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Both 15/16s and 17/18s looked sharp this year over Livermore’s Wente Winery racing weekend. On Saturday, Tieni Duro fielded 8 racers among a field of 40 ranging from 12 years to 18 years old in the always difficult Wente Road Race. The Junior field was splintered at the first climb with Tieni Duro placing 2 riders in an elite field of 8 racers, that included riders from Swift, Specialized, Davis, and Whole Athlete. Several attacks on the second lap by Tieni Duro’s Adam Hodes almost worked as he built a small gap, but ultimately he was reeled-in by the strong boys, though his efforts certainly softened up the field a bit, saving Peter Taylor’s legs for the final and deciding hill top sprint finish. Ryan Eastman of Team Swift, one of the pre-race favorites, launched a viscous attack with a few hundred meters to the line, and held off Taylor, who was good enough for second place. “I should have chased on to Ryan’s wheel a moment sooner” noted Taylor “but he got the gap and I just ran out of road to catch him”. Hodes finished seconds back for 7th within the elite breakaway field of 15/16s. Trevor Larsen was the third Tieni Duro to finish, followed closely by Alex Gee, Ellis Anderson, Ryan Gadow, Reese Levine, and Greg Robinson-Kronrod. Taylor also increases his lead in the NCNCA Junior Points Series.
The 17/18s raced under hot sunny skies and light winds for their 3.5 laps around the challenging course. Will Skinner and Lucas Leblow worked long and hard against both stiff competition and increasingly warming weather, which reached 90 degrees by the final climb. Leblow, a well regarded climber, showed he knows how to sprint too, uncorking an impressive final assault to the line, good enough for 4th place.
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