Athens Twilight – Friday

This weekend is the 32nd edition of the Athens Twilight and all the top criterium racers in the country were descending on this college town like marauding locusts.

Carolina Cycling News stopped by the Team Mountain Khakis meet and greet and spoke to team captain Adam Myerson who gave his thoughts on Saturday’s Twilight Criterium.

“I think this is one of the hardest Twilights compared to when the Tour de Georgia finished and all the top guys hung around. I think there’s that level of top quality.”

Myerson has been on the circuit for 21 years so he has a good idea how the race will play out.

“I think there will be a break away in the first 20 minutes of the race and the way Team Mountain Khakis is racing this year we are really confident. I feel like we’re at the same level as anyone else at this race and the results have shown that so far.”

Jonny Sundt of Kenda/ 5 Hour Energy echoed those sentiments, but in his own unique way.

“I tell the guys you’re going to be in the shit those first ten laps,” said Sundt. “You need to be at the front.”

While most racers were preparing for Saturday’s main event and relaxing in their hotel rooms, some were participating in the Computrainer races held in downtown Athens. These races would not only give the rider bragging rights on who could generate the most watts, they also seeded the riders on the starting grid for tomorrow night. Throughout the day spectators were packed into the closed off street watching several heats of racers compete to see who was the fastest. After several heats there were eight riders left who were competing for cash and glory on the center stage.

After a see-saw battle it was Team Type 1 Development rider Joey Rosskopf who proved to be the fastest out of the eight and by his look after the race, it was a hard earned victory.

“There’s no way to prepare for a Computrainer race, nor would you want to,” said Rosskopf. “It’s a one time a year thing and I just want to go as hard as I can and see how I can do.”

The Team Type 1 rider has been second place twice so the win Friday night in downtown Athens was redemption.

For the crowd it was an opportunity to see how much horsepower these riders can generate and perhaps get a sense of the racing action they will see tomorrow night.

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