Nebraska Cycling News

Photo courtesy Dan Farnham

Farnham, an Elkhorn native and University of Nebraska-Lincoln student, outsprinted Bianchi/Grand Performances' Terry Beenken of Mankato, Minn., (both pictured at left) at the end of the 66-mile race near the Mt. Michael Benedictine High School campus.

Farnham then added to his lead in the afternoon time trial by finishing seventh in the six-mile individual race. His teammate, Jarred Berger, won the time trial to move from fifth to fourth overall. Clark Priebe of Team Mack Racing in Springfield, Ill., is third.

Farnham needs only to safely finish today’s criterium to earn the overall win at the two-day, three-stage race. Competition begins at 8:15 a.m. and continues through 4 p.m. on a half-mile, triangle-shaped course near 17th and Howard. Today’s races double as the Nebraska State Criterium Championships.

After the first two stages of the 2006 Dave Babcook Memorial Stage Race, results are available for download in a pdf format.

Complete Results

Sharp dressed man Jon Randall takes stage 4! Photo: Mike Madcharo

Beatrice, Neb. – Lincoln’s Jon Randall of Lincoln Plating-Lemond won the final stage of the inaugural Monumental Memorial Cycling Weekend as Micheal Grabinger of Spearfish, S.D., took the overall victory.

Micheal Grabinger takes GC. Photo John Peterson

“That’s the toughest day I’ve ever had in cycling,” Grabinger said. “I am kind of new at this, but I’ve never been in a race with winds like that. It was pretty brutal.”

The strong, steady winds that had plagued competitors in the race’s first two days subsided somewhat on Monday, though temperatures still reached into the low 90s.

Daniel Casper of Northfield, Minn., riding for GrandStay/Out N About Gear, finished second overall. Randall was third, 55 seconds behind Grabinger. The pair were part of a five-man breakaway that put more than seven minutes on the field in Sunday’s road race.

The overall standings remained unchanged after Monday’s criterium, despite aggressive racing by Team Kaos, which had three riders in the top 10 – but none in the top five - after a disasterous day on Sunday.

Team Fresh Start's Micheal Grabinger (second from left) helps drive the winning break in Sunday's late-afternoon road race.

Grabinger, an accomplished triathlete from Spearfish, S.D., who has competed in the Ironman Triathlon World Championship, averaged 28 mph in winning the 20-mile time trial by 29 seconds over Grandstay/Out N About Gear’s Daniel Casper.

About three hours later, Grabinger was one of five riders who escaped the field in a breakaway that finished with a lead of more than eight minutes. But he wasn’t content to just gain time – he outsprinted his breakaway companions to easily take the win.

“We all worked pretty hard together,” Grabinger said of the winning break that earned him a handful of bonus seconds to add to his lead heading into Monday’s 75-minute criterium. Casper is 36 seconds behind on general classification and Lincoln Plating-Lemond’s Jon Randell is third, 1:05 back.

Betsy Cordes (left) of Team Giant/Black Hills Domestiques, narrowly outsprints Silver Cycling Hollywood Racing's Linda Sone for the victory. Photo: Mike Madcharo

In the women's race, a much closer battle has emerged. Betsy Cordes retains an eight-second lead over Linda Sone after the two sprinted for the win in Saturday's road race. Sone won Saturday's road race, But Cordes came back Sunday morning to win the time trial by 53 seconds. Team Kaos' Morgan Chaffin is third overall, more than 18 minutes behind Cordes.

Click here to see race results after Stage Three.