No one can crash Ulmer's party

FITCHBURG -- The only thing that overshadowed Sarah Ulmer's dominance of the final women's stage of the Fitchburg Longsjo Cycling Classic was the chaos at the end of the men's race.

A crash within 100 yards of the finish line on the final lap vaulted Dan Schmatz to the front of the pack, giving him the win in the Downtown Criterium and securing Shawn Milne's victory in the Cycling Classic.

With the lead group up to 12 racers in the final few laps, the pack made its turn onto Main Street for the final stretch, where Kyle Wamsley got tangled with Ivan Dominguez and both fell near the left curb.

``It was unfortunate to see those guys go down at the end," Schmatz said. ``I hate to see guys fall."

Milne was able to coast for much of the race with four of his Navigators Insurance teammates in front of him , knowing that barring a fall he would ride away with the win.

``Those first five laps I was so nervous," said Milne, who came into the race with a 12-second lead over Heath Blackgrove. ``Then you look up and see five, six, seven blue jerseys in front of you, it helps. You know we're all set."

Ulmer was set from the start.

The New Zealander , a three-time Olympian, dominated the women's Longsjo, and yesterday raced the clock while the main field raced for second.

What started as a modest lead stretched to 18 seconds with 20 laps to go, 46 seconds with 13 laps to go, and 1:52 with four laps to go before she settled for a 1:39 margin of victory. With a lap to go, Ulmer was within seconds of lapping the field, but was instructed not to by her coach.

``I wanted to do it," she said.

Ulmer's primacy spanned three of the Longsjo's four days. First, she won the Fitchburg State College stage by four seconds. Then she came out on top in Saturday's road race by eight seconds. And finally there was yesterday's breeze through downtown Fitchburg.

Initially, the plan was for her to come back to the pack.

``I was supposed to be caught," she said. ``But my [Colavita/Cooking Light] teammates did too good of a job."

Ulmer earned $2,000 for the win in what was likely her last race of the season.