Rock'n at Rock Hill

On a cold, blustery morning, nine BMW-Bianchi women toed the line at the Patriot's Trail Road Race with one intention: to win!  With 30mph winds and rough roads, the race was extremely tough.  Robin Kavan of BBC opened it up in the first few miles with an attack and was followed by BMW-Bianchi's Cara McCauley.  That move got the chill out of the peloton's legs, and a flurry of attacks followed before the group turned into the headwind and came back together.  On the rolling hills of the southern leg of the route, another attack went with containing BMW-Bianchi's Katharine Carroll in her debut with the team.  The break gained nearly 30 seconds on the pack while sheltered by dense woods, but wouldn't commit to 65 more miles in the front when they hit the open fields and gusty winds.  The key move of the day would be made by two ex-Genesis Scuba riders, Iona Wynter (Forum) and Leigh Valetti (Travel Girl), followed by BMW-Bianchi's Patty Shoaf and Velo Voo Doo's Cathy Connell.  The break was initiated a few miles before the course turned into the strong tailwind, and once the four turned that corner, their lead ballooned from 30 seconds to well over two minutes.  By the end of the race, the gap had grown to over seven minutes!  The four riders battled the wind and terrain for the next 50 miles, but in the end there was no stopping Shoaf who outsprinted the rest to repeat her 2004 win in this race.  Back in the field, her teammates shut down every attack with their strength in numbers until Defeet's Gabi Hauck leapt free with several miles to go to take 5th, marked by Mandy Lozano who took 6th.  Katharine Carroll then took her turn to ride away from the pack to get 7th as the field finished just behind, shattered from this long, tough race.