Stone Scores First Pro,1,2 Victory!

March 10, 2010 14:04 by Steve Baker

It was a fantastic weekend for the Hincapie Development Team.  The weekend was capped off by an impressive win at the SCTAC (Donaldson) Road Race by our very own, Michael Stone in the last race of the Greenville Spring Training Series.  This was Michael’s first Pro,1,2 win and we’re just as excited as he is about the victory.  The entire team contributed to the effort by staying active at the front and covering moves all day.  The guys are riding well together and having a good time as well.

The result on Sunday followed a very difficult day of racing on Saturday at the River Falls RR.  River Falls features a short 1K climb to the finish on a 5.5 mile course in the foothills of SC.  The race is known to attract some stiff competition that combines with the challenging terrain to make it one of the most difficult races of the whole series.

The Hincapie Devo Team was animated from the start, with numerous attacks early on.  Michael Stone and Matt Lipscomb quickly found themselves in a promising break that put over 2 minutes on the field.  They rode strong for several laps until Team Type 1 started working hard to pull back the escapees.  A small group bridged the gap and joined Stone and Lipscomb at the front.  Our dynamic duo held their own and rode like veterans in the front group until the end.  After the bridge, one rider from the original break got away again and won solo.  Michael and Matt finished in the front group after a very hard early season race day.

The Hincapie Devo cat 3 squad raced well Saturday and Sunday as well.  We were happy to have Parker Kyzer back on a bike after his crash last week.  The team rode aggressively on the hilly River Falls course, but was not successful motivating a group.  One lone rider did escape and finish off the front for the win.  The rest of the field remained together until the last hill.  Justin Lowe and Parker both finished close to the front, with Justin making the top ten.

Sunday’s SCTAC (Donaldson) RR was fun for the team as well.  We were active at the front with numerous attacks and counter attacks from the start.  The guys rode well up front, covering the early moves and making sure we were present in most of the groups.  Hincapie Devo mentor, Neil Browne found himself in the most aggressive move of the day late in the race, garnering a strong third place finish.  Parker covered the next group that attempted to bridge to the leaders, and the rest of us covered the field.  Justin and Randy scored 10th and 12th place respectively to go along with Parker’s eighth place finish in the chase group.  Overall, it was a great weekend for the entire team.  Well done, men.

Images by Eddie Helton