Fitchburg-Longsjo: Almonte Ready for Prime Time

Lewis Almonte’s 8th place in the opening time trial put him in pole position for all four stages of the Fitchburg-Longsjo Classic.

Lewis Almonte posted his best result in a national caliber event this pre-4th-of-July Weekend in Fitchburg, Ma. Lewis led CRCA JrDev’s first full-fledged stage race campaign, taking 8th in the TT, and 10th oveall after four days of racing. Connor Sallee finished the weekend in 25th, while Graham Lang, Evan Cooper and Pascual Caputy finished respectably mid-field. Ian Harris was DNF after two stages, fighting the side effects of 10 days on antibiotics.
On day one Lewis bested national team standouts including Carter Jones, fresh from Europe, the bulk of the Hot Tubes formation. From there on the task was about limiting losses. Stage Two saw a field sprint with Connor and Lewis tucked in neatly in 13th and 14th at “same time” as stage winner Andrew Goessling (Tieni Duro) of California. Saturday’s Wachusett Mountain Road Race was raced at Pro 1-2 speed as an early breakaway containing points leader Daiel Estevez (Hot Tubes) rode to a commanding lead. CRCA JrDev took command of the chase, with Pascual Caputy driving up the velocity on the climbs. The pack turned up the final climb with half its numbers. Lewis finished the day 16th place, 49 seconds behind stage winner Ben King (Hot Tubes). The team hit the final crit with tired legs and slack motivation. Nothing was sticking in the too-short 15 mile race, despite substantial efforts by Graham Lang and a herculean final lap lead out by Evan Cooper. Lewis crossed the line 21st, his 10th place on GC never in jeopardy.

“Dude, where’s my team?” Evan brought the pack to the final corner in the crit, but his efforts were in vain due to a lack of follow up.