The Nature Valley Grand Prix concluded Sunday in the 60-minute Stillwater Criterium, a loop with a demanding climb in the middle of it. The 2009 Nature Valley race was a six-stage, five-day race that began last Wednesday morning with an individual Time Trial. Jelly Belly riders Wil Routley took 15th and=2 0Bernard van Ulden grabbed 8th that morning. The second stage happened later that day in the Downtown St. Paul Criterium, where Jonny Clarke took 19th, Van Ulden took 17th, Jeremy Powers took 13th, Routley grabbed 7th and Brad Huff took 4th. Routley also took 2nd in the 3rd Sprint of the day.
Stage three finally gave the climbers some attention in the 64-mile Cannon Falls Road Race. It was here that defending Climbing Champion Nick Reistad placed in all=2 0three Sport Beans sponsored climbs, in 2nd, 3rd and 3rd, respectively. There was only one Sprint, but Kiel Reijnen grabbed 2nd in that competition. At the end of the day Van Ulden took 12th and Huff ended in 6th.
Stage four’s Uptown Minneapolis Criterium was a short 1-km loop with six tight corners and a wide 1-block straightaway to the finish line. After this fast and furious finish Jelly Belly finally got a place on the podium when Huff took 2nd place.
Stage five was another road race in Mankato Minnesota. This was a long and hard 86-mile race which took it’s toll on many teams. Jelly Belly pulled the pack for a while but in the end, other teams used their lead out to their advantage. At the end of this stage Van Ulden took 12th and Kiel took 19th, however Powers was able to get ahead in the 2nd Sprint of the day and claimed 3rd there.
The week ended with the Stillwater Criterium. For the overall climbers Riestad was 9th and for Sprints Huff was 5th. At the end of this stage Powers took 18th, Kiel took 17th, Bernard was 11th and Will took 8th. For the GC Powers was in 18th, Kiel was in 17th, Bernard, who said he wanted to place in the top ten in the GC when the race began on Wednesday, achieved his goal in 8th place, and Will was in 7th. The Team placed 3rd overall in the GC out of 24 teams.
“With the new NRC rankings coming out at the end of the week, it should put Jelly Belly Cycling into 5th overall,” said Team Director Danny Van Haute. “This is what we set out to do in the months of May and June, to place the Jelly Belly Cycling Team back on the top of the leader board of the NRC rankings. The team has been racing very well in the last four races. Things are coming along very well leading up to the National Championships and the Tour of Missouri in the next few months.”
-Molly Saunders
PR Jelly Belly Pro Cycling
2009 Stories
Jelly Belly tackles Nature Valley’s obstacles head-on
