for broke after a disastrous Stage 3 crash took pretty much their entire team out of contention for the overall.

“Alexis and I attacked at the same time,” Miller said. “I just grabbed her wheel and we drove it together. I really didn’t think it would stick.”

Bausch and Kelly Benjamin (Colavita) soon joined the duo, while Olivia Dillon (Nature Valley Cycling Team) and Nicole Evans (Value Act Capital) chased for 32km before finally catching the break.

“Once the break was established, Jeff called me off so I could rest up for the circuits,” Miller said.

After hitting the circuits, Benjamin, Evans and Dillon dropped off on the first climb. Miller hung in and attacked the remaining duo on the downhill and got a gap. But on the second time up, Rhodes caught and dropped Miller, leaving her and Bausch to fight it out. On the third circuit, Miller attacked again on the downhill and dropped Bausch, but the Jazz Apple rider was able to catch and pass Miller on the final trip up and over and hold on for 2nd place. Miller finished about 0:40 behind Rhodes.

Behind them, Armstrong was making a frantic chase to maintain her hold on the yellow leader’s jersey, trying to reduce the gap enough to also account for the 0:15 time bonus Rhodes got for the win. She did so by 0:11 ahead of Rhodes, with Powers now 3rd overall, still 0:12 behind. Miller’s move earned her a big jump up to 5th overall, 0:32 behind Armstrong after gaining 2:02 on the race leader, plus a six-second time bonus on the line.

Carroll took advantage of the other teams chase efforts to attack on the final circuit, opening up a gap and gaining a few seconds on the rest of the field. She sits 6th overall, 0:48 back, while Kiesanoswki holds the 8th overall position.

Team TIBCO will have one more chance to gain back time on their rivals with Sunday’s Stillwater Criterium, featuring the notoriously steep and painful Chilkoot hill.

Last year, Kiesanowski finished 3rd in the final stage. “It’s a really hard course,” she said. “The racing is on straight from the gun.”


 

Team TIBCO does it by the textbook, delivering Brooke Miller to Stage 4 win at NVGP.

June 12, 2009

Minnneapolis, MN – In front of a huge Friday evening crowd in Minneapolis, Team TIBCO delivered national criterium champion Brooke Miller to a textbook sprint win in Stage 4 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

“It was a picture perfect race for the team,” Miller said. “Everyone raced great tonight. We all did our jobs perfectly.”

In the first half of the 48-minute Uptown Minneapolis Criterium, that took the form of sitting back and covering pretty much every move that tried to get away off the front. “We were like bees,” Miller said. “We swarmed on everything.”

But when the second half of the race came around, the tactics changed, and Team TIBCO turned the aggressor. “Everyone got in on the act,” said Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett.

Emma Rickards put in one strong attack that drew out a couple other riders. When that move was about to be caught, Lauren Tamayo countered with a huge effort and got off the front solo, and stayed out there for almost five laps. At one point she held a gap of 15 seconds.

“That forced the rest of the field to put in a hard chase and took some of the pressure off of us for a bit,” Corbett said.

A couple laps after Tamayo was caught, Katharine Carroll’s put in a big attack with only about four laps to go. Her move was critical to setting up the win, Meredith Miller noted.

“We knew Colavita would set up their lead-out for Tina (Pic),” she said. “Kat’s move created a bit of chaos. We knew it would throw them off and force them to burn some matches bringing her back. It allowed us to get our lead-out set up.”

With two laps to go, Amber Rais came around the Colavita lead out. A half lap later, Meredith Miller came around. On the final lap, Joanne Kiesanowski put in a huge turn at the front and left it for Tamayo to take Brooke Miller to the last corner.

“I had found Lauren’s wheel with about five laps to go,” Brooke Miller said. “She was determined to be my last lead-out tonight. A couple times I had to fight to keep her wheel.”

About the only thing that didn’t go quite according to plan was Brooke Miller starting her sprint a bit earlier than she wanted.

“I was supposed to go from the last corner,” she said, “but I misread Lauren’s body language and actually went before the corner.”

It didn’t matter. “When I have a lead-out like that, I don’t have to have good legs to win,” Brooke Miller said. “But I did have good legs, and I was able to hold my sprint to the line.

“Today’s crit was a lot more controlled than the first day’s,” Brooke Miller added. “That first day it was really chaotic. Everyone had fresh legs. Today we really controlled the race from the start. We had a heavy presence on the front the whole race, and we were able to dictate a lot of what happened today, whether it was attacking or covering moves.”

Both Millers agreed it was a perfect day.

“The last couple of days we had a bit of bad luck,” Meredith Miller said. “Today, we were all on the same page. It was good to go out and execute a race plan perfectly and pull off the win.”

Team TIBCO will get its next opportunity to take control of the race Saturday with the often decisive Mankato Road Race, the stage notorious for its crosswinds and rolling terrain.

 

2nd place in evening crit for Kiesanowski punctuates strong first day for Team TIBCO at NVGP.

June 10, 2009

St Paul, MN – Joanne Kiesanowski of Team TIBCO sprinted to 2nd place in Wednesday evening’s Downtown St. Paul Criterium, continuing the strong performance with which the team opened the six-stage Nature Valley Grand Prix during this morning’s time trial.

The 10-second time bonus for 2nd place moved the New Zealander to just over one minute behind race leader Kristen Armstrong (Cervelo Test Team), who won the opening time trial Wednesday morning. Armstrong, who has won the past three editions of the NVGP, is the reigning Olympic TT champ, as well as a former world champion and three-time U.S. national champion in the time trial.

With Kiesanowski moving up into 13th place with the time bonus, Team TIBCO now has five riders in the top 13 overall, all within 1:04 of the race leader. Katharine Carroll, Lauren Tamayo and Julie Beveridge all posted top-10 results in the ITT this morning, and Amber Rais came in with 12th place at 1:01 back. Kiesanoski was in 17th after the morning stage, while Meredith Miller also slotted into the top 20.

“The girls rode really well this morning,” said Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. “I don’t think anyone expected to beat Kristen. But we’re in a really strong position heading into the rest of the week.”

Armstrong faces a tough task if she is to repeat as winner, as she is riding without teammates this year. She won last year’s race with only one teammate, Emma Rickards, who will be working for her TIBCO teammates this year.

The NVGP continues Thursday afternoon with the rolling, 60-mile Cannon Falls Road Race, a stage notorious for its crosswinds. “We’ll be looking for breaks tomorrow so we can keep the pressure on Armstrong as well as (Alison) Powers (Team Type 1),” Corbett said.

Powers, the reigning U.S. national time trial champion, finished 2nd this morning, 0:13 behind Armstrong. There are plenty of time bonuses out on the road and at the finishes over the next four days, as well as opportunities to attack the field. All of which should make this NVGP a hard-fought one to the end.

 

Team TIBCO executes Philly race strategy to help deliver Kiesanowski to 2nd place.

June 7, 2009

Philadelphia, PA –Joanne Kiesanowski of Team TIBCO benefited from a strong team performance to earn 2nd place in the prestigious Liberty Classic in Philadelphia Sunday.

The New Zealander was perfectly positioned to join a 12-rider group that slipped off the front the final time up the infamous Manayunk Wall and stayed away until the finish at the end of 90 kilometers of racing.

“During the race, Emma (Rickards), Kat (Carroll) and Meredith (Miller) did a great job of covering moves that went on the flatter portions of the race,” Kiesanowski said. “I had responsibility going up the wall, so I was always in the front selection each time up.

“Coming into the last time up the Wall, Columbia-Highroad had it lined up on the front going into the last corner before the climb,” the New Zealander said. “At the base of the climb, Trixi Worrack (Equipe Nürnberger) put in an attack, but she didn’t really get too far because she had five Columbia riders to get around.”

However, the increase in pace caused the separation that created the group of 12 riders who contested the finish.

“We really didn’t like the composition of the break because Columbia had four riders up there, including Ina (Teutenberg),” Kiesanowski explained.

“I wasn’t sure we had the horsepower to chase down the break,” team directeur sportif Jeff Corbett added. “Emma, Kat and Meredith had done a lot of work earlier chasing down moves. But if we couldn’t bring them back, I wanted to at least keep the pressure on and not let the gap balloon so the Columbia riders couldn’t play any games coming into the finish, like sending Mara (Abbott) off solo to take the win, and them still having Ina to sprint for 2nd place.”

The efforts paid off, with Columbia unable to set up a lead-out for Teutenberg, leaving their sprinter to freelance the finish. But her three teammates kept the pace sufficiently high that only Amber Neben (Equipe Nürnberger ) tried an attack, but that was quickly neutralized.

“Columbia just kept the pace up, and Ina didn’t have to cover anything,” Kiesanowski said.

Coming around Logan Circle and into the finishing straight, Kiesanowski went with Alison Powers as the Team Type 1 rider opened up her sprint on the left side. But when she saw Teutenberg powering up the right side, “I jumped over to her wheel and I was able to hold it,” she said. “For a minute I thought maybe I could come around her, but she just kept going like a good sprinter does.”

Kiesanowski settled for second, but she wasn’t too disappointed. “You always want to win,” she said, “but this is a big race and it’s great to finish on the podium. I was really happy with my sprint. It’s nice when I go and the legs respond. It’s just hard to beat Ina most days.”

Overall, Kiesanowski was happy with how the day went, and not just because she performed well in front of her husband, parents and quite a few friends, who all came out for the race.

“The team had a race plan and we executed it well,” she said. “Kat, Meredith and Emma were all great. Kat put in a great attack on the second time up the wall. We had Brooke (Miller) and Lauren (Tamayo) ready for a sprint if it came to that. The team did really well.”

Rickards agreed, and not just about the performance in Philly. “I think we showed today and in Montreal last week that even though we were racing against the top teams from Europe, we didn’t back down. In Montreal, we really tried to make the race hard and be aggressive. Everything is starting to come together.”

This bodes well for Team TIBCO, as it heads straight from Philadelphia to the Minneapolis/St. Paul area for the Nature Valley Grand Prix, which begins this Wednesday. For that race, Kiesanowski, Rickards, Carroll, Tamayo and the Millers will be joined by Amber Rais and Julie Beveridge, both of whom raced with the team at the Grand Tour du Montreal last week.

“We have a very strong eight-rider team for Nature Valley,” Kiesanowski said. “It’s a fun race. I’m really excited.”

Meredith Miller works overtime for two wins over the holiday weekend.

May 26, 2009

Rock Island, IL –Meredith Miller of Team TIBCO followed up her solid 2nd place in the challenging Snake Alley Crierium on Saturday by taking wins Sunday and Monday in races around the Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois.

On Sunday, Miller launched a late solo attack to win the Mellon City Criterium in Muscatine, Iowa. “The course went around a park in which we had a fast descent and an uphill climb just before the finish,” Miller said. “In the past no breakaway has stayed away but I didn't want it to come down to a field sprint. I attacked the group hard just before three laps to go and was able to hold the gap to the finish. It was a great feeling to win solo.”

Monday’s race, the Quad Cities Criterium held just across the Mississippi River in Rock Island, IL, found Miller in a similar situation, facing a strong field with a number of teams well-represented.

“The course was a fast figure eight, and even though it didn’t rain, the winds made it even more challenging,” she said. “As it was with the other races, I didn't want to sprint against the entire field so I worked hard to form a break. Six of us got away, but I still didn't want to sprint against everyone.”

She put in several attacks in the closing laps but was unable to get away.  “I knew coming into the finish that I wanted to be first through the last turn so I jumped into turn seven,” she explained. “I caught the lone rider who had attacked with one to go, and held it all the way to the finish.”

While winning races is hard enough with teammates, taking a pair while racing solo required extra work and, just as important, well-executed tactics from Miller.

“Racing alone meant that I had to race smart and not burn too many matches chasing down unthreatening attacks, or make someone else work to bring back the threatening ones,” Miller said. “Luckily, I was either solo or in a break each time, which definitely played to my advantage when other teams weren't stacked against me.”

Team TIBCO opens three-day weekend with three podiums.

May 23, 2009

Sunol, CA –Alison Starnes and Katharine Carroll of Team TIBCO finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Calaveras Time Trial Saturday morning. Starnes posted a time of 23:49 on the rolling 10-mile course that traveled south on Calaveras Road from Sunol, a small town east of San Jose. Carroll finished just one second behind her teammate. Emily Zell of Value Act Capitol won the TT with a time of 23:38.

Half a country away, Meredith Miller of Team TIBCO scored 2nd place in the challenging Snake Alley Crierium in Burlington, Iowa, just behind Amanda Miller (Team Lip Smacker). The course features a one block long cobbled climb on Snake Alley, dubbed “the crookedest street in the world” by the town. The 276 foot long Snake Alley has five switchbacks covering 60 feet in elevation gain, with an average grade of 12.5 percent for the block.

Two more NorCal races on tap – watch Team TIBCO in Morgan Hill Monday

Starnes and Carroll will be joined by teammates Amber Rais, Brooke Miller and Alison Rosenthal Monday in Morgan Hill for the SugarCRM Memorial Day Criterium.
National Criterium Champion Miller will be one of the favorites against what should be another strong NorCal women’s field. The race is scheduled to start at 3:40 pm.

Sunday morning, all five riders will line up for the SugarCRM Mt. Hamilton Road Race, which departs East San Jose around 8 a.m. The course takes the riders over the 4,200-foot summit of Mt. Hamilton and down into the San Antonio valley and ends after roughly 65 miles on Mines Road, southeast of Livermore.

For more information on both races, visit:

http://www.teamsanjose.org/memorialwknd/2009/mthamilton.php
http://www.teamsanjose.org/memorialwknd/2009/criterium.php

 

Starnes takes close 2nd in final race in France.

May 11, 2009

Saint Salvy de la Balme, France – Alison Starnes of Team TIBCO is proving to be an incredibly quick study, along with being a very strong rider.

Barely more than a year into her cycling career, not just at the elite level, but since her first race as a Category 4 rider, this past Friday Starnes delivered her third podium in five races in France.

Riding for the U.S. National Development Team, the 23-year-old missed out on her first professional win in Europe by less than the width of her Challenge tire to Béatrice Thomas.

Starnes has adapted to the French style of racing. “Chris (Georges, her team director) told us to attack from the gun, which wasn’t anything new,” Starnes said. “That’s how they race here. Even if it is 80 miles long, they race from the gun. Right after the start, I worked on gaining position and got ready to attack.”

The race consisted of 10 laps around an 8 km circuit that climbed in steps, with slight down-hills, and a sharp right that led to a steep climb up to the KOM. This was followed by a steep, technical 3k descent back into St. Salvy de lat Balme.

The first time up the climb, Starnes drove the pace, with teammates Lindsey Meyers and Devon Haskell countering her moves. By the top of the first climb, Starnes had helped develop a break of eight riders. The second time up the climb, she repeated her attacks and by the time she crossed the KOM the second time, it was just her and Thomas.

“I knew this girl was good,” Starnes said. “Chris told me to look out for her. She won the whole French Cup series last year.”

With eight laps still remaining, the duo worked well together to extend their gap, first to 10 seconds and finally out to 35 seconds, where it held for much of the race.

“With two laps to go, I started contemplating how was I going to win this bike race,” Starnes said. Thomas was likely considering the same thing. Over the final two laps, both riders took turns attacking each other, but with the same result. So when they came into the finishing straight, it was apparent that they would dual in a two-up sprint for the win.

“She took the last corner, and went for I,” Starnes explained. “I stayed on her wheel until 200m to go and jumped. I kept going and going. Was I sprinting? I have never had to sprint for the win.” 

She came to the line and executed a bike throw to try to gain a slim advantage. Photo finish, and second place by a centimeter.

“This race was very hard for me both physically and mentally,” she said. “I was a little fatigued in the break and it was hard to keep pushing the pace. Then, once it was established I had to try to figure out how to win the bike race. I was disappointed after the race because it all came down to 1cm. As disappointing as that can be, it also makes you want to keep coming back and racing your bike.  It also makes me want to learn how to sprint better.”

She’ll be practicing what she learned in Europe back in the United States later this month. You can read more about Starnes’ European trip at www.alisonstarnes.com/blog.

 

Carroll holds on to 3rd overall after Team TIBCO tries everything to earn the win.

May 10, 2009

Fayetteville, AR – “We were either going to win the race today or blow up trying,” Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett said about the team’s efforts to earn Katharine Carroll a stage win and time bonus to win the overall title on the final day of the Joe Martin Stage.

The six-rider squad threw everything they had at race leader Alison Powers and her Team Type 1 teammates, as did Webcor, the team of 2nd place overall Katheryn Curi Mattis. But in the end, not only did Powers survive the onslaught, once the attackers had burned their matches, she took off solo and won the stage to seal the overall victory.

“She deserved to win the race,” Corbett stated.

Despite her best efforts, Carroll was unable to move up the overall classification and had to settle for 3rd overall after finishing the stage in 7th place. Her teammate, Joanne Kiesanowski, finished just behind her in 8th place, and was able to move up one spot in the overall to 9th place.

In all, Team TIBCO posted one stage win, by Kiesanowski in Stage 2, as well as a 3rd place in Stage 2 and 2nd place in Stage 3 by Carroll.

“The girls rode their hearts out, but I think they were a bit tired today,” Corbett added. “They put in a lot of work to get Kat 2nd place yesterday, and it’s been two hard weeks of racing for them without much break.”

The five members of the Joe Martin roster besides Carroll had just come off six races in nine days in the Southeast, of which Brooke Miller won four. Carroll had just returned from a stint with the U.S. National Team in Europe the weekend before.

The team will have the better part of three weeks to rest and recover before the next block of racing on the national and international calendar kicks in again with the Tulsa Tough, May 29-31 and the Montreal World Cup on May 31.

 

Carroll jumps to 3rd overall after taking 2nd in Stage 3 of Joe Martin.

May 9, 2009

Fayetteville, AR –Team TIBCO was looking for a sprint finish to Stage 3 of the Joe Martin Stage to try and get Katharine Carroll in one of the top three positions on the stage to earn a time bonus and make up valuable seconds on the four women ahead of her in the overall classification.

Team TIBCO helped keep the race together to the end, and Carroll’s teammate Lauren Tamayo gave her a strong lead-out that delivered Carroll to 2nd place behind sprinter Laura Van Gilder (Mellow Mushroom) on the rolling, 70-mile stage, and earn her a 10-second time bonus. Yesterday’s stage winner, Joanne Kiesanowski, took 8th on today’s stage.

The 10-second time bonus moved Carroll from 5th overall to 3rd overall, now just 0:09 behind race leader Alison Powers (Team Type 1), and 0:05 behind 2nd place Katheryn Curi Mattis (Webcor).

“It is still possible for Kat to win the race,” noted team directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. “But she has to win the final stage and Powers has to finish outside the top three on the stage. It’s going to be difficult.”

But the final-stage criterium is more like a hard circuit race, run on a technical 1.5-mile course that finishes with a steep uphill sprint on Church Street in downtown Fayetteville. It’s a race of attrition, and likely one in which Team TIBCO, as well as Webcor, will do everything they can to put pressure on race leader Powers and her Team Type 1 teammates.

 

Kiesanowski, Carroll take 1st & 3rd in Stage 2 of Joe Martin.

May 8, 2009

Fayetteville, AR – Joanne Kiesanowski of Team TIBCO came out of the final corner of Stage 2 of the Joe Martin Stage race and faced a 350-meter uphill sprint. “I was sitting on two Webcor girls,” she said. “I saw Laura Van Gilder (Mellow Mushroom) up front, but I thought I was running out of steam. Jeff (Corbett) was telling me I still had time to catch her and I guess I got my second wind.”

The New Zealander re-started her sprint and this time didn’t slow down until she had overtaken Van Gilder for the stage win. Just behind them, TIBCO’s Katharine Carroll crossed the line in 3rd place.

“It was a really hard finish,” Kiesanowski said. “Not just the run up to the line. From 1.5 to 1 kilometer remaining there were a couple tough rollers. That’s why I thought I was done.”

Team TIBCO’s stacking of the podium came as a result of another typically aggressive day of riding by the team. “The whole team rode really well today,” Kiesanowski said. Everyone was attacking.”

Kiesanowski was in an early move, and Emma Rickards initiated another break that Carroll bridged across to.

“Everyone was aggressive but nothing was sticking,” said team directeur sportif Corbett. Webcor was attacking on the main climb, and then a break of three got up the road which we missed.”
Fortunately, so did Team Type 1, the team of race leader Alison Powers. “We let Type 1 chase for a bit and then helped with the chase,” Cortbett said. “Once it came back together we started to set up for the sprint finish. We got Lauren (Tamayo), Kat and Jo in position for the sprint. I may not have gone as cleanly as we wanted, but we got first and third, so we’re good.”

With the win and 3rd place, Kiesanowski and Carroll earned 15- and 5-second time bonuses respectively. The bonus moved Carroll up into a tie on time for 4th place, 0:19 behind Powers, and just one second out of 3rd place overall. Kiesanowski moved up to 10th overall, 0:35 behind Powers.

 

Brooke Miller closes Speed Week with 3rd place at Sandy Springs Criterium.

May 3, 2009

Sandy Springs, GA – You can’t win them all, but Brooke Miller and Team TIBCO came close during the USA Crits Speed Week. In the last race in the series, the Sandy Springs Criterium in Georgia, Miller finished in 3rd place despite bad positioning for the final sprint. Even so, Miller and Team TIBCO still delivered four wins in six races over nine days in the Southeast.

“It would’ve been great to win today, too, but it was a good, hard week,” Miller said. “I had one of my best sprints of the week, but I just started too far back.”

As had been the case all week, Team TIBCO brought aggressive, attacking tactics to Sandy Springs. “It was a hard course to make the race hard,” Miller said. “There was a slight hill through the start-finish straight, and then a downhill. All the turns were sweeping, so it was easy for the field to keep momentum through the turns and just sit on.”

“You couldn’t move up very well on the course,” added Meredith Miller. “The start-finish was where all the attacks happened. I think everyone was tired enough that once a group went off the front, nobody really wanted to drive it. We tried to get things going, but there was nothing doing.”

“The team raced really well,” Brooke Miller continued. “I think our legs were a bit tired from all the racing this week and maybe we didn’t have as much snap today.”

When it came down to 10 laps to go, Team TIBCO changed its tactics and started looking to set up for what was shaping up to be another bunch sprint.

“With one lap to go, we tried to get the lead out going,” Brooke Miller said, “but we kept getting swarmed. Colavita and Team Type 1 tried to get theirs going but they got swarmed, too. It just ended up with everyone being in everyone else’s way.

“On the last lap, I tried to find Jo’s wheel,” Brooke Miller said of her teammate Joanne Kiesanowski, who had provided several excellent lead outs this week. “She was on Tina Pics wheel. I got to Jo’s wheel but then I got shuffled back, maybe to 10th wheel. I was closing fast and I just about got 2nd, but I just started too far back.”

Pic took the win, followed by Kori Seehafer (Team Type 1) in 2nd. Kiesanowski continued in strong to take 6th, and Lauren Tamyo of Team TIBCO took 8th place. While both Millers were satisfied with the week, they also both agreed it was a hard one. “We’re ready for a little break,” Meredith Miller said.

It will only be a short one, however. Both Millers, Kiesanowski, Lauren Tamayo and Emma Rickards will be heading to Arkansas along with teammate Katharine Carroll for the Joe Martin Stage Race beginning Thursday.

 

Strong team effort delivers TIBCO’s Kiesanowski to win in Sea Otter finale.

April 19, 2009

Monterey, CA – For two days, Joanne Kiesanowski of Team TIBCO had been knocking on the door at Sea Otter. She opened up the three days of racing with a very close 2nd place in the criterium Thursday, and followed that up with another 2nd place in Friday’s road race.

On Saturday, she climbed the top step, winning the circuit race on the famed Laguna Seca race course ahead of fellow Kiwi Catherine Cheatley (Colavita/Sutter Home). And it was definitely a result she couldn’t have earned without some stellar riding from her three teammates.

“We had a meeting before the race and we developed a plan and we stuck to it,” Kiesanowski said. “Ali (Rosenthal) and Rushlee (Buchanan) were fantastic covering moves today. We were prepared to let a break get up the road if the numbers were right but nothing really materialized. Then, with three laps to go, Emma (Rickards) started attacking, just like we planned.”

Rickards’ first attack, on the steep part of the climb on the back side of the 2.5 mile course, sent her off solo for half a lap. When she was caught, another rider countered. When that rider was caught, Rickards countered and attacked again on the climb, now with two laps to go.

When that attack was brought back, it was Kiesanowski who countered, and this time, the move stuck, but with Cheatley glued to her wheel.

“Cath was just sitting on, but with Colavita having Tina (Pic) back in the pack, that was to be expected,” Kiesanowski said.

On the final lap, Cheatley put in a dig on the steep section of the climb, but Kiesanowski was on her quickly. When it became apparent that the move would stay away, “I slowed it down coming into the finish,” Kiesanowski said. “It turned into a classic track sprint. Cath and I have raced quite a bit together on the track. She jumped first from behind me and I went right after her. From there it was just a drag race to the line.”

And Kiesanowski took the win, just as they had planned.

“It’s so cool when a plan comes together,” Kiesanowski said. “The first two days were a bit frustrating. It was good to finish with the win. We just got better and better each day, just by racing together and learning a bit more about how each of us races.”

“After each race, we talked about how to race the next day,” Rickards added. “Each day we got better because I think, in part our legs got better, but we also learned more each day. For Rush and Ali, who aren’t quite as experienced, this is a great learning opportunity. The circuit race was great for Ali. She rode fantastic today. Her instinct is there. She was great covering moves.

“I look at what a rider does during the race,” Rickards continued. “It isn’t necessarily where they end up at the finish, but what they do during the race, and Ali was right there the whole time.”

Close calls

Thursday’s criterium saw Kiesanowski miss out on the win by half a bike length. She was part of a six-rider break that went off the front about 20 minutes into the 50-minute race. Coming into the final 500 meters, Coryn Rivera (ProMan) put in an attack that was countered by Kiesanowski and Kelly Benjamin (Colavita/Sutter Home), who nipped the Team TIBCO rider on the line for the win.

“Considering that we really didn’t get a good warm-up before the race and had a bit of a fiasco in the morning, getting 2nd was a pretty good result,” said Rickards, who finished 9th in the crit, just behind her teammate Buchanan in 7th.

Kiesanowski, who had flown into San Jose from Denver the night before, had arrived without her luggage, which didn’t show up until 6:30 in the morning Friday, and had been sent up to San Francisco airport. It was a process getting the luggage and then making the two-hour drive down to the Monterey peninsula.

Friday’s road race produced another 2nd place for Kiesanowski, and also displayed some strong work from Rickards. Mid-way through the five-lap race, Rickards put in the attack that blew the race apart.

Rickards escaped along with Tiffany Cromwell (Colavita/Sutter Home) and one other rider. On the final lap, Cromwell put in a hard attack and took off solo. “I just didn’t have the legs to follow,” Rickards said.

In the chase group, Kiesanowski saw the danger in Cromwell’s move and took off trying to bridge, with Cheatley and another Colavita/Sutter Home rider in tow. “I had to attack them after they were one-two-ing me,” Kiesanowski said. The attack brought it down to Kiesanowski and Cheatley battling it out on the final climb for 2nd place, with Kiesanowski prevailing.

“All the girls road very well Friday, covering attacks and improving our odds as much as possible,’ Kiesanowski said.

Putting on a Show for the Sponsors

Team TIBCO’s stellar performance at Sea Otter had a very fine audience as well, given that the four-day event attracts pretty much every company in the cycling industry, including all of Team TIBCO’s industry sponsors. The Ritchey tent served as the team’s base for their three days of racing, and Kiesanowski noted that it was great to see all of the team’s sponsors.

“We got to meet a lot of different people from our sponsors this weekend,” she said. “All of us were able to express our gratitude for all their support. And it was good to have such a strong showing and get the win in front of them.”

Saturday Circuit Race Results
1. Joanne Kiesanowski (Team TIBCO)                
2. Catherine Cheatley (Colavita/Sutter Home)                       
3. Tina Pic (Colavita/Sutter Home)
Also
6. Emma Rickards (Team TIBCO)
10. Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO)
23. Alison Rosenthal (Team TIBCO)

Friday Road Race Results

1. Tiffany Cromwell (Colavita/Sutter Home)            
2. Joanne Kiesanowski (Team TIBCO)                
3. Catherine Cheatley (Colavita/Sutter Home)                        
Also
7. Emma Rickards (Team TIBCO)
13. Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO)
20. Alison Rosenthal (Team TIBCO)

Thursday Criterium Results

1. Kelly Benjamin (Colavita/Sutter Home)
2. Joanne Kiesanowski (Team TIBCO)
3. Coryn Rivera (ProMan)
Also
7. Rushlee Buchanan (Team TIBCO)
9. Emma Rickards (Team TIBCO)
20. Alison Rosenthal (Team TIBCO)

 

 

Starnes earns first professional win in Santa Cruz.

 

April 5, 2009

Santa Cruz, CA – Alison Starnes of Team TIBCO got a very nice birthday present Sunday, even if it was a day late. But it was worth the wait, and she more than earned it. The 24-year-old put in a well timed attack with seven laps to go in the race and used her time trialing abilities to hold on for a several-bike-length win ahead of her hard-charging teammates, Brooke Miller and Katharine Carroll. It was Starnes’ first career professional race win, and it came against a typically strong NorCal women’s field further bolstered by the presence of several riders from the Colavita-Sutter Home team.

With arguably the strongest team in the field, it was Team TIBCO’s plan to keep the pressure on the field and attack constantly. “We talked in the team meeting beforehand about being aggressive and making it a hard race,” Starnes said. “Emma (Rickards) said we should wait a few laps to see how things were starting to shake out, but when we got to the bottom of the hill on the second lap, she took off. That pretty much started the chaos.”

From then on, it was one attack after another.

“Sometimes you can have people attack and not get anywhere,” Carroll said. “We were instigating moves that forced people to chase.”

When Rickards was reeled back in, Team TIBCO’s Rushlee Buchanan countered. When Buchanan was caught by the Colavita-led bunch, Carroll put in the next dig and went off solo – for 10 laps. “At the bottom of the hill, I did a big turn and the group gave me a bit of leash,” Carroll said.

She was joined by Katheryn Curi Mattis for another three or four more laps after her solo effort.

“I thought when Katheryn bridged up that would be the race if they worked together,” Starnes said. “That would have been okay because we knew Kat could out-sprint her.”

But the field got sufficiently organized and began to reel in Carroll and Mattis. “When the field was getting close to bringing back Kat, Brooke told me that I should counter when they were caught and go for the line. I worked with her on how to attack last Sunday. When they were caught, I tried once but didn’t get anywhere. But when we got to the bottom of the hill, I hit it up the left side, put my head down and went as hard as I could. I think the bunch maybe sat up a bit after Kat was caught and that gave me the chance to get a gap.”

Starnes opened that gap up to 24 seconds at one point. “Because of the acoustics on the course, I could hear the race announcer at the start finish line,” Starnes said. “I could hear him announcing that they were on the front blocking for me and it made me go even harder. Hearing that as I was suffering up front really helped. But I knew if I got caught, we still had the strongest riders behind me.”

With a half a lap remaining on the nearly one-mile course, Starnes was still holding a six-second lead, once which she believed she could hold to the line, even though she knew she was running out of gas.

“I just kept riding tempo up the climb and the false flat to the finish,” she said. “I really couldn’t go any harder.”

“At the finish,” Carroll said, “we were coming up on Ali but we were pretty sure she had it won. Then we wanted to try for the final two spots on the podium.”

Miller led the charge to the line with Carroll on her wheel to complete the sweep.

“I know it looks like we just rolled over the field today,” Starnes said. “But we rode really hard today and made it hard on everyone else. It was a great team win.”

Starnes takes the momentum from her first pro win into a trip to Europe with the U.S. National Development Team. She’ll be doing five one-day races in Europe during April.

 

Kiesanowski takes 2nd in Redlands finale;
Team TIBCO secures team GC win.

March 29, 2009

Redlands, CA – Much as it did during the first road stage of the Redlands Classic, Team TIBCO went into the final stage of the Redlands Classic Sunday with the intent of breaking the race apart and springing one of its five riders sitting in the top 13 in the overall standings for a shot at the overall.

“We were definitely the most aggressive team again today, but we needed a bit more help from other teams to make the race hard enough to put Ina (Yoko Teutenberg; Columbia Highroad) and Amber (Neben; Equipe Nurenberg) in trouble,” said Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. “The team wrote great all weekend, but we just didn’t come up with a win to show for the effort.”

While the nine trips around the hilly Sunset Loop are naturally selective simply due to the course’s profile, on its own, Corbett said, the course wasn’t going to be selective enough.

“The first part of the stage, we wanted to see how things played out,” said Team TIBCO’s Jo Kiesanowski. “We wanted to see how Amber and Ina would race. After the first couple laps, we knew we needed to make things more difficult. We wanted a very small group to come to the line.”

The team began attacking repeatedly on the climbs. “We burned up Emma (Rickards) and Rushlee (Buchanan) trying to soften up the field,” Corbett said.

The tactic worked well, but Kiesanowski noted, “we needed a lot of teams to be attacking and countering our moves when they were caught to make the race really hard.”
“This is always a tough course,” added Katharine Carroll. “We and Webcor attacked a lot, but Columbia was intent on keeping the race together for Ina.”

The aggressive riding served to pare down the front group to just 22 riders, including five from Team TIBCO. Coming out of the Sunset Loop and back into downtown Redlands, Carroll put in one last attack with just under 2 km to go but she was brought back with just under 1 km to the finish. Alison Powers (Team Type 1) countered and Kiesanowski marked her, with Lauren Tamayo on her wheel in good position for the final sprint.

But when Powers clipped a pedal coming through the final corner, Kiesanowski and Tamayo checked up for a moment and that allowed Powers to stay in front for the win, while Kiesanowski came across in 2nd, with Tamayo just behind her in 4th place.

Julie Beveridge finished the stage in 10th, while Meredith Miller and Carroll finished 18th and 20th respectively.

With all five of its highest-placed riders finishing in the front group, Team TIBCO was easily able to secure first overall in the team classification, with all five landing in the top 13 overall.

“We really wanted to win the overall,” Kiesanowski said, “but winning the team classification is fantastic. We all got to be on the podium together. On the Beaumont stage, we showed that we’re a really strong team. As a first race, it was really solid.”

“Winning the team GC against a super-strong team like Columbia-Highroad is great,” Carroll added. “We got some good results, and the race was a good success for the team.”

Rais Report

Despite being involved in a nasty crash in Friday’s Beaumont Road Race, Amber Rais was able to continue through the weekend, and was one of the first riders to put in an attack for Team TIBCO in Sunday’s stage.

“I didn’t feel great today,” she said, “but given that I crashed doing at least 35 mph, I was pretty lucky to have not broken anything.” 

Stage 3 Results

1. Alison Powers (Team Type 1)
2. Joanne Kiesanowski (Team TIBCO)
3. Nikki Butterfield (Webcor)
4. Lauren Tamayo (Team TIBCO)
Also
10. Julie Beveridge (Team TIBCO)
18. Meredith Miller (Team TIBCO)
20. Katharine Carroll (Team TIBCO)

 

Team Tibco changes things up for training

Tamayo takes 3rd, Team TIBCO blows apart the peloton on a windy Redlands Stage 1.

March 27, 2009

Redlands, CA – Team TIBCO took over the first stage of the Redlands Classic Friday, the hilly and wind-blown Beaumont road race. After breaking the race apart, the team deliver Lauren Tamayo to 3rd place on the stage, and then took the next three placings as well, with Katharine Carroll, Meredith Miller and Jo Kiesanowski. Julie Beveridge was 13th.

“The team rode really well today,” said Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. “It was a hard day all around. The wind was a big factor. When the bunch had a tailwind, they were going 50 mph. When it was a headwind, they were working to go 10 or 12. And the crosswinds were rough.”

The team used the crosswinds to their advantage at every opportunity. “Whenever we hit the crosswinds, we used our numbers to drive it and hurt the field,” Carroll said.

And there was plenty of hurt inflicted. The front group that came to the finish line together contained only 25 survivors out of 138 riders who started the day, including the five Team TIBCO riders. How much damage did Team TIBCO actually do today? Of those 138 starters, only 96 made time cut.

The attrition went on over the first two of three roughly 39km laps. “Coming into lap three, we created a situation where were able to get Jo and Julie off the front,” Carroll said. “We knew it was a dangerous move and it forced teams like Colavita to put in some hard chasing.”

That move stayed away for about 30 km, and came back at the base of the final climb up through Bogart Park. What was left of the bunch rode tempo to the top. “After being off the front, Julie and I were just going to try to make it over the top but we both felt really good on the climb,” Kiesanowski said.

Once over the top, “we wanted to make it hard and fast,” Kiesanowski added.

That final 12 km to the line, the crosswinds picked up and “we got aggressive,” Carroll said.

“With Ina (Yoko Teutenberg, Columbia) and Tina (Pic, Colavita) in the front group, we didn’t really want it to come down to a field sprint because they’re both really fast finishers,” Corbett said.

The team put in a number of attacks, with Tamayo taking off solo coming out of the crosswind section with 6 km to go. Teutenberg bridged and the move came back with 3 km to go. Kiesanowski countered and stayed off until the 1 km mark.

With 700 meters to go, Carroll took over the front setting a hard tempo. “Meredith and Jo came up the left side and took me into the last corner,” Tamayo said. She took off for the line, but “the attack may have taken a bit of the snap out of my legs.”

Instead, Teutenberg took the stage, followed by Pic.

“The team did a lot today,” Kiesanowski said. “We knew we had to make it hard today. We showed we were the strongest team. It was really impressive and nice to be a part of. We have eight really strong girls here.”

In all, Team TIBCO finished with five of the top 13 riders on the stage. As a result, Team TIBCO took over the lead in the team general classification, with five riders in the top 14 overall.

Strong work, but not without mishaps

The team had to work even harder than usual to do the damage they did in Stage 1. Kiesanowski experienced a mechanical about 5 km into the stage and had to chase hard to get back in.

“I was sitting about fifth wheel when it happened and the pack was already strung out in the tail wind,” she said. “It took me a while to get to the back, then I realized it wasn’t actually the back. It was the caravan and riders who had already popped off.”

She was able to get back into the bunch before the first climb, but it took a 15 km effort, which made her work in the break later in the stage all the more impressive. Unfortunately, just after Kiesanowski got back on, Amber Rais was involved in a crash. She suffered a fair amount of road rash and some bruises, but no breaks. She was able to continue and made her way up through pockets of riders, and was able to finish in the groupetto at about 13 minutes back. Emma Rickards of Team TIBCO, who suffered a mechanical on the second time up the climb, finished in the same group with Rais.

Notes

Rushlee Buchanan of Team TIBCO also put in a strong ride today, working hard in the middle portion of the race to help break apart the field. She finished at 3:35 behind the leaders today in 38th place.

Buchanan is racing in place of Brooke Miller, who was originally slated to start Redlands but came down with a sinus infection early this week. Miller will rest for another week and return to racing on April 5 in her hometown of Santa Cruz.

Stage 1 Results

1. Ina Yoko Teutenberg (Columbia-Highroad)
2. Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home)
3. Lauren Tamayo (Team TIBCO)
3. Katharine Carroll (Team TIBCO)
3. Meredith Miller (Team TIBCO)
3. Joanne Kiesanowski (Team TIBCO)
Also
13. Julie Beveridge (Team TIBCO)

 

Team TIBCO brings powerhouse roster to Redlands Classic

March, 24, 2009

Los Altos, California – Team TIBCO brings its strongest roster ever into the first NRC stage race of the season this weekend, the Redlands Classic, beginning Thursday, March 26.

“We’re definitely focused on the overall,” said Team TIBCO directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. “It’s a wide open race. It’s not a pure GC rider’s race. Redlands isn’t for pure climbers or time trial specialists. Just about any one of our riders could be in contention for the overall. Someone like Lauren (Tamayo) or Kat (Carroll) could get in the right move on Beaumont (Friday) and get in contention.”

The team will still look to several riders in particular in pursuit of the overall title, including Carroll, who finished 3rd in the 2008 edition, and rising Canadian star Julie Beveridge, who posted a 9th overall last year.

The team also can look to Kiwi Joanne Kiesanowski, who finished 8th in the 2008 world championship road race, as well as veteran Aussie Emma Rickards, who returns to racing in the U.S. after four years with top-level teams in Europe. And Amber Rais gives the team yet another weapon for the overall and stage wins. For the downtown Redlands criterium, Tamayo is the top candidate for a sprint finish after posting strong results at the Tour of Qatar and the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Criterium.

But Corbett adds that “We’re coming out of a really good training camp and everyone is going really well. I’ve been impressed. We’ll see how things go in the opening prologue. That often decides the hierarchy.”

Team captain Meredith Miller will be starting her 7th Redlands Classic, so she’s familiar with the race’s predictable, as well as the unpredictable, aspects.

“The (final stage) Sunset Loop is always epic, but we don’t want to wait for it to make the race,” she said. “Every day there will be hard racing, and if the gaps are close after the prologue, then we may need to go for time bonuses as well. The road race on Friday is an opportunity to whittle down the field a bit.

“And if a break goes, every TIBCO girl can hold her own right now,” Miller continued. “I think it will be very rare that a break goes away with one of our riders and we’ll need to pull it back because everyone is going so well.”

The Redlands Classic opens Thursday with a 5km climbing prologue. It continues Friday with the 117km Beaumont Circuit Race and follows Saturday with the 60-minute City of Redlands Downtown Criterium. The race concludes Sunday with the hilly 106km Beaver Medical Center Sunset Road Race.

Team TIBCO Roster for the Redlands Classic, March 26-29:

Julie Beveridge, CAN
Rushlee Buchanan, NZL
Katharine Carroll, USA
Joanne Kiesanowski, NZL
Meredith Miller, USA
Amber Rais, USA
Emma Rickards, AUS
Lauren Tamayo, USA

 

Amber Rais talks with students at Jessie Beck Elementary School in Reno.

March 23, 2009

Los Altos, California – Amber Rais of the TIBCO Women’s Pro Cycling Team returned to her hometown of Reno, Nevada and went back to school – twice. She started with sixth graders at Jessie Beck Elementary School, and graduated to her alma mater of Reno High School.

“The audiences at both schools were awesome!” she said.

Rais talked with more than 70 inquisitive sixth graders at Jessie Beck, she said. “They were asking questions throughout the entire talk.”

Those questions ranged from how fast she’d ever gone on a bike (65 mph!) to whether she’d ever crashed.

Rais gave the kids a “tour” of her Team TIBCO Look, explaining the differences between her road bike and other kinds of bikes. “All of the kids were super excited about the Look bike. They got a kick out of lifting the bike to feel how light it is,” she said. She talked about the HED wheels and the skinny Challenge tires, compared to big, mountain knobbies. And she demonstrated how to clip in to her Look pedals.

The talk included some bike safety tips, particularly how to properly put on and fit your helmet. But her main message, Rais said, was that “everything they’re doing now affects what and how they do things in the future. I told them that they should pay attention to what they’re doing now, to what they like to do, because it comes back down the road.”

 

Returning to her alma mater

The visit to her old high school two days later took a different form, with Rais addressing a near capacity crowd of well over 200 students in the school’s theatre, despite notice of the talk going around only a day prior. Rais, who is an environmental consultant as well as a pro racer, talked during the school’s Awareness Week. Her speech, which had the theme “The Space Between,” talked about the time between graduating from RHS and now, and how her environmental activism and career in cycling have intertwined.

She went through some of her experiences at Stanford, where she was a standout swimmer. However, when she attended grad school at Stanford, she discovered the bike, while also studying Oceanography and Environmental Policy. She began to race while completing her master’s degree.

“I discovered my two separate passions in grad school,” she told them, “neither of which I could’ve imagined when I graduated from Reno High in 1999.”

She continued by talking about the bike as a clean, healthy mode of transport, Team TIBCO’s Blue Planet initiative to help offset carbon emissions, and how the team actually devoted some of its prize money to purchasing offsets that reduced the team’s environmental impact.

“The point I really wanted the students to take home was that they may not have encountered the subject that will ignite their passion just yet, but they will,” Rais said. “Now is the time to pay attention, to learn skills and expand their knowledge.”

She must’ve connected with the students, as she received a standing ovation at the end of her talk. “It was awesome!” she said. “It was very validating to go back to Reno High for the first time in eight years and be received so well.”

The school visits were part of a full week back home for Rais, which included a 10-minute radio interview on KTHX FM in Reno, as well as the official launch of the Tour de Nez’s new non-profit community outreach program. In fact, Rais was billed as the “celebrity headliner” by Nez founder and outreach director Tim Healion.

“Everything I did in Reno was fun,” Rais said.

The launch event, which welcomed local business leaders, took place at Amendment 21 in Reno, and included plenty of refreshments for guests. The goal of the new Tour de Nez community outreach program is to “better integrate bikes into the community,” Rais said.

One of Healion’s outreach initiatives includes connecting the University of Nevada-Reno campus to downtown Reno through a bike rental program. Rais’ involvement in the Tour de Nez community outreach program is likely to extend beyond being the celebrity guest for the program’s kick-off event.

 

Brooke Miller sprints to convincing win at Menlo Park.

 

February 22, 2009

Menlo Park, CA – Despite being outnumbered at the Menlo Park Grand Prix Sunday, Brooke Miller and Team TIBCO still succeeded in bringing home the win in convincing fashion.

The TIBCO trio of Miller, Alison Rosenthal and Alison Starnes had to contend with a typically strong NorCal elite women’s field that included full squads from several teams, including at least 10 riders from the SugarCRM team alone.

And it was the SugarCRM team that posed the biggest threat throughout the race, often sending two riders at a time attacking off the front.

“We had to cover a lot of moves today,” Rosenthal said.

The most dangerous move came late in the race, when two members of SugarCRM opened up a 10-second gap with only a few laps to go.

“We were trying to be patient bringing them back,” Miller said. “We didn’t want to get them close and then have more riders jump across. I kept having to tell Ali S. to slow down, soft legs, soft legs.”

But with the gap holding and only two more trips around the 2.2km circuit to go, Rosenthal and Starnes led the chase to shut it down.

Coming into the final lap, Starnes was on the front with Miller glued to her wheel.

“That girl has a motor,” Miller said of Starnes. “She took me all the way around and into the final corner.”

Of course, on this circuit, that corner was still a good 450 meters to the line. “I went going into the last corner,” Miller said. “It was a long sprint. But when I put in a couple of attacks earlier in the race, I was able to get gaps and I thought if I went from that far out then I could get a gap and hold it to the line.”

She was right. Miller come across the finish line with a six bike-length gap – and a big smile on her face.

And despite having to cover just about everything that went off the front, Rosenthal was able to sprint to a strong 4th place finish. “We actually wanted to set it up for Ali R. to go for the win today,” said Team TIBCO directeur sportif Linda Jackson. “But with all the moves she had to cover today, it was a bit too much.

Quick Study

“This was only the second lead-out I’ve ever done,” Starnes noted afterward. Apparently, she’s learning quickly. Especially considering this will be her first full year racing, not just in the elite ranks, but altogether.

A year ago, she was a novice Cat. 4. By the summer, following a stellar 10th overall at the Nature Valley Grand Prix while riding for a composite team, she was guest riding with Team TIBCO.

Of her roughly 1.5 km lead-out for Miller Sunday, she said “I’m a time trial specialist. That’s what I do best. I just rode as hard as I could the last lap.”

Notes

Coming into the finish, the race announcer had the lap count confused. After calling “one lap to go” the previous lap, as Miller came sprinting toward the line, she heard the same call once again. “I was going to post it but I wasn’t sure if that was it,” Miller said.

Rosenthal was very glad it was indeed the finish. “We were going so hard,” she said. “If we had to go one more, I was going to finish dead last. I was cooked.”

Also, Starnes, Miller and Rosenthal will be donating their prize money from Sunday to the Northern California/Nevada Cycling Association (NCNCA) Juniors Program. “As women’s pro cyclists, most of us live hand to mouth,” Miller said. “We all ride because we love it and want to build the sport! Had I known about cycling when I was a kid, I would have fallen in love way back then. Even though we don’t have a lot of money and don’t make a lot, we are thrilled to be able to donate today’s winnings to helping share cycling with kids. Sports are empowering for children and we want to be able to help the next generation of cyclists get started on their way!”

 

Even the mechanic was fast

Team TIBCO had another exciting result at Sunday's Menlo Park GP, as team mechanic,  Steve “the Big Ugly Rooster” Sperling proudly wore the TIBCO colors while earning his second-ever USCF podium finish.

In a fast and grueling men’s Cat. 4 race, Sperling maintained excellent position throughout the race, covering attacks from the aggressive field. With two laps to go, he chased down a Third Pillar solo rider before getting swallowed by the peloton. The move cost him positioning. 

“I had seen the Third Pillar rider go, and I knew that he was strong enough to hold it,” Sperling said. “I figured I would take a chance but thought that I had made a mistake burning matches so close to the finish.” 

Steve was able to successfully navigate the swarming field and found a good wheel to take it to the line. Despite not being known as a sprinter, Sperling was able to hold on for 2nd place, making the team proud.

“Today felt like the good ‘ol days of collegiate cycling,” Miller said. “Coming out to hang out at the races all day long with cheering crowds, watching your friends race in the categories throughout the day...THAT is what racing is really all about!

“I had a great time today yelling for Steve. He has yelled for me plenty of times!” said Miller, who was manning the pit in a role reversal for her team mechanic. “And by ‘manning the pit,’ I mean sitting near enough to it to get there if Steve needed anything, while enjoying the sun on a grassy knoll, having a cold beverage, eating Jelly Bellies and recovering from an enormous post-race super-Burrito.”

It was that kind of day.

Aggressive Tamayo Takes Second at Amgen Tour Women’s Crit

February 15, 2009

Santa Rosa, CA – Lauren Tamayo of Team TIBCO didn’t let a little rain bother her in Santa Rosa Sunday. She didn’t let a lot of rain bother her, either. In a chilly and drenched Amgen Tour of California Women’s Criterium, she not only helped establish and drive the winning break, she finished second in the final sprint to Swedish national champion Emelia Fahlin (Columbia Highroad). In between, she was constantly attacking to keep the pace high, winning primes and even taking a late dig in an attempt at a solo win.

“I felt really strong today,” Tamayo said. “I came out of the Tour of Qatar with good form and I wanted to be really active today.”

With last year’s race winner and current national criterium and road champion Brooke Miller of Team TIBCO sitting comfortably in the chasing pack, Tamayo could be a bit more aggressive, knowing that if the break was caught, the team still had perhaps the best sprinter in the country ready for the finish.

“Having Lauren up there really took a lot of the pressure off of us,” Miller said.

But with 13 riders off the front, there was enough horsepower for the break to maintain a steady gap. And with the sketchy conditions, mounting an effective chase wasn’t a given. Two-thirds of the way through the 60-minute race, the gap reached its maximum of 0:40. But as they got into the final 10 laps, the gap started dropping. With seven to go, it was down to 0:25. But over the next few laps, the gap held steady and then went out another five seconds.

“We weren’t sure until there was only five laps to go that we were going to stay away,” said teammate Meredith Miller, who was in the break with Tamayo. “The break went really early. The race started out pretty fast and I had just worked my way up to the front when the break went and I was able to jump on. Unfortunately, my legs weren’t very good today, so I didn’t feel like I could help Lauren as much as I wanted.”

But what she could do was take a flyer on the last lap of the race to maintain the pace, but also to take some of the pressure off her teammate for the sprint.

“It was a good sprint,” Tamayo said. “Meredith put in a great effort. I think maybe I didn’t have quite the snap in my legs at the end. Emelia came out of Qatar with really good form, too, and she didn’t do quite as much work as I did in the break.”

Rachel Lloyd (ProMan), fresh off a number of top-10 finishes on the cyclocross world cup circuit, rounded out the podium in third place.

Notes

With the break fighting it out up front, there was still plenty of action back in the bunch. Jerika Hutchinson of Team TIBCO took a spill on the wet the pavement about mid-race. But the same wet pavement that helped cause the wreck helped her escape with only some bruises. She reported afterward that she was just fine.

Brooke Miller almost joined her teammate on the pavement a bit earlier. “I was following a move by Ina Teutenberg (Columbia-Highroad) and Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) and someone to my right swung in on me and caught my rear derailleur with her front wheel. I stayed upright but it bent my derailleur hanger.” After a quick bike change and taking advantage of the free lap rule, she was able to integrate back into the main back and work her way back toward the front.

Final Results
1. Emelia Fahlin (SWE) Columbia-Highroad
2. Lauren Tamayo (USA) Team TIBCO
3. Rachel Lloyd (USA) ProMan

 

Brooke Miller leads Team TIBCO in defense of AToC Women’s Criterium crown

February 9, 2009

Los Altos, California – U.S. National Road and Criterium Champion Brooke Miller and the rest of Team TIBCO will be out to repeat her win in the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Criterium, Sunday, February 15 at 1 p.m. in downtown Santa Rosa, CA.

Miller took an exciting sprint victory at the 2008 edition, and is motivated to take the top step of the podium again this year.

“This is the first big race of the year, and one of the most watched races we do all season,” Miller said. “To win in front of such a strong crowd, close to the Bay area where the team and our title sponsor are based, is a tremendous way to start off the season.”

Miller will have strong support from seven of her Team TIBCO teammates, including two accomplished newcomers to the team, Meredith Miller and Kat Carroll, who also excels in criteriums. The AToC squad also features Lauren Franges, who Brooke Miller calls “one of the most critical members of Team TIBCO,” and a key support rider in many of her victories in 2008.

Rounding out the roster will be Amber Rais, Ali Rosenthal, Alison Starnes and Jerika Hutchinson.

“This is one of the strongest criterium rosters ever assembled,” noted team director Linda Jackson. “The additions of Carroll and Meredith Miller give us the horsepower we need to control the final stages of a race, and Kat gives us another proven option for sprint finishes.”

The team will get warmed up and ready the day before at the San Jose Cycling Classic in downtown San Jose, Saturday, February 14th, at 1 p.m. The team will race in front of numerous fans as well as staff from title sponsor TIBCO, which is located just up the road in Palo Alto.

“With the team being based close by, and our title sponsor only a few minutes away, this is a great race for us to get our season started,” Jackson said. “We’ll be very motivated to make a strong showing in San Jose.”

 

Come meet Silicon Valley’s fastest start-up: Team TIBCO, February 17, 2009

February 4, 2009

Los Altos, California — Come meet members of the TIBCO Women’s Pro Cycling Team, Tuesday morning, February 17, at Peet’s Coffee & Tea, 899 Santa Cruz Avenue in Menlo Park. Though only two years old, this Silicon Valley start up has quickly ridden to the top of the North American racing circuit, led by current U.S. Road and Criterium National Champion Brooke Miller of Santa Cruz.

The team will convene at Peet’s at 8:15 a.m.   Early risers can join the team on the “Morning Ride” that departs downtown Palo Alto at 6:25 a.m. and races through Woodside and Portola Valley before regrouping at Alpine and Portola Roads.  The ride will finish at Peet’s Menlo Park, where everyone is welcome to join the team for coffee and recovery snacks.

Team TIBCO will be fresh off competing in the San Jose Cycling Classic on Saturday, February 14th, and the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Criterium on Sunday the 15th. Brooke won the Amgen Tour race last year to kick off the team’s strong season, and is looking to repeat her performance this year.

Join Brooke and the rest of Team TIBCO to talk about how the races unfolded, how their training is going for the rest of the season, and any other questions you might have. It’s a rare opportunity to have coffee and chat with some of the top female riders in North America. in 2009

December 28, 2008

Joining Team TIBCO in 2009, Jeff Corbett will bring a wealth of experience to the team as Associate Directeur Sportif. For Cyclingnews, Kirsten Robbins writes, "After one year of retirement from cycling, former Directeur Sportif of the Health Net presented by Maxxis team Jeff Corbett will return to a leading position with the US-based women's team Tibco. Corbett will begin his role as the associate directeur sportif, along side team owner Linda Jackson for the 2009 women's Tour of California criterium, Jackson told Cyclingnews." Click here for full article.

Team TIBCO Winter Clothing & Holiday Shopping!

November 25, 2008

Get all of your winter training gear and holiday gifts in one place: on your computer, while you relax! Team TIBCO has everything you need for winter riding, made with the quality and attention to detail you've come to expect from the Squadra brand - the same quality used for racing at the top level by our professional athletes. In stock now are insulated leg warmers, thermal jackets, long sleeved jerseys and wind jackets, as well as the basics: bibs, shorts, short sleeved jerseys and more. Need some holiday gift ideas? Share your team spirit this season by giving offical Team TIBCO gear, or help get someone you know on a bike in 2009 by giving them the gear they need to get going. It's all here! Click here to download our clothing order form and sizing chart. Happy shopping!

Rushlee Buchanan to UCI Track World Cup Races

November 23, 2008

Bike New Zealand recently announced Team TIBCO's Rushlee Buchanan had been named to the New Zealand team for the Melbourne UCI Track World Cup, which took place yesterday in Melbourne, Australia. Buchanan had been selected for the Team Pursuit with fellow New Zealand teammates Penny Day and Lauren Ellis. Rushlee said of the race yesterday, "This was good progression for the team after only being on the track training as a Team Pursuit team for the last two weeks, of which have been in Australia, where training was in between racing." The team now looks to the upcoming UCI Track World Cup in Beijing, China, site of the Olympic Games earlier this year. Rushlee anticipates continued performance gains for the team in the coming races: "From now it is to a Camp in Invercargill in New Zealand, where we will look to develop a lot more and aim for the next World Cup in Beijing."

Don't Miss the Team TIBCO Garage Sale!

October 31, 2008

Today might be Halloween, but it isn't too early to start thinking about stocking up on great gear for the holidays and for your 2009 season. Take advantage of this opportunity to get your hands on professional grade cycling gear and support a great cause: TIBCO Professional Women's Cycling. Our grassroots program has grown to become one of the best in the nation and continues to support the development of National and Olympic caliber athletes. Please join us Saturday November 8th from 10am to 4pm at 679 Homer Avenue in Palo Alto for our annual Garage Sale. You'll find tons of new and used Team TIBCO gear and equipment in excellent condition for great prices, as well as new custom team clothing by Squadra. For more information, read our Garage Sale Flier.

Team TIBCO at the Mighty Tour de Nez 2008

October 22, 2008

Watch Team TIBCO at the Mighty Tour de Nez 2008 in Sports Online  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

From CycleTo: "Beat the Snot Out of Everybody"

October 13, 2008

Watch Talk To - TIBCO's Brooke Miller in Sports Online  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

From Our Friends At Pedro's: Choose The Bike

October 8, 2008

The Road Diaries: Team TIBCO at Downer's

August 31, 2008

Franges and Miller Win at Downers Grove

August 18, 2008

Team TIBCO took home double honors this weekend at the US Criterium National Championships, with Lauren Franges sprinting to victory on Saturday, followed by Brooke Miller on Sunday. Lauren powered a select break to the finish, winning the sprint for top podium honors that day. Sunday's National Championship race saw Team TIBCO throw down with winning focus and dedication to set up sprinter Brooke Miller for the win and another National Title. To read more race details or find more photos, check out Velo News coverage here. Photo by Kurt Jambretz of Action Images Inc.

Miller Wins Hanes Park, 2nd In Charlotte

August 5, 2008

Team TIBCO's Lauren Franges, Brooke Miller, Rachel Heal, Helen Kelly, Sarah Caravella, Ali Rosenthal and Rushlee Buchanan raced this past weekend in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, taking home the win at the Hanes Park Classic as Miller outkicked the field in the final sprint. The day before, the team raced the famous Charlotte Criterium, also in North Carolina, yielding yet another podium finish. TIBCO's Lauren Franges nearly closed the gap to a solo move by Aaron's Kat Carroll on the final lap, setting up Miller to win the sprint for second. For more race details, click here. Photo by Kurt Jambretz of Action Images, Inc.

Olympic Update Part II: Jo Kiesanowski

August 2, 2008

Jo Kiesanowski has had her eye on the Olympic Games all season and is currently finalizing her preparations for the Games in Beijing. From training with her teammate Lauren in North Carolina, to racing international fields in France, Jo has kept us up to date on her journey with periodic updates. Get the inside scoop on how an Olympic cyclist trains, travels and recovers leading up to the Olympic Games. Click here to read Jo's most recent update.

TIBCO's Jo Kiesanowski Prepares for Beijing Olympics

July 30, 2008

Team TIBCO's Jo Kiesanowski has been officially named to the New Zealand Olympic Team for 2008 and is now putting the finishing touches on her preparation for the Olympic Games in Beijing. Jo recently raced in Europe with the New Zealand National Team and will be sending us updates on her final preparations and journey to the Games in China. To read about Jo's pre-Games preparations and adventures both in the states and abroad, click here to view her first update. There will be more to come, so stay tuned to hear from our very own Olympian on the road to Beijing!

Picture Perfect: New Pink Schwalbe Tires

July 29, 2008

Team TIBCO's riders have raced all over North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, throwing down attacks, railing corners and flying down mountains, all the while entrusting their speed, performance and safety to their Schwalbe Tires. When your job is to perform, you want the best, and Schwalbe has supported the team's stellar performances all year. Schwalbe's signature Stelvio tire comes in a dazzling array of colors, recently including pink. The first shipment of these stylish new treads arrived at Team TIBCO headquarters only to be greeted by the team's unofficial mascot, Luna.

Rosenthal, Miller Win in California

July 24, 2008

TIBCOâs Ali Rosenthal recently raced in south San Jose at the Coyote Creek Circuit race, battling Northern California's strongest cyclists to take home the win for Team TIBCO. After a long season of supporting her national team counterparts in the NRC races, Ali has consistently proven to be not only a selfless teammate, but also a serious threat in her own right. Click here to view more photos of the race.

Ali Rosenthal, Brooke Miller and Liza Rachetto also raced in Davis, California, for the annual Fourth of July Criterium, working seamlessly together to secure yet another win. Rosenthal and Rachetto controlled the field with constant attacks, setting up sprinter Brooke Miller to take the win in the bunch kick.Click here to view Brookeâs race interview.

Two Stage Wins for TIBCO at Cascade Cycling Classic

July 21, 2008

Team TIBCO raced the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, Oregon, racking up two stage wins, a podium finish and an impressive solo breakaway over the course of the week-long race. TIBCO's Brooke Miller took advantage of an auspicious breakaway to finish third on Stage 2, later winning the field sprint in the downtown Bend criterium to win Stage 4. On Stage 5 Rushlee Buchanan broke away from the field alone, charging solo for 50 miles leading to the final climb. She held off a charging field led by Olympians Christine Thorburn and Kristin Armstrong until just 5k to the finish. On the final stage, TIBCO's Amber Rais broke away from the field with Olympian Kristin Armstrong, and the two worked together for the next 50 miles to put over four minutes into the chasing field. Rais took the stage win as Armstrong solidified her GC victory. Read more on Velo News. Photo courtesy of Kurt Jambretz at Action Images, Inc.

Team TIBCO Mid-Season Report Available

July 18, 2008

Team TIBCO had an impressive start to the 2008 season. In only the team's third season, TIBCO has already become a major player in both domestic and international road racing, dominating races with the team's signature aggressive style and earning more than 50 top five finishes in local, national and international races combined. Read more about the team's 2008 races and get to know the riders. Click here to download the full Mid-Season Report.

Team TIBCO & SVB for Best Buddies Challenge

July 16, 2008

For the last five years, SVB Financial has been an advocate and supporter of Best Buddies, an organization that provides one-to-one friendships and integrated employment for people with intellectual disabilities. Team TIBCO joined SVB in 2007 to support Best Buddies and participate in the 100 mile ride that begins in Carmel and heads down 100 miles of stunning coastline to Hearst Castle.

Team TIBCO will join SVB again for the 2008 ride to be held on September 6th. Come join us to raise money for a great cause while riding a spectacular course! Register today to ride 100 miles (shorter course options also available) and raise $1,250 for a great cause, while helping us reach our fundraising goal of $200,000. Click here to read more about the Best Buddies Challenge and your chance to train with Team TIBCO!

Miller Wins at Manhattan Beach GP

July 1, 2008

TIBCO's Brooke Miller won the field sprint to take the win at the 47th Annual Manhattan Beach Grand Prix this weekend in Southern California. Miller's teammates Rushlee Buchanan and Amber Rais managed to control the field, despite being outnumbered. The two brought back a dangerous break late in the race to set up the field sprint. Brooke won the race ahead of Cheerwine's Laura Van Gilder and Advil/Chapstick's Jen McCrae, wrapping up another successful weekend of racing. Read more on Cycling News. Image by Kurt Jambretz at Action Images, Inc.

Town Hall Meeting: Bicycle Safety Forum

June 26, 2008

Former Olympian and Team TIBCO Founder and President, Linda Jackson, will serve as a panelist for this forum on bicycle safety in Santa Clara County and the surrounding regions. Cal Trans Director Will Kempton will speak, followed by the panel discussion. Other panelists include representatives from the California Department of Transportation, CalTrain, Santa Clara Valley Bicycle Coalition, Santa Clara Transportation Authority and the San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Commission. The forum is free and open to the public. For more information about the forum, or to find out how you can attend, click here to read the media advisory.

Code Red: SRAM Red Reviewed on TripleCrankset

June 20, 2008

Can you handle the truth? In search of a product review that would resonate with the "true pragmatist" in the cycling ranks, TripleCrankset enlisted Team TIBCO's Amber Rais to review the new SRAM Red groupset. As the article postulates, "...who better to provide a review than a person who uses the equipment to the extreme most of the time." Training and racing on SRAM for the first time this season, Amber describes the insider's perspective on "Making the Leap" to SRAM, with detailed observations and tips based on first-hand experience. Check out the full article on TripleCrankset, by clicking here!

5 Core Skills of Mentally Fit Athletes

May 17, 2008

Find out what it takes to get the mental edge over your competition or to unlock your potential as an athlete when we present Marvin Zauderer, MFT, Sport Psychology Consultant and Psychotherapist, next in the SVCF ö Team TIBCO Speaker Series. Join the discussion on June 19th at Palo Alto Bicycles when Marvin presents The Five Core Skills of Mentally Fit Athletes. For details on time and location, as well as further information on our speaker, click here to read the official flyer. Hope to see you there!. For more information on upcoming events in the SVCF - Team TIBCO Speaker Series, click here.

May 12, 2008

Team TIBCO's Brooke Miller won the bunch kick, followed closely by teammate Ali Rosenthal for third at the EBC Criterium in Pleasanton, CA this weekend. TIBCO racers Brooke Miller, Ali Rosenthal and Charlotte Hart, along with Development Team Assistant Director Liza Rachetto, created an aggressive and active race, working together well in the finishing sprint to put two on the podium. Photo of Ali Rosenthal courtesy of Kent Williams.

Hydration for Optimal Performance

May 11, 2008

Dr. Stacy Sims, Exercise Physiologist, Sports Nutritionist and Team TIBCO Cyclist, presented riders at Palo Alto Bicycles last week with an informative discussion on the importance of hydration for performance. Stacyâs talk marked the first in a series of speakers who will present on a variety of performance-related topics at Palo Alto Bicycles in Palo Alto, California, over the next few months. Read Stacyâs tips for hydration in training and racing by clicking here: Hydration for Optimal Performance p1 & 2, p3. For more information on upcoming events in the SVCF - Team TIBCO Speaker Series, click here.

LOOK USA

April 26, 2008

Road Bike Review has posted some shots of our custom 2008 LOOK frames at the SRAM Sea Otter Classic. If you missed Sea Otter and haven't had a chance to see the new paint jobs this year, check out the Team TIBCO 585 race bike and 2008 time trial frames as posted on RBR. You'll also get a nice oggle at the 586, 555, and 595 frames, not to mention Christophe's personal 986 MTB rig, weighing in at 18.49 lbs. Click here to read more on Road Bike Review!