Rainy Day in Cloquet

The Masters 35+ crit was scheduled as the last event of the day at 3:40PM. The morning was brisk, but sunny, and then slowly deteriorated. By the time we raced, it was raining and 55deg. Most of us were all pretty worn out from the weekend, and just wanted to get the stage over with. A few of us lobbied for a shortened stage, but it wasn't unanimous, so we set out to brave a wet 40 minute crit.

It races much more like a circuit race, on a large 4 corner loop, with a small elevation change each lap. Race leader Charlie Jacobs and myself rode vigilantly at the front to protect our positions on GC, and there were very few attacks. On one of the primes, Pmax and Haas got a small gap, but were reeled in soon after.

Nothing real exciting, until 3 to go, when Hollywood did a soft attack off the front. No one chased, and his gap grew slightly. On the penultimate lap, still no chase, but his gap was still small enough to close quickly. We got the bell, and still, we stayed together. Heading down the hill to the finish, it was pretty clear Hollywood had the race won, and we were all just interested in going through the final turn upright.

I went through the corner 3rd wheel and opened up my sprint. I came around Alpasa and Binkowski, and looked back to see if Goblirsh was coming. I didn't see him, but Haas was coming up the left side fast. I dug back in, and was able to hold him off and win the field sprint, just behind Hollywood. Hollywood won a nice Bontrager Wheelset for his effort. Party on!

Stage Result
1. Hollywood
2. Jimmer
3. Haas
4. Dobbertin
5. Pmax

The time bonuses ended up having no effect on top 5 on GC:

Final GC
1. Jacobs
2. Jimmer
3. Dobbertin
4. Goblirsch
5. Binkowski