Kaos Makes Repeat Visits To Podium In Tour De Husker

Team Kaos hammered through wind and cool weather in the Tour de Husker race weekend to garner podium finishes in all three events.

Kaos’ Kevin Limpach took first place in the Cat. 1-2-3 road race, followed by Kaos’ Chris Spence in second and Kaos’ Jarred Berger in third. Limpach broke away early in the race with teammates behind him blocking the peloton from bridging. Spence and Berger worked to corral Ian Robertson (Flatwater Cycling) which allowed Limpach to cross the finish line with an 18-second lead. He finished the 59-mile course in two hours and 37 minutes, an average speed of 21.65 mph. Spence and Berger followed in a furious sprint. Kaos’ Joe McWilliams followed a few minutes later, about two minutes in front of the main pack, which include Kaos racers Marc Walter, Vaughn Pierce and James O’Donnell.

In the Cat. 4 race, Kaos’ Jordan Ross took fourth place in a breakaway quartet of strong riders comprising teams such as Midwest Cycling and Central Plains Cycling. Kaos’ Travis Furman crossed the line four minutes later in sixth place. Kaos’ Rich Pearson crashed on the second lap but managed to hold ninth place after a 15-mile solo effort.

Gusts only strengthened later in the day as the start time neared for the time trial, which had many racers questioning their wind-catching disc wheels. Despite the wind, Berger blasted a 34:37 time in the 15-mile loop, averaging 26 mph. The effort got him first place. Spence came in 51 seconds later for second place. Walter and Limpach capped the Kaos showing with fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Kaos’ Cat. 4 contingent garnered second, fourth and sixth places with finishes by Ross, Furman and Pearson, respectively.

On day two, the criterium turned out a duel between Flatwater’s Robertson and Limpach. Limpach, trying to dig into a minute-and-a-half deficit on the general classification standings, broke away for a solo effort. Two others were able to bridge to him and the trio quickly gained a 30-second gap, with Robertson giving chase at the head of the peloton. But the chase group suffered while the trio stretched their gap. McWilliams sprinted away to gain 10 seconds on his own. Meanwhile, Limpach squeaked by the two others in his group in a first place effort decided by inches. McWilliams soloed across for fourth place and the main group sprinted in with Robertson taking fifth, Pierce taking sixth and Spence taking seventh.

The Cat. 4 criterium field splintered early, but Pearson, Ross and Furman stayed with the front group. In the final sprint, Ross took third, Furman took sixth and Pearson took 10^th.

The overall general classification finishes for Kaos out of 14 finishers:

CAT. 1-2-3:

Berger – first

Spence – second

Limpach – fourth

Walter – sixth

McWilliams – eight

O’Donnell – 10^th

Pierce – 12th

Cat. 4 (22 finishers):

Ross – second

Furman – fourth

Pearson – sixth

The racing was held April 16 and 17 for the third annual Tour de Husker at Branched Oak State Park and Lincoln Southwest High School.

Team Kaos scores 2nd 4th, 5th and 6th in season opener.

Team Kaos started the Nebraska/Iowa road racing season off with a bang at the 3rd annual Twin Bing Classic in aptly named Climbing Hill Iowa. The hills and cool weather make it one of the toughest early season races Thanks to Bill Feiges and the rest of Sioux City Velo for putting on a very organized event.

Here are some excerpts of what 2nd place finisher Marc Walter had to say:

"After a slow start into the headwinds I was hanging out in the pack watching for attacks. Knowing that the crosswind section was coming up I wanted to make sure I was around teammates. This is a classic strategy to blow up a field--get the team in an echelon, stretching across the road and not letting others in. What happened next was very unexpected. I followed the wheel of Clark Priebe of Trek and soon we had rolled off the front. We caught one other guy up the road and started rotating. Right before the crosswind section, I looked back, and was amazed that the pack wasn’t there. Clark and I upped the pace but the other guy didn’t rotate, and on the tailwind hilly section we dropped him. Clark was taking strong pulls up the hills and I thought I could not last. Knowing I had a strong team behind and so did Clark I backed off. The group gained on me and at one point I thought I was going to get caught."

"As I topped the big hill, I figured the group would be on my tail, but when I turned around on the descent they weren’t there. Soon Jerome Rewerts, of team Zealous, bridged up. We were 2 minutes ahead of the pack and 1 minute behind Clark. Soon afterwards we picked up Clark and the pace picked up. I knew the teams must be covering and not letting the group pick up the pace. Now it was just a matter of settling in and maintaining the nutrition/hydration to avoid cramps."

"The next time up the hill, we dropped Clark. Jerome and I waited a bit at the bottom for Clark, but Clark wasn't there, so we pressed on."

"In the headwind section we maintained a smooth rhythm, rotating through. When we got to the tailwind it was time to just roll it over the tops trying not to push the power. This was the last lap and either we start attacking each other or sprint it out."

"The mile long hill finish was up next, with a big headwind. With 1k to go Jerome took the lead. With 300 meters I put it in one gear harder, got up out of the saddle, and bogged down. As I shifted again a small gap opened and Jerome saw that, shifted into a bigger gear and beat me by 2 bike lengths."

"As we watched the finish of the main group, it was great to see my teammates Kevin Limpach, Jared Berger, and Chris Spence come in 4th, 5th and 6th. Team Kaos is a very cohesive bunch of guys to race with. The Specialized bike equipment from JoyRide Bicycles is top notch along with all the sponsorship investment that goes into making this team work."

Other Kaos starters in the A group were Vaughn Pierce and Joe McWillams but they did not finish.

In the B group the Kaos plan was to get Jordon Ross across in a high finish, but he was overeager and spent too much time in front at the beginning. Most of the 71 riders stayed together for the entire 48 miles with a few bursts of speed interspersed with sections where the pace slowed to a crawl. The final tailwind/cosswind section blew the pack apart into several groups. Ross, Matt O'Donnell, Andrew Keffer, and Mark Weitzel stayed in the main pack all the way to the finish, but Rich Pearson got caught out when a gap opened up. The final result: Jordon Ross 8th, Matt ODonnell 11th, Mark Weitzel 13th, Andrew Keffer 15th, Rich Pearson 20th.

But while all that was going on Team Kaos did get a winner in the juniors race: 16 year old Mark Heubner snagged his first win over 9 other juniors over a 24 mile course. Only 3 of them were actually rotating through and Mark was able to easily outpower the others on the big hill.

Overall it was a great race. Everyone thought the course was very challenging. Hopefully Team Kaos will do even better next year.

Next up: Le Tour de Husker in Lincoln.

More reports coming on the opening Mountain bike race last weekend and Matt Farnhams collegiate races.