Joe Martin Stage Race 2012 Wrap-Up: PINK, GREEN, WHITE, and perhaps best of all, ORANGE.

The fourth and final stage of the Joe Martin Stage Race is a criterium on a course that I love: a few downhill sections and a great kicker and some tight, but not too tight, corners.

Optum Pro Cycling presented by Kelly Benefits Strategies successfully defended all 3 leader’s jerseys.  The jerseys switched hands a few times amongst our riders during the Joe Martin Stage Race

·          The pink leader’s jersey (or winner’s jersey, in other words) was passed from Carmen’s shoulders on to Jade Wilcoxson in the 4^th and final stage.  Carmen had also started out with the green points jersey, but the way our strategy played out, Jade also ended up in green at the end of the stage race.

·          Emma Grant began the stage race with the white jersey (for the best rider under 23 years of age) which was passed on to our teammate Courteney Lowe on day 2.  After riding up in the break for the 4^th and final stage, the jersey was passed back to Emma. 

·          We rode aggressive, sometimes we rode defensively (I can admit that I find that part significantly less fun then when we get to launch attacks like a wild storm of bombshells, but it’s part of the game).  Some of us went up the road and some of us stayed back to make sure the right people were chasing. 

I’m happy with the way the race turned out.  We all rode hard, we all rode strong, and we all did our jobs.  Our team director, Rachel Heal cooked up some excellent plans of attack, our mechanic Adrian Hedderman maintained our bikes in perfect condition and spruced up the leader’s bikes with matching bartape and barhoods, and our soigneur Jeremy Fliss helped us recover with primo massages after every race, and his notoriously excellent sandwiches.

Good job team, we got the pink jersey, the green jersey, the white jersey, and we’re all proud to have OPTUM ORANGE on our backs!