Marshall Brings Home the Chris Lillig/Old Capitol Criterium Omnium Cup

Harvest Racing had a strong weekend at the Chris Lillig Memorial/Old Capitol Criterium Omnium in Iowa City. Thanks again to the Trek Bicycle Stores of Omaha for supplying luxury team transportation in the Sprinter van. The added time working on strategy together really paid off.

You’ve gotta see what our lodging was like for this weekend. The whole trip was a real adventure.

Chris Lillig Memorial Road Race

The team was greeted with cold temps, heavy rain and high winds for stage one. The heavy rains concluded shortly before the race, but winds were turbulent as the front pushed through. The rains stayed away throughout the remainder of the race, but there was considerable amounts of standing water and road spray to contend with as well. Mark Savery jumped into a break early in the first lap of four. The group of three stayed away for ten miles before Jordan Ross jumped across. The group of four continued to push on until the Mercy team, unrepresented in the break, went to the front to pull it back. With just under a lap to go Paul Webb joined a late move again forcing Mercy to take up the chase again. The break was eventually brought back and after a flurry of late attacks, Matt Tillinghast went to the front and set-up a perfect finish for the squad by keeping a high tempo at the front before turning it over to Savery for the final lead-out. Lucas Marshall won the sprint, and was followed home by Jordan Ross and Paul Webb for a Harvest podium sweep.

Chris Lillig Memorial Time Trial

One of the biggest surprises of the weekend was Savery’s dominance in the time trial, taking top honors in the windy 13 mile effort. Savery’s individual race was accomplished while spinning a diminutive 50 tooth chain ring, unorthodox compared to the typical low cadence/big chain rings (53t-55t) favored by most time trial specialists. “Back in the day, I was a GC contender because of my time trialling, but this effort even surprised me. I guess my stage race legs are coming back” Savery said afterwards. Marshall and Ross also had strong TTs, finishing second and fourth respectively. 

Old Capitol Criterium

The squad rode a near flawless race at the Old Capitol Criterium. After Matt Tillinghast and Greg Shimonek chased down several attacks early on, a late break of two managed to get away in the final laps of the race. In the end, the Harvest team won the field sprint with Ross, Savery, Marshall, and Webb going 3-4-5-7 in the race.

Overall, the team maintained Marshall’s position in the omnium, bringing home the crystal winner’s cup. Ross finished second overall, Savery (4th), Webb (6th) of the ten cash spots.