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Three top ten finishes at Madera

The possibility of rain did not stop some of the Cat 4 squad from going out to the Madera Stage Race this weekend. The weather turned out to be fantastic although gusty winds proved challenging Saturday during the individual time trial. Godspeed riders managed to come up with three combined top ten finishes in the crit and road races and a top ten in the GC. Godspeed also place 12th and 15th in the time trial for an impressive overall showing.


Rainier Schaefer took 4th in the crit after Kalman Zeiger’s last lap move to string the group out and prevent any surges by the pack. With this Schaefer is fast approaching the upgrade points needed to move to the 3’s. Kevin White finished right behind for 5th place .

Wind gusts on the time trial course between 15 to 20 miles an hour forced riders to lean into the wind and in some sections head directly into it. Zeiger in early season form placed 15th with a time of 25:07.5 after a last minute equipment change. Despite some initial mechanical issues White placed 12th with a time of 25:03.4.

The road race finale came down to a bunch sprint with one Davis rider already in first place 1:59 ahead of the field. Davis managed the brake away late in the second lap after a prior unsuccessful attempt. As it became apparent that a number of Davis riders had moved near the front of the pack Godspeed sent a rider up the road to take advantage of the Davis blocking. The field picked up the pace shortly after and several miles later Godspeed was reabsorbed. The Davis rider, although still in sight as the field came up to the rollercoaster section of the course marking one lap to go managed to stay away for the win. In the final meters Schaefer made his move but it proved to be too early. White came around to finish 8th and moved up to 10th place in the GC once the calculations of riders time and placing was finalized.

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