American Express - A Red Hook Milano Wrap Up

By LODOVICO PIGNATTI-MORANO
Milan, Italy

Photo: Roberto BozzaA lot of words were exhausted in the build-up to this race, and by the 11pm start time on Saturday the riders seemed almost speechless from the long-winded preparation. There was a notable silence on the front line. Dave Trimble’s decision regarding the 10 front row call-ups was accepted with barely a mutter of resentment.  One rider’s elbows vibrated in anticipation. Most Italians knew the course so well they could have probably held a blind-fold edition of the race with only speedometers that communicated in Braille to guide them.

Nice kit, Nate! Nathan Trimble | Photo: Roberto Bozza

The Milan course is far more flowing than that of Brooklyn, with less changes of speed required and the first laps evidenced this as a large selection of roughly 20 riders including all the favourites (bar Crihs Thorman – hole shot but eventually slipping back into the second and third groups) formed at the head of the race after a first couple of fast laps. Unlike in Brooklyn earlier this year where cold temperatures and high winds gave the race a desperate almost hysterical immediacy, the race here began quickly but pleasurably with a larger body of riders than ever before taking turns at the front; well-prepared riders seizing the opportunity to lead the race through a smooth, fast course which rewards precision and consistency through its more technical segments, rather than the constant aggression and daredevil handling of New York.

From there on in the agenda at the head of the group would be set primarily by a group of 6 riders in particular: Enrico Pezzetti, Tommaso Nolli, Neil Bezdek, Chas Christensen, Al Barouh, Francesco Martucci and Jon Ander Ortuondo. 

Chas Christensen | Photo: Francesco Rachello

The mid-part of the race was dominated by MASH’s Chas Christensen (who led the race through the finish line for a remarkable total of 5 laps) in sparkling form reminiscent of Gilbert at the Ardennes in 2010 (albeit with a better haircut and worse jewellery) – that is to say with the legs of a champion but an instinct to govern the race (to make it yours) which has not yet found its full maturity. Nevertheless, seeing Chas take the corner on the last roundabout on the 7^th lap is to see perhaps the most technically exhilarating moment of the race as he came to the front from 4 positions back on the slight downhill, going inside race leader Pezzetti and shooting through the corner to immediately open up a 10 meter gap.    

Enrico Pezzetti | Photo: Francesco Rachello

The ninth lap prime, however, was contested in a straight-up man-to-man sprint between two riders Pezzetti (‘his majesty’), the dangerous last-moment Italian addition to the race, and last year’s second place Neil Bezdek. Pezzetti pushed off the front and looked to be easing towards the gap when Bezdek, from about 6 wheels back squeezed through Pezzetti’s inside line in an enormous burst of speed.  After losing the sprint, Pezzetti, who had been actively closing any attacks off the front in a way which suggested something like overconfidence, steadied himself a moment, perhaps realising that the competition was more serious than initially anticipated, and played a quieter role for the last half of the race. 

Photo: Steven Smith

Lap speeds fluctuated during this period, no rider tried to force a further selection with any conviction, a somewhat negative attitude spread amongst the favourites who slunk silently to the middle of the group and began their waiting game.

Riccardo Perrego | Photo: Francesco Rachello

For a period Kacey Manderfield held the fastest lap time with a 02:17, equal to Jon Ander Ortoundo’s record from the previous year (eventually bettered by Neil Bezdek who significantly lowered the record with a 2:14 on a blistering last lap).

These fluctuations in speed offered a spectacle at the back, though, as riders struggled off the rear of the group, losing contact before gaining back meters thanks to the group’s lack of decisiveness. In particular Riccardo Perrego, so-called ‘Target’ for his single-minded enthusiasm for the race (‘he’s making himself a target’ Trimble said upon seeing him on successive nights out at the course practicing) rode out of his skin to the pleasure of his large fan base, losing contact and getting back on several times, eventually even managing to lead the race for a lap and a half in a gesture of ultimate panache.

Jon Ander Ortuondo | Photo: Francesco Rachello

Polemics abounded after the race as to the techniques of various riders, a mild conspiracy theory is currently doing the rounds of forums as the Italians speculate that the American riders’ use of skidding (a technique unseen the previous year in Milan, nor at Red Hook in March) was part of a pre-meditated accord struck the night previous outside a nightclub on Corso Como (subsequent to a certain wealthy rider’s ‘girl problems’) between key overseas riders to fluster the new serious single-minded incarnation of the Italian fixed-gear rider.

American riders, on the other hand, will tell you that the skids (more like short wheel blocks than skids) were the unwanted result of having to deal with a set of Italian riders who don’t know how to handle their track bikes through a corner (America’s best fixed gear riders stopped skidding their bikes about 3 years ago – Massan is not, as they’d have you believe, ‘so dialed’ but rather a pawn in elaborate export-only bluff).  

Tommaso Nolli | Photo: Roberto Bozza

The last few laps saw the Italians move to the front again, trying to shape the face of the race to their own image, Pezzetti and Tommaso Nolli (17 years old but already possessor of an envious race face – without a doubt one to watch in future editions of the race and hopefully also Brooklyn 2012) were two of the most visible, as was John Taki Theodoracopulos who lead the 4^th last lap, notably drinking easily from a water bottle while easing into a chicane.

The last lap was led through again by an insatiable Chas Christensen at the head of a group of 18 riders. He held this position up until the approach to the last roundabout where, spun-out and perhaps a little under-geared, he was passed by Neil Bezdek, Jon Ander Ortuondo, Al Barouh, Francesco Martucci, Danilo Borroni (his presence notable since he had been virtually invisible up until that point in the race, never closing a single gap or making himself in anyway present in the first 6 positions of the lead group).  

Francesco Martucci | Photo: Roberto Bozza

While this group of  5 riders flew cleanly through that last tight roundabout, just behind Chas Christensen, as predicted, sparks flew, to be precise the sparks of Enrico Pezzetti flew, as - probably trying to follow the group of favourites through - he found himself arriving into the corner too fast and overgeared (he rode the race’s largest ever gear - 51x14) he missed his braking point and with great dignity did not try to correct his line (close to impossible with a track bike, according to Trimble) and went off the course and out of contention for a sprint he was hotly tipped to dominate.

Coming out of the roundabout and through the easy right leading to the last corner, the group barely had time to get its bearings before Bezdek jumped early through the last corner, perhaps still with the lingering shame of being caught unawares last year - in a move almost identical to that which gave Ortuondo his victory in 2010. His old humiliator Jon Ander was the first to react and managed to close the gap, but was unable to go past him as Neil came through to win by 30cms with Al Barouh coming through for third, holding off a nearby Francesco Martucci, Italy’s highest finisher (replicating Basso’s result as highest placed Italian earlier that day in the Giro di Lombardia).

Neil’s race, won riding a piece of cycling history - the Cinelli Laser, had all the hallmarks of a rider who makes his breakfast, lunch and dinner from bike racing. In his refusal to try to blow the race apart any earlier and instead benefit from Italians eager to be in the mix and do the work for him, he was obstinate to that delicate verge of stupidity, to the point that he created a risk large enough to pay off, and he freshly accelerated away through the last corner for a long-awaited victory (two second places in a row were starting to feel like a burden for a rider of this calibre).  

Though he came second - reversing last year’s first to Neil’s second - it is impossible to overpraise the qualities of Jon Ander Ortuondo. This is a rider who had constantly been outgunned in training leading up to the race (by riders who finished well below him on race day) but who illustrated an unrivalled tactical awareness and mental endurance to punch well above the weight of his supposed form, pushing Neil right to the last meters of the race, and in doing so heavily distancing the rest of the field. 

Photo: Federico StanzaniAl Barouh rounded out the top three (taking his third consecutive third place at Red Hook) by easily distancing fourth place Francesco Martucci (who won everybody’s respect through an astute and immediate adaptation to the faster American style of cornering at the front of the race after a slightly volatile first few laps) and in doing so continued to deny Italy a podium spot on their home edition of the race though Martucci, as best placed Italian was awarded a plane ticket to New York to contest the next edition of the race where he can try to make an impact on the race’s viciously selective home course.

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