Wachovia week: Van Heeswijk breaks off Lancaster win

That likely helped keep the race all but intact for most of the first five laps. “It was hard to try much today,” said CSC’s Jakob Piil, who won this race in solo break a year ago, but settled for 10th this time around. “Any time someone would try something the American teams would always put at least one guy at the front to bring it back.”

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

The only major move of the race’s opening half came during the sixth lap when a six-rider group that included Chris Horner (Webcor), Nathan O’Neill (Colavita Bolla), John Lieswyn (Health Net-Maxxis), Jeff Louder (Navigators), Piotr Chmielewski (Action ATI) and Ben Brooks (Jelly Belly-Aramark) broke away and built a gap that crested near 30 seconds.

But with no representation from CSC or Postal, the move had little chance of surviving and the race was all back together 43 miles into the 91-mile event. That chase didn’t come without a cost, though, as CSC burned through some valuable matches.

John Lieswyn

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

“That was a pretty bad moment in the race,” admitted Piil. “I had to work a lot for most of one lap.”

The ninth lap brought the next round of drama when a move originated by Ivan Dominguez (Colavita Bolla) and Aussie David McKenzie (Navigators) morphed into a group of six, with Chris Baldwin (Navigators), Jason McCartney (Health Net-Maxxis), Adam Bergman (Jelly Belly-Aramark) and Gordon McCauley (Monex) latching on.

They managed to put 40 seconds into the peloton by the early portions of the 10th lap, but the move would be short lived, as things regrouped with 14 miles of racing to go.

Bobby Time
Many of the fans lining the course probably had little idea who Bobby Julich was, let alone the fact that he actually has a home in nearby Philadelphia. Lancaster is no Liege, and for the majority of spectators the prospect of a crash or maybe a handful of jelly beans held as much allure as the race’s closest thing to a native son.

Julich tries his hand

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

But when Julich went off the front with two laps to go, the pair of PA announcers did their best to rally some home-state support. Julich would use this to his advantage, growing his margin as the bell for the final lap sounded. But when a Horner-led peloton roared through the start/finish 24 seconds later, it was clear there was lots of racing still to be done.

“For us it was good that Bobby went when he did,” said U.S. Postal team director Laurenzo LaPage. “Maybe if he had gone a little later it would have not been so easy to control.”

Instead Postal got plenty of help reeling the American in, setting the stage for Van Heeswijk’s winning move. With Julich taken care of, Van Heeswijk countered one of a handful of last-lap moves, barreling out of the park and across the Conestoga River bridge, before launching alone to the top of Chesapeake Street.

“To pull that off was amazing,” said Lieswyn, who ended up 20th and won the sprints competition. “We were hauling and Max still stayed away.”

Indeed, Van Heeswijk had plenty of time to zip up his jersey as he cruised down the long finishing stretch on Queen Street, crossing the line in 3:17:27, six minutes ahead of the top time from a year ago. “I really didn’t plan to do that,” the Postal rider admitted. “Normally I go for the sprint because I am also fast, but this was much safer.”

It was straight talk from a strong man, the kind of rider that almost always wins in Lancaster.

The Wachovia Cycling Series now takes a day off, before reconvening on Thursday in Trenton, New Jersey, for the 16th running of that race. Check back to VeloNews.com then for a full report, results and photos.

Race Notes
— Despite great form and a recent Giro stage win, Rodriguez was surprised that he held on to take third. The Acqua y Sapone rider said he was battling stomach problems for much of the race, and all but pulled over and quit at one point.

“I didn’t eat the whole race and I could barely drink,” said Rodriguez, who was in the bathroom before the post-race press conference and went right back there after the Q&A session ended. “I started thinking about dropping out to save something for [Sunday’s USPRO Championships], but I got some stomach stuff from the medical car. I think that helped my head more than anything. I figured I’d just ride in with the group, but when it stayed together I was able to pull off a result.”

— It was a solid debut in America for the Spaniard Ventoso who took second ahead of Rodriguez. This is the 22-year-old’s first season in the pro ranks, and already he’s being tabbed as one to watch after winning a stage win in the early-season Tour of Qatar.

— Van Heeswijk’s winning mark of 3:17:27 was the quickest finishing time since 1995 when Rodriguez set the course record of 3:07:12. This year’s blazing pace also made its mark on the rest of the field, which was trimmed from 137 to 57 by the finish.

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