Gateway Cup

Gateway Cup (Sept. 3-6)

During Labor Day weekend, pros and amateurs from around the nation piled into my hometown of St. Louis for the annual Gateway Cup races. The womens’ field was smaller than the previous year when it was the “Tour of Missouri” but strong nonetheless with racers Laura van Gilder, Team Colavita, Sam Sneider of TIBCO, and a few Vera Bradley girls. Friday’s race was my first twilight crit ever on the barely-lit course around the young-urban section of town called Lafayette Square. I had a blast at the twilight although wasn’t a strong contender for the sprint. Modesta of Colavita won the stage and started the next day as the omnium leader.

This was another four-corner crit around Frances Park. I attacked early on but didn’t manage to get a good gap. With 15 minutes left to go, Colavita’s Saunders went off the front and stayed off til the finish while Lauren Hall of VBF won the field sprint. The next day’s criterium was the Giro della Montagna or the race in the dominantly Italian part of the city called the Hill. I won this race last year in the 3/4s so the adrenaline was high (along with caffeine) going into it this year. A group of four went off the front about halfway through the race and when they were at 20 seconds ahead, I knew that I just missed the move. I thought that Colavita would’ve been more organized in chasing since LVG was in it and she would go on to steal the GC from Modesta. But nothing happened and again I had a bad sprint at the finale.

Then the last day of Gateway Cup 2010 came on Labor Day with a new 11-corner criterium through the Benton Park district of town going over a highway, next to the Anheuser Busch plant, and through a bohemian part of St. Louis. It was by far the most fun and hardest course of the series. The field was strung out most of the time due to the tight chicanes and constant cornering. I attacked really hard halfway to go and stayed off for about 1.5 miles while Colavita organized themselves at the front to reel me in (now you do it???). I thought they might let me leave since I was certainly no GC threat but no cigar. However, I wound up having a very good sprint at the end (for me). The sprint was hard – headwind, long, and slightly uphill. While usually I tend to lose position in the last lap because I’m afraid for my life with all the wild elbows and close corners, I decided to be aggressive for the last race of the season (hey, if I crash, I’ve got 6 months til my next race!). Anyway, I was about 10th wheel going into that last corner and I just patiently stayed in the saddle jumping from one great wheel to the next while their sprints died prematurely. I wound up coming in 5th across the line! But unfortunately, I didn’t check results before they were finalized and they put me down as 6th. So lesson learned: don’t cool down – check results! Oh well, still a great finish to a pretty decent season. I have high hopes for 2011!

--Maura

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