Gillig’s Game of Strategy Backfires : Doval Wins With a Break From the Pack in Bicycle Race

Peter Gillig of Denmark knows there is always a gamble in the sport of bicycle racing. He knows that a rider needs a clever strategy almost as much as a quick sprint.

Sunday at the UC San Diego Criterium bicycle races, Gillig had plenty of sprint but not enough strategy, as Matthew Doval broke away from the pack in the final two laps to beat Gillig and the field of about 80 riders at the 35-lap, 45.5-mile criterium.

Mark Caldwell finished second and Richard Mclung was a close third. Gillig was fourth in the race, which lasted about an hour and 40 minutes.

Michelle Veasey won the 19.5-mile top women’s event, with Heather McNair and Cynda Mayon finishing second and third, respectively.

In the main event, Gillig broke away from the pack with six laps to go and held a 75-meter lead for the next four laps. With two laps to go, a pack of six riders made a run for Gillig, with Caldwell and Doval eventually taking over the lead.

Caldwell, the 1985 U.S. National Time Trial champion, and Doval exchanged the lead several times on the final 1 1/2 laps, before Doval broke away about 50 meters from the finish line.

“You always question yourself after the race about strategy,” said Gillig, who won Saturday’s 75.5-mile Willows Road Race against most of the same riders. “At that point (on the sixth lap) it was the right thing to do. If I waited any longer, maybe somebody else would have made a break. With three laps to go, I thought I could do it.”

Said Doval: “(Gillig) had a good lead, but there was a long ways to go. People weren’t sleeping in the field, they wanted to get him.”

Jacques Mexmes, Gillig’s teammate from the Montrose-Sun Tour team, was among the pack of six riders trailing Gillig. Mexmes was trying to slow down the five riders closing in on his teammate, but Doval and Caldwell came on strong in the final laps.

Doval said he was getting nervous toward the end of the race as fatigue from Saturday’s event began to catch up with him.

“On the last lap, I kept looking down expecting to see wheels coming up behind me,” Doval said. “With 50 meters to go, I looked back and saw a gap and knew I had it.”

Top cyclists from all over the world participated in Sunday’s race, including Nelson (Cheeta) Vails, Scott Berryman and Les Barczewski from the U.S national sprint team.