Tag Archives: nature valley bicycle festival

Nature Valley Grand Prix – Stage 6, Stillwater, MN | Moses Images | Matthew Moses

By admin | Published June 18, 2012

Well the 6th and final stage of the Nature Valley Grand Prix came to a close. The women’s race saw Carmen Small’s Optum team deliver her to the finish as the Nature Valley Grand Prix Champion. Carmen and her team managed to keep in her yellow throughout the entire event and it came as no surprise that Optum also took the team title as well as, the Sport Beans Queen of the Hill competition won by teammate Jade Wilcoxson. On the men’s side Mother Nature again brought rain to the event with a light rain turned to a steady downpour as the race came to an end. Tom Zirbel keep all his competitors close and is now able to call himself the Nature Valley Grand Prix Champion. His team did a lot of work at the front of the race and it showed with Optum earning the overall team title. You couldn’t really ask for more from the Optum team after taking home the race win and team win for both the women and men.

One additional award was given out before the start of the women’s event. It is the Carla Swart Sportsmanship Award. The recipient of the award is voted on by the women’s peloton and in Stillwater that rider receives the award in honor of the teamwork Carla Swart displayed during her tragically short career. The 2012 winner chosen by her peers was Anna Barensfeld of the Optum team.

Posted in Sports | Also tagged Carmen Small, criterium, cycling, Matthew Moses, Minnesota, minnesota bike festival, Moses Images, nature valley grand prix, Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies, stillwater, Tom Zirbel Leave a comment

NVGP Stage 6 – Stillwater Criterium – Stillwater, MN

By admin | Published June 20, 2011

Well the 2011 Nature Valley Grand Prix is now in the books. Some great racing in Stillwater gave us Amber Neben (HTC Highroad) and Jesse Anthony (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Optum Health) as our overall winners. From the photographer perspective it was a great event to photograph, plenty of emotion and exciting action. Will be interesting to see what next year brings. Here’s the final race gallery from stage 6 in Stillwater. Over the next few days I’ll process a larger subset of files to round of the coverage of this year’s event. Thanks for looking and the comments I’ve received.

Posted in Sports | Also tagged Amber Neben, criterium, cycling, HTC Highroad, jesse anthony, Kelly Benefit Stratgies-Optum Health, Minnesota, nature valley grand prix, stage 6, stillwater Leave a comment

Sunday at the 2011 Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic – Blaine, MN

By admin | Published June 13, 2011

The final day of racing at the Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic brought tempo, handicap, team sprint and madison racing.

Men’s Team Spring – Kevin Mansker, Michael Blatchford, and Daniel Walker (Project London 2012) won the team sprint in a time of 48.07

Women’s Team Sprint – Cristin Walker (Momentum Coaching Group p/b Atomic) and Maddie Godby (enCompass Racing) posted the fastest time.

Women’s Handicap – Cristin Walker (Momentum Coaching Group p/b Atomic) takes the win.

Men’s Tempo – Much like the Saturday Miss and Out, Colton Barrett (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Optum Health) and Franco Marvuilli (Assos) battled for the win. Ultimately Marvuilli finished with the most points.

Women’s Madison – Jennifer Tripplet (Broadmark Capital Cycling Team) and Valerie Brostrom (Bouledogue Tout Noir) perform and exchange after having lapped the field for the first time in route to their first place finish.

Men’s Madison – Dan Harm (Broadmark Capital Cycling Team) is thrown into the race by his partner Zachary Kovalcik (Diamond Law Cycling) at the same time Franco Marvuilli (Assos) is thrown in by Ryan Sabga (Black Dog Professional Cycling). Harm and Kovalcik took the most points in the 100 lap event to win with Marvuilli and Sbaga finishing second.

Posted in Sports | Also tagged American Track Racing Association, atra, blaine, Colton Barrett, Cristin Walker, cycling, Dan Harm, Daniel Walker, Franco Marvuilli, Jennifer Tripplet, Kevin Mansker, Michael Blatch, minnesota fixed gear classic, MN, mnfgc, Ryan Sabga, track, Valerie Brostrom, Zachary Kovalcik Leave a comment

Saturday at the 2011 Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic – Blaine, MN

By admin | Published June 12, 2011

Saturday was a marathon session at the track, we finished up the events postponed from Friday night and then completed all of the Saturday schedule as well.

Women’s Miss and Out Final – Won by Shelley Olds (Diadora-Pasta Zara)

Men’s Miss and Out Final – Colton Barrett (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Optum Health) and Franco Marvuilli (Assos) sprinting for the line, Barrett held on to win.

Women’s Sprint – Cristin Walker (Momentum Coaching Group p/b Atomic) defeated Maddie Godby (enCompass Racing) in two rides

Mens Keirin Final – Matt Baranoski (Pure Energy Cycling) attempts to hold off eventual winner Kevin Mansker (Project London 2012) with his teammate Michael Blatchford (Project London 2012) taking 3rd.

Men’s Scratch Race Final – Franco Marvuilli (Assos) off the front of the field on the last lap to take the win.

Men’s 200m Sprint Qualifying sees the track record broken. Kevin Mansker (Project London 2012) set a new mark of 10.50 seconds.

Women’s Scratch Race Final – Megan Hottman (Primal) out sprints Shelley Olds (Diadora-Pasta Zara) for the win.

Men’s Sprint Final saw Kevin Mansker (Project London 2012) win in two rides over his teammate Michael Blatchford (Project London 2012)

Women’s Keirin Final – Cristin Walker (Momentum Coaching Group p/b Atomic) wins with Maddie Godby (enCompass Racing) taking second.

Men’s Point Race – Franco Marvuilli (Assos) checks over his shoulder for other riders before a point sprint

Men’s Point Race – A late race break (Martin Vecchio, Dan Harm, Brian Cosby, and Chad Hartley) gets away but Franco Marvuili (Assos) held on for the win from the earlier points sprints.

Posted in Sports | Also tagged American Track Racing Association, atra, blaine, Brian Crosby, Chad Hartley, Colton Barrett, Cristin Walker, cycling, Dan Harm, Franco Marvuilli, Kevin Mansker, Maddie Godby, Martin Vecchi, Matthew Baranoski, Megan Hottman, Michael Blatchford, Minnesota, Shelley Olds, track Leave a comment

Friday Night at the 2011 Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic – Blaine, MN

By admin | Published June 11, 2011

The Minnesota Fixed Gear Classic got underway this evening with a partial program due to a rain cancelation. The track event is the start of the Nature Valley Bicycle Festival and the second stop on the ATRA National Championship Series. The early part of the race program consisted of qualifying heats for the Keirin, Sprint, and Super Sprint. Here’s a photo sampling from some of the early race action…