TIBCO’s Kiesanowski wins Sea Otter’s Circuit Race in 2-up sprint

Posted on 19. Apr, 2009 by stephanie in race

After back to back second place finishes at the Sea Otter Classic, Jo Kiesanowski (Team TIBCO) broke through with a tight sprint win against Catherine Cheatley (Colavita/Sutter Home) in Saturday’s Circuit Race.

Jo Kiesanowski (TIBCO) wins Sea Otter Circuit Race

“Colavita riders were sitting on me,’ stated Kiesanowski. “They have a couple of really good sprinters and that was their tactic. They did not have to work with me because they would have been happy with a sprint finish. I was determined to get them. Emma (Rickards) attacked 3 times with three laps to go and then I countered at the top of the hill.”

Jo Kiesanowski (TIBCO) and Cath Cheatley (Colavita/Sutter Home) in late break

Cheatley followed Kiesanowski ‘s attack with two laps to go.

“SugarCRM were really aggressive at the beginning of the race and there was a Vanderkitten rider that tried to break away,” stated Cheatley. “The final laps became laps of attrition. The laps were getting harder and harder and were affecting everyone. It appears that TIBCO had a similar race plan. Me and Jo got a gap in the last lap. We had Tina (Pic) in the pack ready to go.“

SugarCRM and Vanderkitten put in an early attack

TIBCO team: Alison Rosenthal, Emma Rickards, Jo Kiesanowski and Rushlee Buchanan

TIBCO executed their game plan to perfection. “The four of us worked better and better each day as shown by our results,” shared Kiesanowski. “ We definitely had a race plan that we stuck to and it worked. We did it exactly how we said we were going to do before the race. We totally executed it and won.”

“TIBCO played it well and with Jo getting those 2 second places, I am sure she was thinking that she had enough of that,” commented third place finisher Tina Pic (Colavita/Sutter Home). “We really had a good weekend.”

Tina Pic (Colavita/Sutter Home) gets 3rd

Colavita/Sutter Home had a very successful Sea Otter Classic with victories by Kelly Benjamin in Thursday’s Criterium and Tiffany Cromwell in Friday’s Road Race. The team held 4 out of the 5 podium spots on Friday and 3 out of the 5 spots on Saturday.

Complete results here

Tags: cath cheatley, colavita-sutter home, Jo Kiesanowsk, sea otter, tibco, tina pic