After a hard-fought battle at the criterium national championships, the Jelly Belly p/b Kenda riders are off for a few weeks to train for the road and time trial championships in September.
Daniel Holloway of the Bissell team placed fourth at criterium nationals — behind three foreign riders. But as the first American to cross the line, he won the crit champion’s jersey.
Jelly Belly team director Danny Van Haute said the first part of the race went well for his squad, with riders getting into breakawys and protecting sprinter Brad Huff. Jelly Belly riders Mike Friedman and Bernard van Ulden got in the one break that stayed away, with Friedman getting caught right at the end.
“We had some mistakes that cost us the race, and at this level when you make those mistakes you’re always playing catch up,” Van Haute said. “It hurts us in the long run.”
But the season not over yet. Next up are the USA Cycling road and time trial national championships in Greenville, S.C., on Sept. 18-19.
“The team has done alot of racing internationally and nationally these last six months, so the approach to time trial and road nationals is to train at home, get some good rest and homemade cooking for the next 3-1/2 weeks,” Van Haute said.
The team is coming off some strong racing: Kiel Reijnen, third at the Tour of Qinghai Lake, and Mike Friedman, fourth at the Tour of Elk Grove.
“For the time trial nationals, we will count on Mike and Bernard to be on the podium. They both have a good chance to be in the top three,” Van Haute said. “In the road race we have many possibilities to win. We’ll have to be alert at all times in the race and make no mistakes.
“If we do this, we will have a rider on the podium again two days in row.”
