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Team Updates

Tour de bowness 2009

Team H&R Block-Kona riders came into the Tour de Bowness with high hopes of defending both the overall title as well as the provincial crit title. The criterium event has always attracted strong fields. However, the addition of a hill climb and road race over the past few years has upped the competition even further.

Saturday’s hill climb stated well for the team. Some stormy weather gave riders a nice tailwind up the climb which allowed for very fast times.  Dustin clocked the second fastest time on the night narrowly missing out on the win. Chris also had a strong night and found himself in fourth. These podium places gave the team some much needed omnium points.

Stage two also serves as the Alberta provincial criterium championships which added some extra motivation for the guys. The race was fairly aggressive however no major breaks were allowed to stay clear. Chris, Dustin, Charlie and Aaron were particularly active on the front of the race keeping things really fast at the end for the bunch sprint. Chris left Mark in good position coming out of the last corner and that was all he needed. Mark was able to outsprint the competition and retain his provincial title. Everyone was really excited for a great team victory!

Going into the last stage the team chose to focus more on the stage win rather than the overall as it was almost out of reach. The road race was shortened to about 70km which made for a very different race dynamic. The attacks came early and hard. H&R Kona was represented in the first few breaks but eventually missed one of the key moves. This put the team on defense early and the guys spent a lot of time chasing. Eventually the chasing caught up to them and a dangerous break was able to establish without any H&R Kona’s. The race ended with Mark in fifth and Chris, Dustin, Charlie and Gideon in the same group.

The overall standings ended with Chris in 7th, Dustin in 6th and Mark in 4th. Despite the setbacks in the road race the team raced well together. Especially during the crit. It was a real team win that can hopefully be repeated in the road race a couple weeks from now.