This past weekend saw the final two races in the 2007 NUVO-Cultural Trail Cycling series.

Sunday’s category 1-2-3 race in Zionsville was the much-anticipated end to the summer races. A favorite of many regional riders, the criterium took cyclists on a path through the village streets, including the cobblestones of Main Street and several sharp turns.

Nearly 30 riders took their place at the start of the competition, but a breakaway by eight riders early in the race remained the main competitive group throughout the 50-lap event.

Led by Chad Burdzilauskas (Indiana Hand Center) and Harry Clark (Texas Roadhouse), the breakaway kept a 10- to 15-second lead over the peloton for most of the race, with several members of NUVO-Cultural Trail staying in the hunt.

But a surprising attack by series newcomer Jonathon Jacobs of Team Barbasol towards the end of the race quashed any other riders’ hopes of a first place victory.

Jacobs broke away from the peloton with less than 15 laps remaining in the race, and passed the lead group with very little struggle. Though a crash with 10 remaining laps took him down momentarily, Jacobs managed to get back on his bike, keep his lead and then lap the peloton without most of them even noticing.

After Jacobs sailed to the finish uncontested, the remaining riders in the breakaway group sprinted for the line about 30 seconds behind, including Burdzilauskas, who finished second, and Karim Abdelkader (NUVO-Cultural Trail), who finished third.

On Saturday, many of the same competitors took part in the Bloomington criterium, where Chad Burdzilauskas (Indiana Hand Center) took first place ahead of Mike Sherer (Metlife), John Grant (Texas Roadhouse), Harry Clark (Texas Roadhouse) and Declan Doyle (NUVO-Cultural Trail), who rounded out the top five.

While the individual finishes on Saturday and Sunday brought variety to this year’s series, the team standings remained unchanged. For the second year in a row, the team in the NUVO jerseys beat out Texas Roadhouse for the No. 1 spot. In large part, the Roadhouse second place finish is a reflection of the small number of riders the team had in the series, as opposed to the full participation of the NUVO-Cultural Trail team. Indiana Hand Center, Barbasol and Morris Trucking finished third through fifth respectively.

Final Results: 2007 NUVO-Cultural Trail Cycling Series

NUVO-Cultural Trail (287 points)
Texas Roadhouse (180 points)
Indiana Hand Center (114 points)

Final Results: Bloomington Criterium (Aug. 4, 2007)
Chad Burdzilauskas (Indiana Hand Center)
Mike Sherer (Metlife)
John Grant (Texas Roadhouse)

Final Results: Zionsville Criterium (Aug. 5, 2007)
Jonathon Jacobs (Barbasol)
Chad Burdzilauskas (Indiana Hand Center)
Karim Abdelkader