U.S. cyclist Murphy aims to continue winning streak at Superweek
We will see if John Murphy, the pride of Horse Shoe, N.C., has found a lucky charm by signing up for B.C. Superweek this year.
Murphy, the 32-year-old American with the Holowesko-Citadel Racing Team, will be one of the riders to watch as the Lower Mainland’s 10-day professional cycling series moves to the New West Grand Prix today.
Murphy comes in having dominated Superweek’s opening Tour De Delta, with a victory in Sunday’s 155.46-kilometre road race after second-place showings there in both Friday’s criterium and Saturday’s criterium.
Murphy edged out Ryan Macanally of the H&R Block Pro Cycling team at the finish line Sunday. Murphy, Macanally and several others had to chase down Nigel Ellsay of Silber Pro Cycling and Garneau-Quebecor competitor Olivier Brisbois, who had opened a 43-second gap on the peloton with one lap to go, to create the suspense at the end.
It was the fourth victory of the season for Murphy, the first since taking the Terrapin Twilight criterium in Athens, Ga., on April 29.
“We came out swinging today. We wanted to make it a really hard race and we were aggressive. When Ellsay got off on the last lap after the hill, you just can’t let him go. So we put the guys in the front and brought him back,” said Murphy, an 11-year veteran of the pro riding circuit. “Then we kind of freelanced the sprint a little bit and it was a close finish, but I’m glad we got it.
“It’s an international race with amazing competition, but anytime you can win a race, whether it’s a local crit or a UCI road race, it’s huge for us and that’s what we’re all about — having fun and trying to win the biggest races we can.”
New West isn’t your typical criterium, in that it includes a couple of climbs in its 950-metre course. Riders will be going uphill on Eighth Street, as well as when they turn on Carnavon. The men will do 55 laps, while the women are slated for 45.
The women are scheduled to race at 6:15 p.m., while the men are set to begin at 7:30 p.m.
Superweek continues Wednesday with the Gastown Grand Prix, followed by the Giro di Burnaby on Thursday and PoCo Grand Prix on Friday. The Tour de White Rock wraps up proceedings on Friday and Saturday.
Kendall Ryan of Team TIBCOSilicon Valley Bank won the women’s road race on Sunday at the Tour de Delta. Montreal’s Kirsti Lay, who took bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in team pursuit, won Friday’s criterium and finished second in Saturday’s criterium to Holly Edmondston of Cycling New Zealand. Lay rides for Rally Cycling, a Minneapolis-based team.