Director’s Report from Chann McRae:

Team Holowesko Partners U23 development squad put in an impressive effort at the Tour of Bahamas this weekend. Taylor Sheldon won the first stage with a solo attack with only 10km remaining. On Stage 2 TT, Taylor placed second, and Caleb Fairly third, behind Floyd.

On Stage 3 Caleb attacked hard with 80km to go. He rotated for about 40km with his breakaway companions, then he dropped them by attacking up the only hill in the race. From then on he rode as hard as he could for 40km solo!

Caleb got the stage win and the overall. Taylor was second overall.

Salon, Andrew, Thacker, and Elliot all worked really well together. As a team they made it possible for Caleb to be victorious.

Reigning national U23 team poised for a big year in 2010

January 11, 2010 – Boulder, CO – Team Holowesko Partners, the under-23 development squad for Team Garmin-Transitions, both owned and managed by management company Slipstream Sports, has been developing the next generation of top US cycling champions since its inception. It swept the U23 national championships in 2009, won the team classification at the Redlands Bicycle Classic and the best young jerseys – climber, points and rider – at the Cascade Cycling Classic. Today, the best U23 team in America unveiled its 2010 team roster:

Andrew Barker
Elliot Craddock
Blake Caldwell
Max Durtschi
Caleb Fairly
Alex Howes
Andrei Krasilnikau
Raymond Kreder
Lachlan Morton
Thacker Reeves
Peter Salon
Walker Savidge
Taylor Sheldon
Robbie Squire
Danny Summerhill
Nick Walker

“Holowesko Partners is incredibly proud to help foster the next generation of cycling champions,” said Mark Holowesko. “We couldn’t think of a better partner than Slipstream Sports, a company that has dedicated itself to this mission, and we look forward to another exciting season.”

Team Holowesko Partners featuring Alex Howes, national U23 Road Race Champion, Danny Summerhill, national U23 CycloCross Champion and Max Durtschi junior National Road and Criterium Champion, will again be directed by former pro Chann McRae. Additionally, Blake Caldwell has made the decision to step down from the Garmin-Transitions pro tour team to continue to recover from injury and will race with the junior team in 2010. Team Holowesko Partners grew out of the team that Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Slipstream Sports, created in 2005 with the goal of developing young riders and promoting ethical sport. Several young riders have already graduated to the pro tour team, including Peter Stetina and Kirk Carlsen for 2010.

“We are coming off an incredible 2009 season and we have a lot to be proud of,” said director Chann McRae. “Building the next generation of cycling champions is something we set out to do from the start, and to see that in action is hugely exciting not just for us, but for cycling as a whole. We look forward to another great season in 2010.”

Slipstream sponsors USA Cycling’s U23 team in the United States, in which several of its riders participate.

“When I started this team as TIAA-CREF in 2005, my dream was to foster an environment where young riders could flourish and to show the world that ethical sporting was not only possible but a reality,” said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Slipstream Sports. “Today I believe that dream has come to life. Holowesko Partners is a great sponsor that fully supports our mission and amazing group of talented young riders climbing the professional ranks. Together we have created the right dynamic for these young athletes to flourish. I’m incredibly proud of what all of our riders continue to achieve.”

Contact:

Marya Pongrace
Marya.pongrace@slipstreamsports.com
347-698-3412

One of team Garmin-Transitions’ younger talents, Danny Summerhill, is just as home off the road as he is on it. As a junior in 2007 he won a silver medal at the cyclo-cross world championships.

This December he added the U.S. U23 national cyclo-cross champion jersey to a closet already packed with stars-and-stripes titles. And as he has done for many years he is spending the rest of the ‘cross season as one of the invited riders at USA Cycling’s European ‘Cross Camp in Izegem, Belgium. Here he hopes to improve upon last year’s experience, culminating with the world championships in February. The Argyle Armada caught up with him while he and the rest of the crew were snow-bound and riding the indoor trainers:

Danny Summerhill has grown-up with cyclo-cross, so it is little surprise that he is very used to racing his bike year-round, instead of taking time off in the winter. In a way, Belgium is like a second home for him. “I’ve been here many years, since I was sixteen,” he said. “Between winter and summer I have never seen my house at Christmas in a long time! It’s kinda sad but also cool to see how much I’ve grown.”

But this season started off a bit different, with strong winter storms covering most of Europe and wreaking havoc on travel. “Getting here took eight hours longer! Some of the guys were waiting an entire day to get here. I’ve definitely had a lot worse in previous trips over here. I got all my bikes here in one piece so I have been fortunate with the travel.”

Traveling is something Summerhill is focusing on this year. Unsatisfied with finishing 32nd in last year’s U23 world championship he is taking a new approach to travel and mental preparation for this year’s worlds.

“Last year I was back-and-forth four times — this year I am staying here through worlds in February. I am going to England right after this camp for a quick break, so it will be nice to be in a country that speaks English, but then I’ll come back to Belgium with my batteries recharged ready for worlds. I’ll probably send out a Twitter message to see if anyone there want to go for a spin [while I'm in England.]

“I’m also trying to take a different mental outlook on it all. It’s just racing and there are a lot of other pressures in the world out there. So as much as I can I remind myself that I am here and blessed to ride my bike for a living. Thinking of it that way instead of focusing on a bad result, that is the biggest difference for me — changing my perspective on what is important. That comes from the people who help me along the way — coaches like Geoff Proctor and Noel [Dejonckheere.]”

“My biggest hopes are that I can maintain my nerves and ability right now, not fold at the end of the season like I did last year. Hopefully I’ll get a top ten or better, like my hopes last year. From what I’ve heard about the course there is a good chance for dry and fast conditions, and I’m pretty used to that coming from Colorado. That perked my ears up a bit!”

Coming into the European season with the stars-and-stripes on his back has been another perspective-changer. “Nationals was pretty cool! There were so many interviews after nationals. It is so nice to be done with the actual race because I was putting so much stress and pressure on me. Once the race was finally on a cloud just opened up and let me look clear ahead. Before that it was all world champs bids and everything, all just very important. Now I have a clear head and more tough mentally heading into Europe.”

According to Summerhill, not many people realized he flatted near the end of the race, including himself — something he forgot to mention in the hype and frenzy of the post-race interviews. “My mom was there in the pit watching me. I flatted with one lap to go and didn’t even know it until after the race! I pitted just to be safe and finished on my B bike. I don’t even really remember it, it was such a blur.”

“It will most likely sink in next year, when I might get some sort of say in the skinsuit design. Then it will definitely hit home. I don’t have anything special now so I am just wearing the national champ jersey over the skinsuit — kinda cheesy but it’s a UCI rule and it’s something like a $1,000 fine for not wearing it! Thankfully I’ve been in some of the Pearl Izumi thermal skinsuits which is nice! If I was just in the speedsuits I would have been a goner.

After the ‘cross season Summerhill will have about a week to transition back to the road. As such the Garmin-Transitions U23 director Chann McRae has already told Sumerhill what his initial focus will be for next year. “Chann told me that he wants me to focus on Redlands because I come off of worlds straight into hard training for road season. Everyone else will have many more base miles. I really enjoy that race and then U23 Roubaix — that will be my other big goal. I flatted last year and pretty much walked my bike into the velodrome.

Other than that just experiencing more races on the calendar that I went to last year. It’ll be nice to go back to stage races that I went to for the first time last year, and not be nervous and know what is coming each day!

With that Summerhill had to head off to bed to rest for another day of riding, likely indoors. But he did have one parting message. “I have to take my hat off to Geoff and the whole Belgiam crew that does so much for us. They don’t get the proper recognition they deserve!”

Follow Danny on his Facebook page, or visit the Euro ‘Cross Camp web site.

Director’s report from Chann McRae:

The last few weeks have been what Alex Howes has been waiting for. His mental tenacity and physical prowess has resulted in three very important victories — first the U.S. U23 road race title and second the U.S. U23 crit championship.

Today he was the best up to Snowbird Ski Station against a stacked field. This victory will give him the right line going into the U23 World Championships!

Team Garmin-Slipstream, stage 3
1. Tom Zirbel 17.00
5. David Zabriskie +0.23
16. Alex Howes +0.49
22. Taylor Shelden +0.56
24. Peter Stetina +0.58
58. Peter Salon +1.32
90. Kirk Carlsen +1.57
107. Walker Savidge +2.06
137. Raymond Kreder +2.50

Team Garmin-Slipstream, GC
1. Francisco Mancebo 6h49.26
11. David Zabriskie +2.56
14. Alex Howes +2.56
28. Peter Stetina +7.52
29. Kirk Carlsen +8.01
55. Peter Salon +17.17
110. Taylor Shelden +34.12
134. Raymond Kreder +42.40
135. Walker Savidge +44.19

---

From the Argyle store:

Team Garmin-Slipstream, stage 2
1. Darren Lill 3h00.21
14. Alex Howes +2.36
24. David Zabriskie +2.59
27. Kirk Carlsen
34. Peter Stetina +7.07
57. Peter Salon +13.25
129. Taylor Shelden +29.10
130. Raymond Kreder
135. Walker Savidge

Team Garmin-Slipstream, GC
1. Francisco Mancebo 6h31.44
13. Alex Howes +3.10
15. David Zabriskie +3.15
28. Kirk Carlsen +6.46
31. Peter Stetina
54. Peter Salon +16.27
114. Taylor Shelden +33.58
135. Raymond Kreder +40.32
137. Walker Savidge +42.55

---

From the Argyle store:

The Holowesko Partners/Felt U23 team is currently racing the Tour of Utah, and is in good position with three riders within one minute of the overall leader after the first stage — including the U23 national time trial champion Peter Stetina and the U23 national road champion Alex Howes.

As well Team Garmin-Slipstream’s David Zabriskie is sitting in fourth place overall, just 32 seconds out of the race lead. He is also the best placed Utah rider and is wearing that jersey.

Holowesko Partners/Felt, stage 1
1. Francisco Mancebo 3h25.00
6. Alex Howes +0.25
18. Kirk Carlsen
30. Peter Stetina
37. Peter Salon
38. David Zabriskie
75. Taylor Shelden +4.46
126. Raymond Kreder +11.07
135. Walker Savidge +13.16

Holowesko Partners/Felt, GC
1. Francisco Mancebo 3h31.07
4. David Zabriskie +0.32
12. Peter Stetina +0.45
19. Alex Howes +0.50
36. Kirk Carlsen +0.57
69. Peter Salon +3.18
73. Taylor Shelden +5.04
124. Raymond Kreder +11.38
135. Walker Savidge +14.01

Team Garmin-Slipstream’s U.S. time trial champion David Zabriskie is back in his home state of Utah to prepare for his national championships title defense by racing the Tour of Utah. Zabriskie took second by just one second in the short prologue opener, with eyes ahead on the longer individual time trial on Friday.

The Holowesko Partners/Felt U23 team is also racing in Utah, with all three U23 national championship jerseys on display.

Holowesko Partners-Felt U23 rider Alex Howes finished off the team sweep at the U23 national championships by winning the criterium championship, adding to his road race win two days earlier.

“Alex put in an impressive move with 1.5 laps to go to drop his breakaway mates, Bjorn Sealander-Trek Livestrong , and Sweeting-Landrover,” said his proud team director Chann McRae.

Photos by Ethan Erickson

Last year’s U23 national TT champion, Peter Stetina punched his ticket for another year in his stars and stripes skinsuit, winning the U23 national time trial championship in Bend, Oregon.

The Felt-Holowesko Partners U23 team cleaned up at the US national championships, taking three of the top five spots in the U23 road race along with a second year of the national champion in Alex Howes.

Photos courtesy Ethan Erickson

Race report from Alex Howes:

“You know what this team needs? A win, a victory, two hands in the air; wouldn’t that be sweet?” I can not tell you how many times I, my team mates, the staff, and everyone involved with the Felt/Holowesko/Garmin team has made that statement this year. If we had a brick for every podium we have earned this year we could build a house. It would be a small house and it would not exactly be structurally sound but, there would be at least 3 walls. The, ’second step shack.’ That is where we have been living all season. Ask anyone who has been there; it is not a fun place to call home.

Today the team finally got to upgrade. With three riders in the main split of the day (Peter Salon, Peter Stetina, and myself) I knew our chances were good. Stetina and I pushed the pace on the climbs and Salon kept a keen eye on the other riders in the break. We whittled the group down to a select group of 8 and with one to go Eagle Eye Salon and I made a break for it with Ben King of Trek-Livestrong and Scott Stuart of Waste Management. The attacks never stopped from the final climb all the way to the finish. Salon was quickly in trouble on the climb manly due to the massive amount of work he did to keep the break away so it was down to three. Of the three it was almost impossible to pick the strongest rider. After riding 160km in the break away with one hundred degree temps we were all reduced to virtually nothing. Attack… Cramp. Attack… Cramp. Attack… Cramp. That is how the last five kilometers went. In the end I told myself my legs would either fall off or I would win and I led out the sprint from 225 meters out. My legs are still there…

For me, this victory is big. Real big. It has been over three years since I have put my arms in the air. But for the team this win is huge. We needed it, we earned it. Every rider on the team could have been on that top step of the podium today. I was just fortunate enough to pull the long straw. Huge thanks to all the boys and staff. Hopefully, this victory will be the first of many. Let’s put a roof on our house.

Team Felt-Holowesko Partners U23 results
1. Alex Howes      4h00.42
4. Peter Salon      +0.26
5. Peter Stetina       +2.18
7. Kirk Carlsen      +4.14
15. Daniel Summerhill      +14.21
27. Conor Mullervy      +15.34

Director’s report from Chann McRae:

Raymond Kreder is continuing to show that he is a savvy bike racer. He placed 3rd in stage 4b at Tour de Beauce today. Backing him up was Summerhill coming in 7th. Way to go boys, that was some awesome bike racing.

In stage 1 Peter Stetina had made it to the line by 1 second with two Aussie and British break-mates in a breakaway here. He stayed away for third. Really impressive move by him today and big result in a UCI 2.2!

Holowesko Partners/Felt U23 rider Daniel Holloway put in an ‘early’ attack at the Philadelphia International Championship last Sunday, with the entire U23 squad racing as the US National Team. While it is not an official parade start, the pace is normally easy until the riders enter the main part of the 156 mile-long course. Not so for Holloway who threw caution to the wind and attacked off the line. What resulted was a longer day that he bargained for, as he was on his own off the front for the better part of 80 miles.

Holloway spoke with Podium Insight about his unintended adventure, with teammate (and team wisenheimer) Alex Howes jumping in with the occasional reality-check.

PC: Why did you go off so early today?

Holloway: So I had this dream. I had a dream. No, I thought that the race was going to start fast, it didn’t start fast. I heard there was daylight so I got aero and nobody caught me for 80 miles.

Holloway: I didn’t know…. I was just expecting a fast start and had it in the big ring, and c’est la vie.

Howes: He doesn’t play by the rules.

Howes: With this clown up front, the whole crowd every time we went up was just chanting USA. That worked out pretty well (both chuckle) It was kind of cool.

Holloway: Yeah, it’s cool for the morale. That doesn’t happen too often that you get a whole, hundreds of people into one team and that was cool for me because I was solo and cool for the guys in the field because I’m sure they haven’t really experienced that especially in a 150+ field with huge names like Freddie, the BISSELL boys, the OUCH boys, Liquigas and Columbia. For the whole wall to be chanting USA, nobody really expects that, to have that happen and all of us being under 23 and everybody is rooting for us at Philly is phenomenal. I think that was hair-raising and I don’t think that anybody that whatsoever for that to happen. It’s pretty awesome.
Tells the crowd to drink after his wave

Tells the crowd to drink after his wave

Alex, what did you think of it?
Howes: It was pretty rad. The one time we went up, we went up as a team, there was five or six of us all lined up and as we went up, the whole chant followed us like ‘USA, USA, USA’ , a bunch of drunk people. It was awesome (chuckles) People spraying beer on us and everything, yeah, I was feeling the brotherly love. It was good stuff.

Holowesko Partners/Felt U23’s Peter Stetina in main break of Tour de Beauce, narrowly missing the win and coming in third.

Director’s report from Chann McRae:

Peter Stetina had made it to the line by 1 second with two Aussie and British mates in a break here at the Tour de Beauce. He stayed away for third. Really impressive move by him today and a big result in a UCI 2.2 stage race!

Dan Holloway of our Holowesko Partners/Felt U23 team is SEVEN minutes ahead of the peloton in the Philadelphia International championship!