Mike Margarite 3rd at US Criterium Nationals!
Congrats to Mike for a great weekend of racing at Downer Grove. Margarite, generally designated as a long hilly road racer, makes a jump against the country’s best elite men taking the last podium spot. Stephan Kincaid finished a strong 7th and Hollenbach 13th.
The rain soaked course made for a dangerous tricky race. Margarite initiated the break after working his way up to the front riding solo for 3 of the 12 final laps of the 80k event. Mike was quickly joined by Justin England (Giant Strawberry), Paul Martin (Panther), and two more riders. “England started to sit on and I knew he was waiting for a moment to put in a late attack”, said Margarite of the finale tactics. “I kept it steady while Martin and I rolled through. Martin was still going full gas while I was keeping some in reserve. England went at the bottom of the hill while I was sitting second wheel. A rider behind jump right on and then crashed in the corner blocking us off. In retrospect I should have been making the same move England did. Martin and I gave chase separately but England was long gone by then and I wasn’t gaining any on Martin”.
“This is a brilliant result for Mike”, commented DS Mike Sherry. ” He’s generally not a crit rider and was originally out here to help 3 fast finishing teammates but the conditions favored a big diesel like Mike who can clearly take huge workload and still have legs to match some top-notch riders.”
