The men's field at this past Sunday's CSC Invitational arrived with high expectations.  While no one around here labeled eventual winner Lucas Damiano (Colavita-Sutter Home) in advance, few of us were surprised by Colavita's strong showing.  And truly, fans got what they came for, with an early drive by Magnus Backstedt (that he would come to later regret) resulting in a 13 man breakaway that drove much of the race.  With no riders in the break, it was left primarily to Jittery Joe's and Kelly Benefits to chase, and that work certainly took a toll on both of those team.  There were a few admirable attempts to bridge, with little success to show for all that work. 

Eventually the break defeated itself by lapping the field, and as it reintegrated itself into the peloton - some fared well (break member Brad Huff (Jelly Belly) would later acquit himself well by snagging fourth) and some not so much (Backstedt was barely hanging on by the end of the race).  This result might surprise some of our European readers - how can a lapped field defeat a break, one might ask?  Well, when those riders made it back to the field, they all of a sudden had a team ready to shepherd and defend them.  I guess it pays to know the rules of the country in which you're racing.  Roger Hammond, a Brit racing for High Road, had a few choice words for the result afterwards, wondering why he even bothered with all that work .  See, if he'd have been racing in the UK, these are the rules:

20.12.4 A competitor in a road or circuit event when lapped must,unless otherwise instructed by the Chief Commissaire, retire from the race and report to the control point at the finish of the race.
20.12.5 Where a lapped rider is allowed to continue, he shall not give pace or shelter to a rider by whom he has been lapped. Otherwise riders in a road or circuit race may take pace or shelter from each other, but not from any other vehicle.
<snip>
24.6.6  A lapped rider shall not give pace or shelter to a rider by
whom he has been lapped. The Chief Commissaire shall have complete discretion to decide when a rider has been lapped.

But the US rules for crits allow much wider discretion for the officials:

3D3. The following are alternative methods for handling
lapped riders in criteriums (i.e. riders who have been caught
by the lead rider(s) in the race). The method chosen by the
organizer with the Chief Referee must be clearly explained to
the riders prior to the start of the race.
(a) A rider who falls so far behind as to be considered out of
contention may be removed from the race by the Chief
Referee.
(b) Alternatively, lapped riders may be permitted to remain
in the race and all will finish on the same lap as the leaders.
At the finish, these riders will be placed according to the
number of the laps they are down and then their position in
the finish.

In Hammond's (and everyone else who was confused) defense, my experience has generally been that lapped riders get pulled.  I suppose, however, that no one wanted to pull 80% of the field before the race was over.  So we ended up with 13 protected riders a lap up on everyone else.

Enough words from me - I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story:

The Boys of Rock Racing 

Going Hard Early 

Not Magnus Backstedt

Magnus Backstedt - Just before launching the attack that would create a 13 rider breakaway. 

"Have you seen our gas bill?" 

Back stretch

Rory Sutherland, waiting to see what happens with the break.

Bell for the last premium (a nice wheelset, if I recall correctly).

Kelly Benefits, trying to cool down after putting in some real work today 

Roger Hammond with newly vented shorts. He went down about 400 meters ago, yet made it up and back into the peloton this quickly. 

Late Breakaway. By this point, the large breakaway had been reabsorbed (by lapping), and Mark Hekman (Toshiba) and Jesse Anthony (Team Type 1) tried to make another go of their own. 

Magnus is paying dearly for his earlier aggressiveness.  As he explained later on, he was just barely hanging on, here.

Colavita-Sutter Home's train comes together.

Final Sprint - From the left, there's Luis Amaran (Colavita-Sutter Home), Luca Daminai (Colavita-Sutter Home), Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United), Brad Huff (Jelly Belly), and Karl Menzies (HealthNet).

Amaran with an excellent leadout for Damiani.

Damiani looking to finish it.

It's Damiani's, ahead of the line.

Luca Daminai wins the 2008 CSC Invitational.

The Girls of the CSC Invitational.

2nd Place Dominique Rollin

Brad Huff and his failed cleat. (Brad Huff's blog points out that the limit screw on one of his cleats broke during the race.  Makes an already floaty pedal rather difficult to deal with.) 

No shoe failures here

Most Aggressive Rider Jersey - There was some local grumbling about giving big Maggie the Most Aggressive jersey, with some suggesting a fix.  I suggest that the fix obviously wasn't in, as the thing didn't even come close to fitting him.  So he settled for holding it up.

The 2008 CSC Invitational Podium

On Being a Pro - Most of us imagine that making it to the pro ranks is a pretty sweet life.  And in many ways, it is.  But then there's this - these five CSC riders, instead of heading back to the hotel and a nice hot shower, were put on display by CSC.  It was not unlike a zoo display.  They deserve much credit for being so pro about it. 

And finally, from PdC member and tifosa Megabeth, a very quick shot of the finishing sprint:

- Mark Blacknell for PodiumCafe