| 07/03/2005 | Despite having led the general classification at the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic since Ben Jacques-Maynes' win in Thursday's time trial, the Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada Professional Cycling Team came up short of the overall win by the slimmest of margins in today's criterium in downtown Fitchburg.
Nonetheless, Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada posted its best National Racing Calendar performance to date this season: second, third, and fifth overall, plus a stage win from Jacques-Maynes.
Heading into the final stage, Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada's Dominique Perras and Tim Larkin occupied the top two G.C. positions, with Colavita-Sutter Home's Jonathan Page 10 seconds behind Perras in third.
However, a 10-second time bonus to the winner of the criterium combined with Perras' lack of a stage win meant that Page could equal Perras' time and take the overall win with a victory in the final stage.
That is exactly what happened, and Perras and Larkin slipped to second and third overall, with Ben Jacques-Maynes still fifth.
Perras was philosophical after the race: "I'm extremely disappointed of course, but Colavita-Sutter Home has a great criterium team and they beat us in a criterium. Still, the first three days at Fitchburg were our best days as a team this year, so that was definitely encouraging."
Looking ahead to Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada's upcoming races, Perras and Jacques-Maynes will contest the Canadian National Championships and the Cascade Classic as individuals, while the rest of the team will travel to Wisconsin for the International Cycling Classic, a.k.a. Superweek.
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