Whistler’s Will Routley rode a steady Fantastic Four stage
race in Kelowna last week to finish fifth overall, five minutes behind
Symmetrics teammate Christian Meier, who won the race.
The Fantastic Four included a hill climb, a road race, a
time trial and a criterium.
Meier’s overall time for the four events was four hours, six
minutes, 51.64 seconds. Ryan Anderson of Trek-Red Truck Racing was second, 10
seconds behind Meier. Rob Britton of La-Z-Boy Cycling Team was third overall, a
further three minutes, 34 seconds back.
Britton won the opening hill climb in eight minutes, 44.21
seconds but finished with the pack in the road race. Anderson, Meier, Routley
and Britton all escaped from the pack in the road race, with Anderson building
a gap of six seconds on Meier at the end to win in two hours, 43 minutes, 15
seconds. Routley finished third in 2:46:58 and Britton was fourth at 2:47:05.
The pack came in at 2:47:35.
Britton claimed the short time trial in a time of eight
minutes, 58.56 seconds. Cory Forrest, who finished fourth overall, was second
in 9:18.12. Jeff Sherstobitoff, also of Team Symmetrics, was third in 9:33.01,
just
.91 seconds ahead of Routley.
Meier was fifth in the time trial.
With the Meier and Anderson separated by just 25 seconds
after three events, the criterium would determine the overall. The rest of the
field seemed to recognize that the race was between the two leaders and let
them get away from the pack. Anderson added the crit title to his earlier road
race victory, finishing in 1:04:24. Meier was content to finish second, 15
seconds behind Anderson. That left him with a 10-second cushion to claim the
overall title.
The pack finished the criterium in 1:05:47.
On Sunday, Aug. 12, Routley won the road race in the
Washington State Omnium. An Omnium is a three-stage race based on points rather
than time. Because Routely didn’t participate in Saturday’s first two stages, a
time trial and a criterium, he wasn’t eligible for the overall Omnium title.
Routley is also currently second in the B.C. Cup standings,
having won three of the five races he’s entered. He is currently three points
behind Britton, who has raced seven B.C. Cup events, with only a time trial
left in the series.
Other Whistler riders were also in Kelowna for the Fantastic
Four, competing in Categories 3 and 4. Otto Kamstra of Team Whistler finished
17
th
overall in the extremely competitive men’s Cat. 3. Kamstra’s
overall time was 2:46:09.35, less than 2:07 behind overall winner Michael
Rothengatter of Escape Velocity/Devo.
Tony Routley was 28
th
in Cat. 3 in 2:59:04.29.
In women’s Cat. 4 racing, Toria Whitney was eighth overall
in 2:46:13.71. Elizabeth Hatch was first overall in Cat. 4 in 2:36:04.03.