VeloNews Colavita's Tina Pic and Toyota's Hilton Clarke take crit wins and the overall lead in Portland. The Journal of Competitive Cycling

Hood Cycling Classic ventured into cutting edge house Wednesday with a fresh venue for the sixth year of the event: a hilly criterium held in a verdant metropolis lawns wrapping enclosing a long-extinct volcano. The dissimilar business delivered bulky crowds and down-to-the-wire racing alacrity that adage the mens and womens overall leads switch hands in the ending meters of the crits.

The act that Portland was enjoying some of the nicest weather of the spring peerless helped amend the festive atmosphere in Mt. Tabor Park. In the women's race, federal criterium champ Tina Pic (Colavita Sutter Homes) outsprinted GC doyen Joanne Kiesanowski (Tibco) and took the overall bulge (along with the front rank of the climber's and points competition).

Kiesanowski attacked insolvable - on the other hand unsuccesfully - with five laps to go, then undeniable to wait for the dash Photo: Casey Gibson In the men's pursuit Toyota-United dominated the final two laps of the relay and delivered its sprinters Hilton Clarke and Ivan Stevic to the front, where they raced everyone other to the line.

While Stevic was the more appropriate placed on GC by three seconds, Clarke won the intramural sprint and, thanks to a 10-second epoch bonus, took over the GC guidance from overnight chief Ben Jacques-Maynes of Bissell.

Advertisement Stevic, who was third on GC after the prologue, moved elapsed Jacques-Mayne into second. Health Net-Maxxis' Rory Sutherland, who led gone the sprint by oneself to be passed by Stevic and Clarke in the final meters, moved up to fourth on GC. Both inexperienced leaders, Pic and Clarke, gave hasty communication that they intend to jab to grip onto the head in the upcoming hilly stages, starting with Thursday's Cooper Spur Order Race.

It's aloof a date to wear the jersey," Clarke said with a laugh. We'll equal conduct each guessing all week." Pic said she hasn't done still climbing experience this spring, and that after her ahead glance at the hilly criterium line she belief she had imperceptible assumption of a win. On the contrary the 135 feet of climbing per circuit proved to be less selective than she (and several others) expected. Once you were in there, it wasn't so bad," she said.

You clement of got of swept along on the lower allotment of the climb." Colavita's Tina Pic took the women's gold star by diverse lengths. Photo: Casey Gibson The contest moves up the Columbia River Gorge for the remaining stages, starting with the method chase Thursday. Men testament determine 85 miles: 4 1 2 circuits of an 18.7-mile loop. The women cook 3 1 2 circuits for 66 miles. The direction has one gangling climb each lap.

On Friday the competition tackles the dense 18.5-mile Scenic Gorge Eternity Test and on Saturday comes the most mountainous page of the event, the Wy'East Means Race.