OBee wins second career USPro National Criterium Champions

O’Bee finished second in the race in a photo finish with Canadian Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefit Strategies), but as the top American, earned the right to wear the jersey during criteriums for the next year. Shawn Milne of Health Net Presented by Maxxis finished third in the race.

“The rain had a pretty dramatic effect on the race,” noted Health Net Presented by Maxxis directeur sportif Jeff Corbett. “Our strategy was to avoid crashes, keep it upright and save a bit of gas for later in the race.”

The strategy worked well, with Tim Johnson and Rory Sutherland covering moves, and Doug Ollerenshaw hunting for a break to join.

O’Bee noted that the race was fast from the gun, with the peloton strung out for much of the 62-lap, 100 km criterium. “I wasn’t able to make my way up to the front until there were 25 laps to go,” he said.

Despite losing their main threat for the race, Dave McCook, Kelly Benefits was still motivated. With 12 laps to go, they took over on the front of the bunch and began working for Gilbert.

“Kelly did a great lead-out,” O’Bee said, “but they ran out of guys with about one lap to go.”

At that point, Darren Lill (Navigators) and Dominique Rollin (KodakGallery-Sierra Nevada) were off the front, though Kelly Benefits had brought the gap down to around five seconds.

From there, Health Net Presented by Maxxis took over, with Frank Pipp hitting the front and shutting down the break for good. “Frank did a great job closing the gap,” O’Bee noted.

Big Tasmanian Karl Menzies took the reins from Pipp and hit the gas. “He was going so hard he nearly dropped me,” O’Bee said. “I just tried to follow him.”

But Gilbert was also there, and made it first to the final hard-left turn with 150 meters to go.

“I was right behind Gilbert, but maybe I was a bit too conservative going through the corner,” O’Bee recalled. “I knew I had the jersey since Gilbert was Canadian and I had Shawn on my wheel. I just didn’t want to wash out.”

O’Bee’s caution gave Gilbert four or five bike lengths coming out of the turn, the same gap O’Bee had on Milne. O’Bee kicked it and closed the gap, but in the bike throws on the line, Gilbert held on for the win by just the width of a tire.

Though O’Bee was happy to have won the jersey, he felt a bit disappointed over not winning the race. “Everyone worked so hard today,” he said. “I’m really proud of the guys. They were selfless. Karl was unbelievable the last 10 laps. He kept me out of the crashes. He definitely had the legs to win today, too.

“I had really good legs as well coming in this week,” O’Bee continued. “It’s really disappointing not to get the win after the guys worked so hard.”