Nebraska Cycling News

Team Monkey Wrench's Sydney Brown cruised to victories in the women's Category IV time trial and road race. Photo by Mike Madcharo.

Raymond, Neb. -

Schmidt joined Team Kaos' Jordan Brash and Krause (Trek of KC) on a break seven miles into the 46.5-mile race around Branched Oak Lake State Recreation Area. It was a bold move so early in the race - which was run under sunny skies with temperatures in the low 80s and a breeze blowing out of the north.

“I knew not too many people would chase us unless their teammates (in the pack) weren't thinking," Schmidt said, referring to the presence in the break of two of the state’s strongest teams, Lincoln-Plating-Lemond and Team Kaos.

By the start of the second lap, the trio had built a two-minute lead, which eventually peaked at nearly three minutes. At that point, Schmidt said, the cohesiveness of the break began to evaporate.

"We were all getting tired," Schmidt said. "I told them, 'Guys we have to keep working until we take our last right hand turn. "

"Not long after that, we heard we were only up about a minute-and-a-half as we crossed the dam, so we started pulling hard again. No one missed a pull."

The renewed effort to raise the tempo put the lead back to 2:30 by the start of the last 11-mile lap. Not long after that, Brasch fell back and Krause and Schmidt forged on, riding together until the final 400 meters, when Schmidt sprinted ahead to pick up his first win of the season.