Race Report Writer: Salvatore Talarico
Race: Bariani Road Race 3/4
Date: Sunday, March 16, 2025
LGBRC racers: Salvatore Talarico, Dan Scannell, Huang-Ming (Elvis) Wu
Top Results: Salvatore (4th -> relegated to 5th), Dan (13th), Elvis (DNF).
Course: 60 miles race composed of 3 laps with lots of flat and a small punchy climb toward the end followed by 2Km of rollers before crossing the finishing line
Strava: https://www.strava.
Event Recap: Many of us were quite concerned about coming to the race today, as until a few days ago rain showers were forecasted. However, the cycling gods gave as much better: a super windy day with guts that averaged 20/25 mph and maximum up to 30mph. This course is normally considered a hard race, but today was INSANELY hard especially for those that unfortunately got dropped along the way, and this may explain the large number of DNF among the 350+ participants across all categories.
Given the wind, the race started super hard and fast from the beginning as the plan from a lot of teams was to isolate riders earlier and thin the field very quickly, while attempting a breakaway. Given the experience from the Snelling RR, where 5 guys (also present today) were able to go into a breakaway, I decided to stay in the front positions from the start to bridge and join a breakaway if this will form. After the first lap, the peloton had already split into half with me and Dan being in the front group. While I was taking a break and resting, one guy from DolceVita and one from CycleSport decided to go into a breakaway, and their teams as per the cycling manual helped to block the peloton and form a large gap, which quickly became large enough and impossible for an individual to bridge. At that point, I thought it would be a good idea to return to the front positions as I was expecting more to join. Just a few minutes later, one other racer from CycleSport, one from Lamorinda and two from DolceVita surged to form a new breakaway. At that point as I was in a good position, I decided to join the party with two more DolceVita racers. The second breakaway formed and fortunately I was inside it (4 DolceVita, 1 LGBRC, 1 CycleSport and 1 Lamorinda). For almost an hour we collaborated well and hammered to form a gap which at some point reached almost 3 minutes (info from the marshall on the bike), while we were 45 seconds away from the two guys that started their breakaway earlier. At that point, DolceVita and CycleSport pulled off the plug as they did not want to hammer anymore as their intention was not to merge the two breakaways so that they could ensure 1st and 2nd place. DolceVita started also to play games and planned how to isolate the rest of the small group as they had 4 racers and we were only 10/15 miles away from the finishing line. As I sensed what was coming, and I knew that I could not drop them myself on the flat, I decided to stop pulling and to attack as hard as possible only the small climb toward the end (only chance I had against bigger racers that would be able to go faster than me on the flat): at around 3 miles away from the finishing line when the short climb started I went in front and I was able to break the group and only two other racers were able to follow (Andrew from Cyclesport and German from DolceVita), while the others got a large gap which got even larger on the last 2 Kms of flat terrain as the headwind/crosswind largely intensified making that part feel like more like a climb. Once I reached the 300 feet mark, I knew this race would be decided at the sprint, and with all the strength I could find I crossed the line in 4th place in a super windy finish.
When I stopped, I was quite proud and happy as these types of races are not really meant for someone as light as myself. However, while I was reaching the car to warm up, I got stopped by a race official: the official told me that they decided to relegate me from 4th to 5th place as German from DolceVita complained about my sprint and argued that I did not go straight and moved on the left causing him to break as he overlapped with my rear wheel (while he stayed there for 1 km to maximize the draft): as explained to the race official it was a windy day with cross wind during the sprint, and taking a straight line was not an option for me (especially as my weight is only ~60Kg). On top of this German got his face in the wind only 5 meters away from the finishing line and I am quite confident he would not have beaten me as I had a bike length advantage. Furthermore, the right part of the road was fully empty and on the left there was 1 more meter of road, and he could have passed me there. Anyway, despite the verbal complaints the race official decided to relegate me 🙁 While I am still planning to send a formal complaint to the cycling federation as I still beleive my relegation is totally unfair, I am quite happy for my result and glad for another great day on the bike!