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  • Johanna Schmidt is treated by medical staff after the conclusion of the Cherry-Roubaix road race Sunday at Sugarloaf Resort. Schmidt, a Traverse City resident, crashed on the first lap, but was able to come back and place second to teammate Mackenzie Woodring in the Pro women's category. James Cook

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August 13, 2012

Woodring, Baumann win Cherry-Roubaix titles

Schmidt crashes on first lap; she's happy with second place

BY JAMES COOK jcook@record-eagle.com

CEDAR — Sven Baumann and Mackenzie Woodring won by a lot.

Johanna Schmidt was second and says she was never happier with an outcome.

Woodring won her second race of the 2012 Cherry-Roubaix, cruising to the Pro Women's title. Baumann won his second straight Michigan road race crown, pulling away for a big Pro Men's lead at the finish line after taking the lead on the final climb.

Schmidt, however, crashed on the first lap. The Traverse City resident came back to place second, winning a sprint to the finish in the grueling 69.9-mile race.

Susan Vigland and Schmidt were leading the pack five miles into the race, when a sharp right turn on a descent caught both the leaders a bit by surprise and they careened into a ditch.

"(The pack) discussed and decided to let them get back on their bikes and get back in," Woodring said. "She literally had road rash the whole day. I think most people would have just stayed in the ditch and called it a day."

Instead she was eventually called the runner-up, edging out Amy Stauffer and Vigland at the finish.

"I just wasn't ready to have my race be done quite yet," Schmidt said. "It was nice; my teammates paced me back up to the group. The group was waiting and everyone was very concerned about us. So I got back in and went straight to the front and got the race back started. I was just running on adrenaline. I was starting to get really, really tired on the last lap and really struggling. But it worked out great, because I was pulling the last bit. There were two Einsteins and a Hagerty and a Priority Health, so we didn't have to do any work because we had two against one. So I was pulling up the mountain and then Mackenzie snuck by me and took off and they had to pull me to the line. I've never outsprinted those two girls. I've never been happier about a race in my life. I've won races, but never been happier. I've never outsprinted them, my teammate won, I got second. It's just fabulous."

Schmidt ended up in the medical tent right after the race, where she was attended to by medical staff for wounds up and down her right arm, hand and leg and handed a beer by a Hagerty team member.

The winner of each Pro division takes home $1,850. Both champions earned their paycheck.

"The last 10 miles I was fighting cramps," Woodring said. "It was a race of attrition.

"The first lap, everybody was going uphill pretty fast. The second lap, there was a selection and everything started to settle. The third lap, we were slowing down pretty good. We just kept the pace pretty steady on the climbs, especially the last few climbs. And I gapped the group and then made them chase me down, gap the group, make them chase me down. Johanna pulled us up the final climb on Mountain Road and I squeezed by her on the right and went and stayed away."

Baumann was third in last year's road race, but earned the state champ title because the top two finishers weren't from Michigan.

This time around, the Germany native and Lake Orion resident carefully picked his time to make a run.

"The way it played out was good for me," Baumann said. "I think I ran a strong race. There were two guys out front and I got up there. So there was some good horsepower up there. Mac Brennan just signed pro with Bissell a couple months ago and Alexey Vermeulen was the junior national champion last year. They're both strong. Mac attacked and Alexey is also tactical, so he would not chase. Then I attacked and pushed up to Mac on the climb. I realized I'm stronger than him on the climb."

It's his fourth win of the year, having already taken the Willow Time Trial, West Branch Classic and Hines Park Time Trial the previous weekend.

"We had Dan Lam up in the break with Chris Gottwald — they were out there for most of the race," Brennan said. "Me and Alexey and Sven bridged up to those two guys. When we got up there, Dan was pretty much toast, so he ended up getting dropped. And then once it all came together, it was me, Sven, Alexey and Chris. Alexey and I started attacking them to try to make it a little bit more selective. I ended up getting away for awhile, and Sven ended up bridging up. We worked together for a little while. On the last lap up in the hills, Sven attacked and I just couldn't respond. He just held it away to the finish."

The course was different from previous years, and it's 93.2-mile length featured several climbs that made the difference in the outcome.

"It's a good course," Brennan said. "Really tough. I just didn't have it on the hills. That's the most selective part of the course."

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