Land Rover-Orbea wins APC Best Young Rider
Land Rover-Orbea's Bobby Sweeting came home as the Best Young Rider and the team overall showed strong results after six stages and five days of racing at the 2009 Nature Valley Grand Prix.
Day one started with a time trial, followed by an evening crit held in downtown Saint Paul, where Evan Elken crossed only6 seconds behind the winner. Day two was a 60-mile road race, followed the next day by another crit held in Minneapolis. On day four, the teams raced an 86-mile road race where a 14-man breakaway, including Mike Northey of Land Rover- Orbea held off the pack from about mile 14 to the finish line. Half way through the race, the 14-man breakaway held around an eight minute gap on the field, shrinking to only 17-seconds and seven riders in the final circuit of the race. Northey made his move in the final two miles of the race, pulling away from his fading breakaway companions to take third for the day and moving into the APC Best Young rider position.
After a strong crit finish in Stage 6, Bobby Sweeting took home the Best Young Rider award with Northey in 3rd. Final standings placed Sweeting 16th overall, Northey 23rd and Jim Camut 35th, giving the Land Rover-Orbea team 4th overall for the 2009 Nature Valley Grand Prix.