RACING IN POLAND:
THE BALTYK KARKONOSE REPORT

Stage 4 - June 6: Siedlec - Bolków, 198.8 km
After 600km of racing over 3 days everyone was hoping for an slow day on the 2nd longest stage. Unfortunately this would not be the case as the the Ukrainian National Team, with no riders in the General Classification, began attacking fron the start. Seeing an opportunity, Derrek Ivey caught the wheel of a Russian rider as he successfully bridged across to an early breakaway group. Ivey would later say that he had to hold over 450 watts to merely stay in touch with the Russian Rider. The breakaway would not last and Bhogal counter attacked but could do more than string out the chasing pack. After covering almost 50km in the first hour (due to incessant attacks), a Ukranian rider finally escaped alone, pacifying the aggressive UKR team. The lone rider would stay away for over 150km however was caught in the final 30km as the teams raised the pace in anticipation for the 16% uphill sprint finish over cobbled roads... into a headwind. One of the days most exciting moments came midway through the race as Mazurcoaching.com unleashed their secret weapon: Badih! Rumour had it that Badih had become the tours underdog as team soigneurs began taking bets on how long he would make it. Nursing an awful cold, he waited for the opportune moment and launched a surprise attack in the feedzone. The peleton cheered as he soloed away into the distance in an attempt to bridge across to the lone UKR rider. Badih managed to stay clear for 20km before succumbing to the damaging effects of the Polish cobbles and would retire after 800km of hard racing. A note about the cobbles: In this stage they caused one snapped fork and steer tube (think Hincapie Paris-Roubaix). The final 10km were chaos as the riders jockey for position coming into the finishing town. Brendan Matthias almost fell off a bridge into a river when a Russian rider cut him off. Coming into the final climb Dawid Krupa set himself up perfectly behind the CCC leadout train. Bhogal was also riding strong in 10th wheel. As the ‘wall’ hit Krupa floated in for 3rd place. Bhogal, already at the limit cracked as the road pitched up and watched about 20 riders pass him in the final 200m. He would finish 28th with Ivey close behind in 32nd.

Stage 5 - June 7: Kowary - Przel. Okraj (ITT), 11.6 km
By design, day 5 proved to be the most difficult of the race. After a 6am wake up the team was shuttled 60km through the Polish countryside to the start village for the 12km uphill time trial. Outcome: Disaster. The winning time was 24.37 minutes - most of the team was caught a bit off-guard by the time and were outside of the cut-off limit, but in the end everyone was allowed to proceed to stage 6.

Stage 6 - June 7: Bolków - Sulików, 162.0 km
After completing the grueling TT the boys would drive another 50km to the start of the 6th and most difficult stage. It began with 5 x 2km circuits within the stage 4 finishing town. Each lap containained the punishing 500m climb at 16% that claimed so many the day before . The first stage prime was for sprint points after the 4rd circuit lap. This was followed by a climbers prime within the first 20 km of the days stage. The polish teams would sacrifice many riders with the aim of keeping the tempo high at the front of the race and within 30 km the peleton had been obliterated, leaving a group of 25 riders off the front with the remaining riders forming the grupetto that would roll in contently making the days time cut. Unfortunately the only MAZURCOACHING.COM rider to survive the initial onslaught was the Olympian Dawid Kruppa. For the rest, it was an opportunity for the boys to finally take in some of the countryside as they strolled along. The Ukranian team (who all missed the selection) attempted to bridge across to the lead group, taking Ivey along with them. The Ukrainians were impressed with Ivey’s willingness to help chase and provided him food, drink and even a 25th tooth cassette (Derrek would get a flat tire and a replacement wheel) to help Ivey ascend the Polish mountain tops. The grupetto would be pulled before the finishing circuit, losing over 1 hr to the lead group. In the final km’s Krupa tried a solo attack but failed. He would finish 6th in the sprint. Though they could not catch the leaders, Ivey and his new Ukrainian friends would succeed in limiting their losses and Derrek catapulted himself up in the GC. Post race entertainment was provided by a fist fight between a Polish Mroz and Russian rider who tangled during the final sprint.

Stage 7 - June 8: Lwówek Sl.–Lwówek Sl., 146.4 km
The massive time gaps along with a firmly established GC after stages 5 and 6 could only mean one thing for stage 7: Savage attacks from the gun! With nothing to lose, Bhogal attacked in the first lap initial circuit (4 times around a 1km loop within the city). Fresh legs caught him quickly. 2km later Bhogal tried once again and 4 man group materialized. Again, the riders were caught as a counter attack of 6 riders went off the front. Several minutes later Bhogal attempted to bridge but his early attacks left their mark as he found himself stranded alone in ‘no mans land’. Brandon Throop also made an attempt to get across but the winds and rolling terrain proved too much and he too took a tour of no mans land. Most of the big teams were represented in the breakaway except for team DHL which held the yellow jersey and Legia. As a result they were forced to give chase as the rain began to fall. Derrek Ivey, Brandon Throop and Brendan Matthias all suffered magnificent crashes on the first major descent as their tires lost traction on the wet roads. Throop, suffering from the impact, called it a day and climbed into the broomwagon while Ivey and Matthias fought on to finish on their own at the back of the field – despite pleas from the broomwagon drivers asking them to quit. This left Krupa and Bhogal to fight it out in the bunch sprint. Krupa finished 11th with Bhogal suffering behind in 23rd.

The boys learned alot from their experiences in the European racing scene and will be translating them into results over the next few weeks. They will continue to race all of the major local races as well as some in the USA.

MAZURCOACHING.COM SCORES
2 WINS IN 2 WEEKS!

The team had great success in the month of May with back to back wins by Derrek Ivey at Bristol Mountain in NY state as well as the Niagara Classic Ontario Cup.

With 3 riders in the winning break at Bristol, the team was able to exert complete control over the race. With 30km to go Ivey rode away from his breakaway companions to win by 3 minutes. Alex Bhogal won the sprint for 2nd place with teamate Brandon Throop close behind in 4th place. An attack from the peleton gave Jan Zak another strong top 10 finish.

A cold and rainy day was the stage for win #2 at Ontario Cup #3 in Pelham. Brandon Throop rode strong to place himself in an early breakaway that would stay away for most of the race. At 2 laps to everything came back together. Ivey took the opportunity to launch another attack and opened up what would be an almost 2 minute gap as he soloed to victory once again.

Mazurcoaching.com hopes to carry this momentum to the races in Europe in late May-early June. The team will be competing in two one-day classics followed by the International Cycling Race 'DHL Bałtyk-Karkonosze Tour' - an 8 day UCI 2.2 stage race traversing the Western half of Poland.

TEAM UPDATE - MAY 8, 2008

After a successful training camp in Tucson, Arizona, the season has started out very positive. The team prepared with some early season races against top local professionals from the south-western United States, resulting in several podium finishes. 

Upon returning to Ontario, the team's success has continued with 3 riders ranked first in the province in their respective categories. Celeste Jones-Baumhardt is first in the Junior Women category, with Lucinda Wallace leading the Master Women field. The Pro 1-2 category is currently lead by Alex Bhogal with Derrek Ivey close behind in second place. Most recently the two have had top 5 finishes in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. Alex also finished 19th overall in the USA Crits Speed Week series taking place in South Carolina. His best results were 11th and 12th place finishes against North America's top pro riders. As a whole, Mazurcoaching.com is also leading the overall Club Challenge, retaining their position as #1 road club in Ontario. 

The senior men continue to train hard for their upcoming trip to Poland, in which they will be participating in a number of one-day Classics as well as an 8 day UCI 2.2 Stage Race which will traverse the country.

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