La Jolla Grand Prix Bicycle Race : Rogers Sprints to Win; Carmichael 2nd

After Chris Carmichael broke his leg in a skiing accident last December, he was told to start looking for another job.

His job at the time was a professional bicycle racer. Doctors at a Mt. Shasta hospital said he probably would never ride competitively again and would not walk for at least a year.

But on Sunday, Carmichael was where he loves to be--pedaling furiously in the lead pack of a bicycle race.

Carmichael, of Berkeley, finished second to Thurlow Rogers of Van Nuys in the Bud Light La Jolla Grand Prix through the streets of downtown La Jolla. Sacramento’s Norm Alvis was third.

Sunday’s race was the first victory of the year for Rogers, 24, who received $1,500. Carmichael won here in 1985 but competed elsewhere in 1986.

Rogers, Carmichael, Alvis and San Diego’s Matt Newberry broke away from the pack in the final 13 laps of the 40-mile, 66-lap race. The four riders worked together to retain their lead in the field of more than 100 riders.

“I thought I had it won when I went through the last corner first and saw the big gap,” said Rogers, who completed the race in 78 minutes. “I was worried about Chris because he usually has a fast sprint.”

Carmichael’s sprint has been slowed recently because of the stainless steel bar inserted in his right leg. He was cross-country skiing at Mt. Shasta when he encountered rocky terrain and fell, hitting his knee on some sharp rocks. The accident broke his right femur in three places.

“I was severely depressed,” Carmichael said. “I’ve been racing since I was 12 years old. It wasn’t as easy as just saying I’m quitting racing. My whole life style changed.

“I was just borderline. . . . I could practically reach out and touch the point of going crazy.”

Carmichael underwent 7 1/2 hours of surgery in mid-December, when 13 screws and two bolts were placed in his leg. The two-pound stainless steel rod, which stretches from near his hip to just below his knee, will remain for two years.

Sunday’s criterium was his third race since the injury. In his two previous races, Carmichael, who was a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic team and who rode in the 1986 Tour de France, finished deep in the pack.

“I started feeling my strength coming on in the past two weeks,” he said. “After all I had been through, I had no confidence (in the other races).

“Now I can ride aggressively and I can say, ‘Hey, I’m a decent bicycle rider.’ ”

He proved that Sunday, keeping near the front of the pack most of the race. After Rogers, Carmichael, Alvis and Newberry broke away, each jockeyed for the lead until the final lap.

On the final turn, Rogers sprinted out about two lengths ahead of Carmichael and Alvis, who were struggling for second place.

“Three-quarters of the way through the last lap, everything fell apart and we all started playing games,” Rogers said.

Rogers and other riders were upset that the primes (prizes awarded for certain laps within the race) were awarded to second- or third-place riders instead of the lap leaders. Many riders will attempt to race for the primes, sometimes as much as $550, instead of winning the race.

“Generally, I try to do both,” said Rogers, who won $400 in primes Sunday. “I figure I can expend a little energy early and make up for it later in the race.”

In the women’s 20-mile, 33-lap race, Inga Thompson of Reno, Nev., finished first. Thompson and 7-Eleven teammate Kathy Riggert of Sudbury, Mass., who finished second, struggled in the final three laps to shut down the defending champion, Marianne Berglund of Cardiff. Berglund finished third.

“In the third turn (of the final lap), their strategy was to outnumber me,” Berglund said of Thompson and Riggert. “Neither of them wanted to work with me.”

Usually, when a small group of riders breaks away from the pack, they work together until the final laps. Since Thompson and Riggert ride for the same team, they continued to work together.

“I kept attacking because I saw that (Berglund) was hurting,” Thompson said, “so I thought I would make her hurt some more.”

Thompson had agreed before the race that if she and Riggert were in the lead pack, the strategy would be for Riggert to win.

“I wanted (Riggert) to win, but I didn’t want to take a chance of either of us losing,” Thompson said.