John Bohnenkamp
for The Beacon
Andrew Dillman said he was “on the gas” for the last lap and a half of Saturday’s Men’s Category 1-2 Pro Race at the Snake Alley Criterium. Head down, Dillman didn’t want to know what was going on behind him.
Finally, heading down N. 4th Street for the final stretch, Dillman peeked back. And kept peeking.
He saw nothing but an empty street.
“I was like, ‘I think I got it,’” Dillman said.
He had it.
Dillman was able to coast to victory in the return of one of the nation’s most iconic cycling events.
It was the first Criterium since 2019 — the event had been canceled the last two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And even with a different course than usual, the Criterium’s return was welcomed.
“I missed it,” said veteran cyclist Charles Townsend, who has been at the Criterium 20 times and won his 11th title on Saturday. “I totally missed it. Things aren’t totally normal. But it’s good to get a race again.”
Dillman had been to the Criterium before — he has two wins in the Juniors events and his last appearance, he guessed, was in 2013 before he decided to pursue a mountain-biking career.
“Long time ago,” he said. “I tried to race mountain bikes, but it didn’t work. This is a lot better.”
Dillman was part of an 8-racer pack for most of the race. He decided to attack with two laps to go when his Texas Roadhouse teammate, Cade Bickmore, led the pack heading into Snake Alley.
“We had just seen the two-to-go, and heading into the downhills I saw (Bickmore) go,” Dillman said. “Right before I hit the Snake, I made a move. I knew if I got past him, he would sit up. I went into the Snake full-blast, and I’m pretty sure he was sitting right behind me. I knew a gap opened, and I didn’t look back."
“I was a hundred percent committed. I figured if they did catch me, Cade would have a good chance. He won the sprint last night, he had fresh legs, I figured if this didn’t work, he’s going to win. So it was kind of like, win or win.”
Dillman then kept his sprint going, worrying that he was eventually going to be caught.
“I was thinking they were on my tail, they were going to pass me any second,” Dillman said. “So I was like, don’t look back.”
The perfect feeling was seeing nothing behind him.
“Oh, dude, yeah,” he said. “I was pretty sure they were coming. I was hurting because I had been full-tilt for about six minutes.”
It was a big weekend for the Texas Roadhouse team. Bickmore won the Pro 1-2 race in the Friday Night Fever event and finished second behind Dillman on Saturday.
“You guys are elite,” third-place ride Conor White said to the two as they came to the podium.
This year, the Criterium was held on a new course because of street construction in downtown Burlington. This course was 1.56 miles long, instead of the original downtown course which was 9/10 of a mile. Instead of the Sixth Street hill before going up Snake Alley, racers headed down Washington Street and made a right-hand turn onto Snake Alley.
Once up to the top of Snake Alley, the racers headed north on Sixth Street, took a right-hand turn, and went one block on High Street to N. 5th Street. A left-hand turn sent the racers up 5th Street with a right-hand turn onto North Street, then another right-hand turn back down 4th Street to the start/finish line.
“This course kind of suits the littler dudes like me,” said Daniel Casper, who won three races this weekend — the Masters 50-plus race in the Friday Night Fever event, and then the Masters 40-plus and 50-plus races on Saturday.
“Some of the guys I’m racing against, they could smoke me in a sprint. But the Snake kind of gives the little guys a chance."
“Last night was deceptively hard because you were climbing going to the north. I thought it would be like that today, but the wind was pushing us up. You still have a significant climb going into the Snake on the old course, so you’re taxed already. With this, you’re shooting into the Snake with more speed.”
“The only difference was Snake Alley was maybe a little bit easier,” said Townsend, who won the Masters 60-plus title. “We came in so hard on the switchback, you actually had to scrub off a little speed going into Snake Alley.”
Asked which course he liked better, Dillman laughed.
“You know, I won,” he said. “Honestly, I liked the old course, because I think we climbed more. For me, that’s better. These two long straightaways made it a long course.”
Dillman said the rise heading up 5th Street played to his advantage.
“A lot of guys were gassed from coming up Snake Alley,” he said. “You come here to ride the Snake, so I want to ride it. I’d rather do 30 laps, and go up the hill 30 times, versus 15 long laps.”
The 1-2 Pro race was only 15 laps, but it was the longest race in Criterium history.
“So that’s pretty cool,” Dillman said.
Other winners for the weekend:
• Riley Troyer won the Category 3 race in the Friday Night Fever event. Morgan Hendricks won the Cat 4 race and Kevin Wohlford won the 60-plus event.
• Saturday’s winners included Connell Alford (juniors 15-16 boys), Stella Powell (juniors 15-16 girls), Hunter Post (juniors 17-18 boys), Jim Bethea (Category 5), Braden Reitz (Category 4), and Dillon McNeill (Category 3).
• Nick Carter won the Open Division of the Cobble Climb, setting a new record with a climb of 26.62 seconds. Ansel DeJong won the 14-18 age category.
Editor's note: Results from the women's events will be covered in a separate story.