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At the LBI TT, Jesse O’Donnell won the men’s Cat-1/2/3 event. Brian Norling had another crusher ride, taking 2nd in the 35+, behind Overall winner Patrick Walter. Amanda Rinderer blazed 2nd in the Cat-4 women. Paul Cresti was 3rd in the Cat-4 race and is now 3rd in the TT Cup. Mark Curran had a steady ride for 4th in the 45+, Richard Wolf was 4th in the 55+, Chris Dawson was 5th in the Eddy dvision and is 2nd in the TT Cup.

At the BLP Criterium in South Jersey, H+H Racing’s Lauren Dagostino won the Pro/1/2/3 event. Her and her teammate had tried a few things during the race but nothing stuck… Lauren felt strong and knew if she timed the final uphill sprint well, she could power a good kick to the finish. Lauren was able to time her sprint well and take 1st place.

Jesse Walker has been MTBing a bit this winter and is racing some MTB this season. In his first MTB race, the Fair Hill Cat-2 event in Maryland, he was able to perform well, jumping off the line like a wolf and ending all matters, first to the singletrack and then just staying on the gas, gone. He was comfortable in the Fair Hill twisties, knifing through the field that started in front of him and nearly catching all of them by the 1st lap.

Jesse O’Donnell ripped 3rd in the Cat-3 race at Battenkill. “I knew the field would blow apart in second-half of race.” A three-man break went after the Stage Rd at about mile 17. They hovered around two minutes in front and we underestimated their power as 1st and 2nd place came from this break.”

At the top of Joe Bean Hill, Jesse was in a group of about 35 riders and the racing was measured and controlled.

On the next dirt climb, a few riders snatched open a small gap and Jesse was right with them. He took a good look at all of them, judged them as climbers, not break-worthy workhorse mates and he let them go. This was fatal as the two riders stayed away for 3rd and 4th.

Jesse sat in until the last dirt section and then hammered to stay at the front, fighting with the leaders to generate more velocity and create a buzzsaw of destruction behind.

At 1k to go, Jesse was drilling it in a group of four, a tiny gap to the field. He took the last turn at what like ludicrous speed and sprinting at max velocity to the line, winning the sprint for 5th.

“Overall it was a really good day,” Jesse said. “My teammates Jesus and Ralph were active all day and it was fun to race with some teammates and the team got a result.”

Jesse’s e2Value teammate, Baris Aytan, has been earning steady results all spring, primed for a strong Bear Mountain and Killington Stage Race. At Saturday’s CRCA “A” race

in Central Park, the race came down to a field spring and Baris finished 4th, an impressive finish. On Sunday at the Prospect Park Pro/1/2/3 event, Baris was near the front of the group as it prepared for the field sprint — he was able to battle to 7th.

And in closing, Tanner Browne of the Miller School of Albemarle is one of the top cyclocross juniors in the country. His training has been going very well, and going into Tour of Page County, he had the form to be a real asset to the team. Day one was the road race, and Tanner Browne was able to drill the pace in the rain and sketch. He lead out his teammate who WON the field sprint for 1st! Tanner buzzed through the TT, saving a bit for the final stage, the criterium.

The crit was an eight-turn course with two really steep climbs, Tanner had lively legs and attacked relentlessly, able to dig deep and produce a volatile workout. He was off the front for all but three laps of the race in two different breaks.

The winning and last break contained four riders: Tanner, his teammate Leo, and two other riders (one in 6th on GC). The break powered over a minute ahead of the field, and with one lap to go the GC rider attacked, Tanner helped pace his teammate back, they caught him on the final climb, and Leo was able to take 1st, Tanner 2nd! And 2nd overall in GC!

Resounding success for the young men of stellar Miller School of Albemarle — huge congrats, gentleman.