Angelo De Francesco Hcp 2024 - Race Report

Angelo & Vince

A field of 42 from 11 clubs and a good number of helpers turned out at the Glenaroua CFA Station for the Cup day running of Angelo's Race, otherwise known as the Angelo De Francesco Memorial Handicap, held in memory of one of the club's esteemed former members.  The De Francesco family was well represented on the day, with his daughter Sandra Prosenica riding off 30min, his grand daughter and great grandson in attendance.  Not to forget Angelo's influence goes as far as his grand daughter Daniella De Francesco currently riding in the women's pro peloton for Arkea - B&B Hotels.  

2024 had an air of 2023 about it, with the same course and similar weather conditions.  26 of the 42 riders competed on the same course the previous year, with a core group of last year's scratch riders, including Jesse Cropley, who was the fastest rider in 2023.  Hopefully this information would help our beloved handicapper Bruce, but just like that warning we get on TV or radio after an advertisement for financial advice or services, Past performance is no guarantee of future results.  

Let's take a quick look at the bunches.

Limit off 36min - The two Sinni brothers Michael and Vince, could they cook up something and cause a boil over like Vince did back in February, when he won the Lindsay Smyrk Memorial Hcp by 2:23?

30min - Sandra Prosenica, Angelo's daughter going solo. Surely a sentimental favourite of the crowd and bound to become the powerhouse of the group when she caught the limit bunch.

23min - A reliable bunch of 6 riders, including Northern's new queen of the tarmac, Stephanie Young, mixing it with some well credentialed veterans.  Would they work together or eat each other for breakfast?

15min - A combination of 8 relative young guns, old guns and great guns.  Take your pick of which term applies to whom.  The week before, Raelene Lesniowska completed the 6 Day Rhino Run in South Africa and was surely in great form after the 100km+ days in searing heat.  Perhaps Rae would still be dreaming about being chased by wild animals and ride out of her skin.

10min - Beware the midpack riders, it's a tough place to be in a handicap.  Try, but don't try too hard and leave something in reserve for when you get caught. You know who you are, just saying!

6min - This group of 8 was the remnants of the 2023's 7:30 bunch (Kevin Russell, Trevor Coulter, Craig Harvey and myself), now riding with the expectation of being older and faster in 2024.  James Hender enjoying or not, a promotion of  15min on last year!  A few new faces to Northern events were Roger Venning (HCC),  Brett Herskope and Damian Vendy (CCCC).

3:00 - The Chop group of 6, was made up of some of Northern's best on the crit circuit, but how would that form translate onto the rolling parcour of Glenaroua? It's no secret that Andrew Garrett is allergic to hills.  Even more worrying, was what this bunch could become if it was caught by scratch and they could stay together.  I guess we would have to wait and see.

Scratch - An elite group of 4, represented by Northern's Aaron Christiansen, St Kilda's Steven Drake, Coburg's Tom Tyler-King and Geelong, Surf Coast's Jesse Cropley.  In 2023, the best this group could manage was 22nd place, 2:20 behind the winner and they never managed to catch the 3min group. Could they turn their fortunes around in 2024?

Let's pick up the story inside the 6min bunch.  Brett and Roger were riding their first road races in over a year, so a little light on threshold pace riding and unfortunately they were the first two to lose contact with the bunch.  At the top of the Sugar Loaf climb we get a time gap of 1:30 to the group in front of us.  Now down to 6, we roll turns smoothly and keep a solid pace, clocking the first lap in 53:23 or 36.7km/h.  The 10min bunch is firmly in our sights as we take on lap 2.  

6min Bunch get rolling

Approaching the 10min group, we sit off them a little to catch a breather and get set to re-load and go.  A pinch in the road is immanent and it's as good a point as any to try and inflict some hurt on the group and avoid picking up too many passengers if we can help it.  They prove themselves to be a resilient bunch and manage to hang on for the best part.  As Craig Harvey wisely says, perhaps we can use them on the flats later.

6min Bunch catch 10min bunch

Later never came.  Little did we know that the scratch group had other ideas after missing out in 2023.  Adopting a new tactic of go hard early or just go home, scratch had caught the 3min bunch by the first corner, less than 10km into the race and then dropped them on the Sugar Loaf climb. A few minutes later, we are besieged by the scratch group minus Aaron. It turns out that Aaron dropped his chain at the top of the Sugar Loaf climb, which ended up caught between the frame and the small chain ring.  He had to stop to fix it and be passed by Chop in the process, which was very frustrating. Now we went from pacing to racing.  

Scratch catches 6min bunch

The presence of the scratch group put the acid on the lower grades as we did our best to stay on.  Craig and myself did our best to be like those pesky flies that just won't go away, just holding the wheel, just holding on one climb at a time.  Every now and then, there would be a cursory glance over the shoulder to see if we were still there, which only inspired the scratchies to ride harder until they inevitably broke us.  It was a fun 7-8 minutes while it lasted, but a moment of lost opportunity of what could have been.

 

Dropped by Scratch

Resigned to our fate, Russell, James, Craig and myself regroup, knowing that we will be stronger together.  We are in a good position and still have a few more ahead of us.  The next 35min is an outdoor game of PacMan, where we gobble up as many riders in front of us as we can see without allowing anyone to hitch a lift.  Walter Dapich manages to join the train.  Meanwhile we catch a solo Sandra, Rob Moore and Stephanie as we head for home.  Coming into the last two kilometres, there are two in front of us, Phil Tehan and Ron Peel, holding a steady pace.  It's all or nothing now as we make our way to the line.  The 6min bunch has ridden a solid race and claimed 4/10 placings. Well ridden lads.

Last two minutes for the 6min bunch 

Ahead of us, Jesse Cropley crossed the line in first place in a time of 1:36:57, a massive 4:43 faster than last year.  Behind him Tom Tyler-King was second by 14 seconds and the evergreen Steve Drake 3rd, just another 3 seconds behind.  Meanwhile John Hiatt in fourth place proved himself to be one of the improvers of the year.  Meanwhile the 6min bunch rode exactly the same time as last year.  Sometimes Past performance is no guarantee of future results and sometimes it is.  

Thanks again to Vince, the committee, corner marshals, first aiders, handicappers, cooks, starters and helpers for another great day out in honour of Angelo.  I'm sure he would have enjoyed seeing everyone push themselves to their limits in his memory.

Results

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