Red Hook Crit
Brooklyn: Epilogue
This year was the 10th anniversary of Red Hook Crit Brooklyn and the stakes had never been higher. Over the last decade, the prestige of this race has skyrocketed and the competition has responded in kind, with the racing becoming increasingly professional, the racers more dedicated, and the pace of competition increasingly faster. In 2017, the Red Hook Crit (RHC) series will stop in Brooklyn, London, Barcelona, and Milan, and the combination of densely-populated metropolitan locations, coupled with a full day of qualifying and racing, has become a wildly popular format. The enormous crowds that line the race course, from the first qualifier to the final, are testament to the success of these races. And with the hype of the 10th anniversary and beautiful weather in the forecast, this year’s edition was going to be nothing less than fire.The addition of the Specialized x Rocket Espresso Gang of Four—Aldo, Eamon, Stefan, and Alec—was like adding jet fuel to the brightly-burning conflagration, and they took the event to an entirely new level. This team is a super group to such an extent that their palmarès have palmarès. In 2016 alone, Aldo was second in the series, Stefan took the victory in Milan, and Alec was well inside the top 10 overall. And while Brooklyn would be Eamon’s first Red Hook Crit, our dude wasn’t stressed—he’s spent the last couple years ripping legs off in crits and road races around the world. There were high hopes for the team to have a successful weekend, and they delivered in spades. Racing aboard their gorgeous Allez Sprint bikes, bedecked in an insane graphic treatment (designed by Dylan Buffington), the team was dressed to kill and the hunt was on.
Alec and Aldo each won their qualifying heats in decisive fashion, while Eamon and Stefan ran into trouble during their respective qualifiers with crashes and mechanicals. They bounced back to take first and second in the Last Chance qualifier, though. And with the entire team in the field for the final, the atmosphere in the team tent was electric. The first half of the final was a knife fight filled with feints and jabs from teams throughout the field. But when Colin Strickland launched an attack with Stefan glued to his back wheel, mid-race, the breakaway stuck. Aldo, Alec, and Eamon, showed their confidence in Stefan by shutting down any attempts to bridge the gap. Meanwhile at the front, Strickland and Schäfer pushed the pace and put a substantial gap into the rest of the field, setting up a gunslinger dual for the finish. Unfortunately, a crash with five laps to go forced the race to come to a halt in order to clear the course. As it happens, though, Aldo was mixed up in the crash, so with the clock ticking, he rushed to the pits for a new wheel, banged his handlebars back into place, and slammed a beer all to the wild cheers of the crowd.
With the race restarted, Stefan and Colin were given a head start to reestablish their lead, and once again, we were watching a two-up race for the top of the podium. With one lap to go, Colin attacked; unperturbed, Schafer countered with a half-lap remaining, distancing Strickland to take the checkered flag in Brooklyn. Aldo rolled in third, blood-splattered, soaked in beer, and with a wide smile on his face. Alec had taken an early prime and Eamon had dug deep throughout the race chasing down breaks. The team had worked together flawlessly—what a race!