Pro crit on tap this weekend

By Bryan Jew, VeloNews Senior Writer

This Sunday, the top U.S. professional road teams will gather in theChicago suburb of Downers Grove for the USPRO Criterium Championship. Ninety-fourriders are on the start list for the 62-mile (100km) race on the difficultone-mile, eight-turn Downers Grove circuit, including last year’s winnerHarm Jansen (Saturn) of the Netherlands.Absent from the roster, however, is the defending USPRO criterium champion,Kirk O’Bee (Navigators), the first American finisher last year, who isserving a suspension for a positive doping test.Like the USPRO road championship in Philadelphia, USPRO Crit is opento riders of any nationality, meaning that the race winner is not necessarilythe national champion ñ the first American to cross the line.While Jansen will be present to defend last year’s win, his team hasanother threat in Cuban Ivan Dominguez, who beat Russian Vassili Davidenko(Navigators) and Canadian Gord Fraser (Mercury) in the recent New YorkCity Cycling Championship. All three will be fighting for the win in DownersGrove. Fraser, who had flown to New York from Europe the day of the NewYork race and raced with weary legs, will be looking to avenge that loss,and was on target last weekend with a win at the Manhattan Beach GrandPrix.Another one of the favorites will be 1997 USPRO criterium champion JonasCarney of Prime Alliance, who had disappointing results the past two weekends,including crashing in the final corner at Manhattan Beach. If Carney shouldfalter, teammates Dave McCook and Alex Candelario could also step up aspodium threats.With many of the top riders on the U.S. circuit hailing from other countries,the race for the national champion’s jersey becomes harder to forecast.In addition to Carney, other contenders include Mark McCormack (Saturn),John Lieswyn (7UP-Nutra Fig), Robbie Ventura (U.S. Postal Service), JamiePaolinetti (Schroeder Iron) and Mariano Friedick (Jelly Belly-CarlsbadClothing). Another possible jersey threat is Navigators’ Olympic gold medalistMarty Nothstein, who has shown great improvement on the road over his 2001season with Mercury, but has yet to breakthrough with a big-time win.Start List USPRO Criterium Championship
— Downers Grove – August 18, 2002Saturn
1. JANSEN Harm
2. DOMINGUEZ Ivan
3. FISHER Chris
4. KLASNA Trent
5. KLUCK Damon
6. MCCORMACK Frank
7. MCCORMACK Mark
8. PETERSEN Soren
9. SWEET Jay
10. WOHLBERG EricMercury
11. FRASER Gordon
12. JONES Brice
13. MONINGER Scott
14. SAYERS Mike
15. STOIANOV Plamen
16. VOGELS Henk
17. WHERRY Chris
18. ZAJICEK Phil
19. ZARATE JesusPrime Alliance
21. CARNEY Jonas
22. CANDELARIO Alex
23. DECANIO Matt
24. HORNER Chris
25. MCCOOK David
26. PATE Danny
27. PETERS John
28. STEVENSON Russel
29. TUFT Svein
30. WALROD JohnJelly Belly
31. FREIDICK Mariano
32. ALBERS Kirk
33. DAWSON Brent
34. FORBES Brian
35. LECHUGA Ernie
36. MCCARTNEY Jason
37. MCMANOS Remi
38. STEINBRECHER CorySierra Nevada
39. GERLACH Chad
40. BAUMANN ChrisOfoto-Lombardi
41. BRADY John
42. CRATER Andrew
43. PIERCE Colby
44. HAMBEY Russell
45. LARKIN Tim
46. LOPINTO Peter
47. SAUNDERS Eric
48. STEWART JacksonSchroeder Iron Pro Cycling
51. PAOLINETTI Jamie
52. CLARKE Hilton
53. JOHNSON Michael
54. ERKER Jacob
55. KNUDSEN Peter
56. TOMAN Kent
57. BAUSCH Jason
58. BARRETT Ryan
59. GAGGIOLI RobertoJittery Joe’s
61. HARTLEY Chad
62. HOPKINS Jeff
63. LEY Mike
64. PIC Chris
65. ROGERS Peter (Iteamnova)
66. ROSENBARGER Jake7-UP/Nutra Fig
71. LIESWYN John
72. DIONNE Charles
73. HENDERSON Greg
74. GODFREY Hayden
75. MONAHAN Kevin
76. PINEDA Oscar
77. ZIEWACZ Doug
78. COYLE Chuck
79. SCHMATZ DanNavigators
81. WALTERS Mark
82. POWER Ciaran
83. NOTHSTEIN Marty
84. MITCHELL Glenn
85. LEAPER Tom
86. GUAY Ryan
87. BALDWIN Chris
88. GRICHKINE Oleg
89. DAVIDENKO Vassili
90. CAMPONOGARA SiroU.S. Postal Service
91. CLINGER David
92. LABBE Kenny
93. CASEY Dylan
94. ZABRISKIE David
95. VENTURA Robbie
96. WHITE Matthew