Final overal GC podium

Team Globalbike achieved its most significant victory to date recently in the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, AR. Bobby Sweeting delivered an amazing performance throughout the race, never finishing less than 5th in any of the 4 stages. The victory didn’t come easy though as the team had to fight hard to take over the leaders jersey and protect it to the end.

Stage 1: 2.5 mile uphill Time Trial – Sweeting took 5th on the stage 21sec behind the leader.

Stage 2: 110mile Road Race – a long and windy stage featuring a 9mile climb up Mt. Gaylor. Globalbike mostly hid in the group out of the wind and let the team of the race leader assume responsibility on the front. A breakaway formed that got a maximum advantage of 6min on the field before Globalbike sent Josh Whitmore and Ben Miller to the front to help chase. Josh and Ben were able to bring the gap down to 4min at the start of the Mt Gaylor climb. Boyd Johnson then took over the pace making on the climb with Ben Miller also contributing. The breakaway was caught near the top of the climb, with Bobby Sweeting and 2 others escaping over the top with 25miles to go. Sweeting drove the break hard and took the win on the final hill to the finish line. With a 10sec time bonus for the win, Sweeting assumed the overall lead by 13sec.

Bobby Sweeting takes the Win in stage 2, moves into GC lead

Stage 3: 96mile Road Race. Shortly into the race, Matt Davis of another team escaped from the peleton on a solo breakaway. At that point, Team Globalbike didn’t react much as there were still many miles and several climbs before the finish. The chances of a single rider lasting to the end was minimal. Hat’s off to Matt Davis however as his lead continued to grow up to the 5min mark before Globalbike took action. At first, Globalbike’s newest team member Graham Foster was joined by Josh Whitmore at the front to up the pace and start bringing down the gap. Over the next 20 miles the gap slowly came down to the 3:30 mark. Doing the calculations, it became apparent that the gap was not coming down quick enough. If Matt Davis finished ahead of the group by 50sec, he would be the new GC leader. Globalbike decided to put the entire team on the front to chase. What happened next nothing short of text book riding by the team who set a smooth, fast paceline tempo and started to eat into the advantage by Davis. At times, it was unsure if the catch would be made, but eventually the gap was welded shut with 5miles left to go. Sweeting, who had the advantage of sitting protected at the back of the team train for the whole race was able to take 2nd in the big group sprint to the finish, extending his overall GC lead to 19sec with the time bonus.

Ben Miller and Boyd Johnson keep things together in the crit

Stage 4: Criterium. I have to say this was one of the hardest criteriums I have ever done. With 12 turns and significant elevation change on each lap, only the strongest of the race would be able to contest this race. Sweeting managed to stay comfortably in the front group as rider after rider were shelled off the back as the pace proved too much. With a 3rd place finish on the stage, Sweeting increased his overall GC lead to 21sec, securing the overall victory.

Overall, the team was exhausted, but proud of their performance and amazed at the strength of team leader Bobby Sweeting.

Boyd and Josh in Chase Mode

A small contingent of the Globalbike team tackled the Dylan Mitchell Memorial Criterium in Fort Mill, SC today. After fighting all week with the nations best pros in speedweek, the team was hungry to play an integral part in the outcome of a race before heading to Joe Martin Stage Race in Arkansas next week.

The plan was for Josh Whitmore and Ben Miller to look for breakaways, and for David Forkner to sit in for a sprint finish.Chris Harkey of Gary Fisher established a solo lead of over 30secs mid race. The gap continued to grow, so the team decided to use Boyd Johnson and Josh Whitmore to bring it back. Here they are in a 6 lap Team Time Trial to close the gap.

Forkner, Miller, Whitmore, Johnson

Several more  breakaway attempts were made before a good looking move with Globalbike’s Ben miller and 3 others established a small gap. That group of 4 lasted to the finish with Ben Miller out sprinting the others for the win.

Ben Miller Wins the Dylan Mitchel Criterium

With Ben Safely up the road, the rest of the team worked to set up David Forkner for the sprint. With one lap to go, Whitmore and Forkner sat 3rd and 4th wheel through turns 1 and 2.  Whitmore then put the pedal on the floor on the back straight and was first through turn 3 with Forkner on his wheel. Whitmore pulled off and Forkner was 1st through the last turn and widened the gap to the line, taking 5th place overall.

Most of the team will be in recovery mode for the next couple days ahead of the Joe Martin Stage Race in Arkansas starting on Thursday. We’re hoping the team climber (now crit sprinter) Ben Miller will use his good form to crush some Arkansas hills!