Tyler Hamilton took the sprint over Blake Caldwell in a photo finish. Caldwell was able to sit on Hamilton's wheel for most of the run-in to the finish, but Hamilton got Caldwell to lead it out and came around his wheel at the last second for the victory. It's Hamilton's first-ever national RR championship and it comes as a redemption on US soil, not too long after his overall victory at the Tour of Qinghai Lake.
Garmin finished 2-3-4 and it was really their race to control. They started ten riders and all -- including Tom Danielson and Christian Vande Velde -- were on the attack. Blake Caldwell, Danny Pate, and Lucas Euser were among the five that finally broke away from a group containing George Hincapie, but they seemed flummoxed by the presence of both Tyler Hamilton and Jeff Louder. They attacked and counter-attacked, but Louder and Hamilton would not quit. Eventually Hamilton took the race into his own hands and went on the attack, with Caldwell following. The chase group of Pate and Euser were unable to drop Louder, so Caldwell was forced to deal with Hamilton all by himself.
It's been a great finish to the year for Rock Racing and there will be plenty of US championship kits to fly next year. Rahsaan Bahati took the US Crit championship and Justin Williams took the U23 championship.
