Captain Matt Lloyd-Thomas ’12 yet again led Andover Cycling with a fourth place finish on Saturday’s race at the Gould School in Maine. In the Girls’ A division, Captain Alex Morrow ’12 and Rachel Wittenberg ’13 showed good chemistry and placed side by side in the top 10. Coach Thayer Zaeder said, “[Morrow and Wittenberg] rode well together and controlled much of the pace and structure of the race.” In the end, with about 14 schools that performed at the race, Andover finished successfully as a team. Andover finished third overall in the Boys’ A division, second in the Boys’ B division and third overall in the Girls’ A division. Although he had a rough start, with three other riders breaking away, Lloyd-Thomas had a strong finish and broke away from the rest of the peloton on the final sprint. With another fourth place finish at Holderness on Wednesday, Lloyd-Thomas is on a roll. “Saturday’s race up through Grafton Notch in Bethel Maine is one of the more difficult of the entire season. It is a course with lots of sustained climbing and significant elevation gain,” said Zaeder. He added, “The course covers about 21 miles and riders faced the additional challenge of strong headwinds and cold temps. There was newly fallen snow in the woods along the upper elevations of the climbs yesterday.” Along with Thomas, there were other impressive finishes for Andover in the Boys’ A division. Max Block ’12 and Ian Whittall ’14 both crossed the finish line in the top 10. An early crash in the beginning of the Boys’ B division race made it hard for many of the riders to compete at their highest level. Though there were difficulties, a couple of Andover riders had some nice performances, including a top 10 finish by Sean Burkitt ’14. Andover’s next race is on Wednesday at the White Mountain School.
