Super week for O'Bee and Health Net Presented by Maxxis in B.C.
Vancouver, B.C. - Despite racing with just two teammates against full squads from several other top teams, Kirk O'Bee of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis secured two wins and a second place in the final five races of B.C. Superweek, in and around Vancouver, British Columbia. Doug Ollerenshaw earned another second place for the three-man squad, which also included Roman Kilun.
O'Bee opened his account Wednesday with a strong sprint win on a rain-soaked coarse at the Tour de Gastown in Vancouver. As with last year, O'Bee found himself in the decisive break, but this year he avoided mechanicals and finished off the win ahead of Oleg Griskin (Navigators).
Thursday evening at the Giro di Burnaby, O'Bee once again found himself in the decisive break, this time with teammate Roman Kilun, who repeatedly chased down attacks, and even put in a couple of his own to keep the pressure off O'Bee and keep him fresh for the finish. Despite constant attacking by riders from Symmetrics, who had a full squad on hand, O'Bee found the right wheel coming out of the final turn and once again held off Griskin for the win.
Over the weekend, O'Bee, Kilun and Ollerenshaw contested the three-stage Tour de Delta, which opened Friday with the short Brenco Hill Climb. O'Bee kept to his word after Thursday's win and took it easy for the opening stage of the omnium format race, but found his legs for the stage 2 criterium. However, with only two teammates to help out, he finally succumbed to the constant attacks of a full Symmetrics squad. After covering breaks toward the end of the race, he didn't quite have the usual snap in his sprint, though he still finished second to Zach Bell of Symmetrics, who also won the hill climb the day before.
In Sunday's final stage road race, it was Ollerenshaw who got in on the action. He was part of the winning move of three riders with Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics) and Matt Shriver (Jittery Joe's) near the end of the race. By the last of 10 laps of the finishing circuits in the town of Tsawwassen, the trio had established an insurmountable three-minute lead over the peloton. With Pinfold, who is Symmetrics' top sprinter, in the front group, Ollerenshaw took his chances going solo but was unable to shake his rivals. Pinfold took the sprint ahead of Ollerenshaw, while O'Bee finished fifth in the field sprint for the line.