Going out on top is hard to do; defending a championship in your home town is harder than getting it the first time. Everyone is watching you and your team. They are looking to you to see what is going to happen next. It is like having the whole field racing against you. The Legacy boys were up to the task this weekend racing for Colorado State University at the Collegiate National Criterium in downtown Ft Collins. What a great place for a bike race!
It was a hectic criterium with a number of crashes, one causing the race to be restarted after only 20 minutes of racing. Phil, Brad, Dan and Dan Lionberg (CSU rider) rode a brilliant race. They covered every important attack and were never out of position. Dan Lionberg was not out of the top 15 riders during the race. It looked like it was coming down to a field sprint and then with 4 laps to go a Virginia Tech rider made a good opportunistic move and soloed away from the pack. He was holding 15 seconds and if it were not for the determined riding of the Dans he would have won.
With two laps to go the Dans started to ride down their victim. Dan Workman took a lap-and-a-half pull, riding so hard he was involuntarily yelling as his spleen came out of his left eye socket. Two turns to go the Dans' work was done; Phil had been given the opportunity he was hoping for.
Coming into the last left hand corner Phil made the choice to win! He did not follow; he took control, moving out to the right-hand gutter he sprinted to the front and led into the last corner. Right hand gutter to leading through the last left hand turn, DAM! Standing up and sprinting the last 200 meters to the line was a true show of dominance--Phil finished off the team's work and made victims of the rest of the field to win! They all knew it was coming and there was nothing they could do to stop the repeat. Phil now leaves collegiate cycling as a two-time National Champion. Going out on top looked so easy.
Great riding by the whole team!
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