I’ll lead with the news: It was announced at today’s race that the Tour of Elk Grove will return next year, and that it will include a road race on a 15-mile loop. At first glance this is fantastic. I hope to talk to the race director soon about what he has in mind, how it will affect amateur racers and whether we might have longer criteriums to look forward to.

The Daily Herald reports on the announcement. Also dig this story on the racing, including Chris Horner (Predictor-Lotto) taking it to Lance Armstrong for allowing Discovery to dissolve: “Either he’s an idiot, which I don’t think he is, or he’s afraid to fail, which is the most obvious to me. Or, he’s tired of cycling and wants to take the easiest way out, which I don’t believe is the case because he’s a businessman and wants to make money.”

Lance Armstrong: Afraid to fail. Who knew!?

On to the races: It was a hot, humid day in Elk Grove. Spectators found shade where they could find it and were thankful when the pro pelotons would race by and fan a draft of cool breeze their way.

Masters 4/5: A bad crash neutralized things early, but to the organizers’ credit, the race was allowed to resume to its full length. This proved profitable for Ricardo Otero (South Chicago Wheelmen) and Matt Smith (Big Shark), who hogged all four $100 primes (one for Otero, three for Smith).

XXX Racing-AthletiCo got a train together and strung things out with half a lap to go, but when the train ran out of cars, the pack bunched itself into an impenetrable wall. Californian James Miller (Helen’s) emerged from the fray to take the $600 pay day in a photo finish.

Masters 1/2/3: About halfway through the 40-minute race, a three-man group of Scott Pearson (Higher Gear), Jamie Kimberley (Turin) and Dave Stone (Delta Faucet) slipped away. Their effort was aided by an apparent truce in the face of multiple $200 primes, with the three gliding through the start/finish each time. Whatever deal they struck, it worked. Any internecine hostility would have killed the break, but the three stayed off. It was Kimberley who had the most gas at the end, finishing well ahead of Stone in 2nd and Pearson in 3rd.

Women’s P/1/2: Oh, the joys of teamwork. Cheerwine enjoyed a dominant presence in this race. Sarah Bamberger performed admirable work in spending time off the front, with each effort forcing chase duties upon other teams, most of them having only one or two riders.

With three to go, Catherine Cheatley (Cheerwine) and Dale Tye (Hub Racing) escaped, but Cheatley was able to ride away on the last lap for the clear win. It was then her teammates Laura Van Gilder and Superweek champion Kelly Benjamin who came in 2nd and 3rd to give Cheerwine a sweep of the podium and a total of $11,000 in primes and prize money.

Brooke Miller (Tibco), subject of Friday’s CBR interview, finished 5th after narrowly losing to Van Gilder in the halfway prime for $1,000.

Men’s pros: And then the really big show. The really big, hot, humid show.

With only 10 seconds separating the top 15 riders, the race for the overall would be likely be decided by time bonuses, either for the final sprint (bonuses of 20, 12 and 8 seconds) or via the day’s sprint challenge (bonuses of 15, 10 and 5 seconds).

Slipstream started the day with the first two riders behind first-place Nathan O’Neill (Health Net), so it had the most to lose but also a lot to gain and two ways to do it. Eyes were also on Tour de France veterans Horner and Fred Rodriguez of Predictor-Lotto, both of whom were in striking distance given the right combination of bonuses. (Horner was seen beforehand with a USCF official trying to make sense of the bonus situation.)

With more than 20 of the race’s 40 laps to go, six riders representing minor teams

— Kelly Benefit Strategies, Rite Aid, Jelly Belly, Priority Health and Colavita, plus great big Dane Jacob Nielsen, riding for himself —

overcame some organizational issues to form a group that put more than 90 seconds over the field. After fighting over enough big-money primes, however, the group gradually fell apart and was consumed with seven to go, thanks to the chasing efforts of Jittery Joe’s and Slipstream, the latter obviously protective of its podium spots.

At this point Toyota-United and Horner took control to set up their sprinters. (The other major teams, including Navigators, Rock Racing and Health Net, were largely quiet all race.) It was Ivan Dominguez who came from the inside on the final chicane to win the sprint, throwing his arms in the air ahead of a visibly upset Taylor Tolleson (Slipstream).

Leader O’Neill and his anonymous Health Net team caught two lucky breaks: Mike Friedman (Slipstream) came in 4th and “Fast Freddie” Rodriguez came in 5th, both just shy of the 3rd-place time bonus that would have sent them into first place on the overall. Thus it was O’Neill going home with the $26,000 novelty check.

Also of note from the men’s race: With three five laps to go, Kodak Gallery leader Dominique Rollin suffered a mechanical crash. (Cyclingnews fleshes out the details.) Four teammates dropped back in order to frantically pull him back to the charging peloton. They got him there, but he was not able to pull off a Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto), and he finished nowhere near high enough for a time bonus.

Notable local finishers include CBR interviewee Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strategies)  and former University of Chicago rider Todd Yezefski (Nerac), who finished with the pack Sunday to get 32nd and 39th overall, respectively.

Complete results.

Chicago Bike Racing photos.

Cyclingnews coverage.

A full wrap-up of links and photos will follow later this week.