Chicago riders did extremely well at all the races this long weekend, from Wood Dale to the Quad Cities. It’s going to take a bit to take it all in.

Our first wrap-up, however, comes from Duluth, Minn., where a handful of Chicagoans headed for the four-day Duluth Classic Stage Race. In the 3/4’s, Chris Padfield (Team Get a Grip Cycles), pictured above,  and Brian Hill (Team Get a Grip Off Road) got to a great start with a 1-2 finish in Friday’s 16.2-mile time trial. Time bonuses over the next two days of road racing reduced Padfield’s grip on 1st to a precious 1 second

— and Hill would lose 30 seconds to a centerline violation, falling to 5th —

but thanks to sacrifices from Hill and teammate Ben LaForce, Padfield made the lead stick through Monday’s criterium to take the overall general classification.

Meanwhile, junior Chris Wiatr (WDT-Allvoi) placed 8th in the 4/5’s time trial, then, racing solo, picked up 5th and 2nd in the road races, moving up to 3rd overall.

Full Duluth Classic results.

Race reports
Ben LaForce (Team Get a Grip Cycles; 3/4): “I jumped on Brones’ wheel as he broke and followed him around for a lap. Immediately Brian then went to the front of the pack and gave it everything to close the gap.”