Category: 2013 Road

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2013 Nationals Brief Recap

TTT – ND Men (Magro, Tilmans, Pratt, Snitzer) 7th place DII, 14 seconds off the podium over 21 miles up and down Antelope Island.

Crit – Magro in early break, suffers slow leak for last 30 minutes. Taken out of contention with O’Donnell avoiding crash on final lap. Pratt crashes hard with 1.5 to go in downtown Ogden.

RR – O’Donnell and Tilmans keep the field together for the first 60 flat miles around the Pineview reservoir. Deliver Snitzer and Magro to the base of the climb in good position. The two Irish riders both summit N Ogden Pass among the leaders and finish 12 and 14 respectively. Pratt fights through injury for 31st.

Individual Omnium – Magro 18

Team Omnium – Notre Dame 15

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Conference Championship 2013 Recap

South Bend, IN — Senior Joe Magro led the way for Notre Dame in the 2013 MWCCC Conference Championship, crossing  the finish line of Sunday’s downtown South Bend Criterium in 5th place after 15 kilometers in the lead. Magro attacked from a charging peloton with 20 minutes to go, bridging to a group of four, 5 seconds ahead of the field. With Magro doing huge turns on the front, the breakaway increased their lead to nearly 40 seconds over the chasing group and ND locked up a 3rd consecutive DII conference title at the finish.

How it happened

The weather may have been bleak in South Bend on Sunday morning, but the clouds burned away and the sun was shining for the Men’s A race at 1:15. Continue reading “Conference Championship 2013 Recap”

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Week 2 2013: @ Depauw

Greencastle, IN — On a frigid Saturday afternoon, through the snow glazed fields and around the frozen lakes of western Indiana, Notre Dame’s Men’s A team broke through the varsity barrier this weekend and scored its first ever mass start A victory in school history. Raising his arms in triumph at the conclusion of the 73 mile event, sophomore John Pratt accomplished what few non-scholarship athletes achieve in a collegiate cycling career, besting professional riders, national champions, and Olympians alike. Continue reading “Week 2 2013: @ Depauw”

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Week 1 2013: @ Lindsey Wilson

Columbia, KY — With 2 miles to go in the 75 mile race through south central Kentucky, the ND A-team of Joe Magro (Sr) and John Pratt (So) sat comfortably in an elite group composed of most of defending national champion Marian University’s team, as well as six riders from varsity program Lindenwood. A race which had started with a pedestrian tempo throughout the first hour was now completely shattered after 50 more miles of attack after attack through the wooded hills. Hitting the base of the final climb with 1 mile remaining, Pratt launched for the finish but was quickly overtaken by a charging field and faded to 18th by the line. Biding his time, Magro accelerated on the steepest portion of the climb and rode away from what remained of the group, finishing 9th on the day, 2 minutes behind the winning breakaway.

A promising start to a 2nd straight conference title defense, hundreds of hours of preparation were finally put to the test Continue reading “Week 1 2013: @ Lindsey Wilson”

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2013 Season Preview

2012 Review:

MWCCC

Team Ranking – 5 (1 D2)

Individual Ranking – Joseph Magro 11 (1 D2), John Pratt 29  (2 D2), Andrew O’Donnell 37 (4 D2), Douglas Ansel 43 (8 D2)

 National Championship

TTT: 11

Road Race: Nathaniel Lee 30, Joseph Magro 32, John Pratt 53

Criterium: Joseph Magro 35, John Pratt 41

Omnium: Joseph Magro 23

Key Losses: Nathaniel Lee, Brian Boyle

2013 Road

Returning Riders: Continue reading “2013 Season Preview”

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Blue Gold Race

South Bend — With 10 minutes remaining, Pat Handy (senior) and Tony Pratt (high school) held a fragile 20 second lead over the rest of the team. Never satisfied with 3rd place, John Pratt (sophomore) took off in pursuit of his brother, and gold teammate, and soon joined the leaders. Not far behind were Luke Tilmans (junior), Jim Snitzer (sophomore), and Joe Magro (senior) and this group of six quickly pulled over a minute clear to settle the race among themselves. Coming onto the backstretch with two laps to go, Snitzer, one of the strongest time trialists on the team, played his card for solo glory, but reaction from the remaining breakaway riders was swift. First making contact with, then launching himself up the road, J. Pratt entered the final lap seconds ahead of a charging Tilmans and recovering Snitzer. Following Tilmans across to Pratt, Snitzer pulled wide down the backstretch, separating briefly, but was again countered by Pratt. 100 meters from the line Tilmans drew even with the sophomore but was unable to close the final few inches, coming second to Pratt by half a wheel.

The third annual Blue Gold Race was held under a clear, blue, sky with a touch of Fall in the breeze. Over 20 athletes were at the start line, with many Freshman and first year Graduate students making their ND Cycling Debut. After an opening lap to preview the course, the flag dropped on ND’s 2012/2013 season and Andrew O’Donnell (phd), Brian Hurley (senior), Ryan Twardzik (freshman) and August Kunkel (junior) didn’t wait long to launch some early fliers. Rob Piscatelli (senior) even spent a lap off the front, but all were together nearly halfway through the 40 minute race. In the first serious attack of the day, Magro and Anthony Musso (freshman) pulled clear coming through the third turn and, 3 laps later, were joined by T. Pratt and Handy. Falling back to the field, Magro and Musso were overtaken by J Pratt as he bridged to the field, ultimately setting the stage for his victory. By a final tally, Gold team took the afternoon team prize by a close margin over Green, while Blue lagged behind.

It is clear ND’s sophomore class is already poised for an explosive spring road season, and some strong performances from new women Paige Handy (freshman), Emmy Kunce (freshman), and German Claudi Witzig (grad) have added a new dimension to an already dominant Midwestern power.