2017 Fyxation Open Omnium Stage 2 Results: Downer Classic

The second stage of the 2017 Fyxation Open Omnium is in the books and the this year's field put on a race to remember. The Fyxation Open fixed gear criterium is a 4 race omnium that takes place in Milwaukee and Chicago and the Downer Classic fixed gear race was the 2nd stage of this year's event.

ISP Corp Otto Wenz Downer Classic

Stage 1 of the Fyxation Open took place the night before at the Cafe Centraal Bay View Classic and fans and riders were treated to a blow out victory from Red Bull rider Addison Zawada. From the start of the as riders came into our tent for their pre-race bike check, the re-occurring theme was that the pack wasn't going to let Zawada have a repeat performance in stage 2.  

The race started off fast and Chad Conley from team Pharmaco-DeepSouth, led out the early break on a Fyxation Eastside that we loaned him for the race. One of the best things about being hosted here in our home town is that riders that are here competing in the Tour of America's Dairyland (TOAD) have access to loaner bikes from Fyxation so they can also compete in our fixed gear criterium. Because of this, we've had former world champions and international track athletes compete in our event, which brings not only a high level of competition to the event but an international flair as well.

Unlike stage 1 of the Fyxation Open Omnium, stage 2 was extremely competitive and there was a tight lead pack the entire race. A number took turns at the front but the usual suspects were all tightly packed in a lead group of about 15 riders.This year we had a large contingent of riders from The Pack Montreal drive down from Canada to compete in our series. These riders are fast, have competed at the Red Hook Crit in Brooklyn and brought a well organized and competitive team to this year's Fyxation Open.

In the final push to the finish line, The Pack rider Nicolas Cote had the lead for the first time of the day but was closely followed by a surging pack of riders. At the finish line, Nicolas let up a bit and looked to his left only to see a flash of blue from Red Bull Rider, Addison Zawada, as he crossed the finish line. Addison made a final push to the line and was just narrowly edged out by Nicolas who ended up taking first. Coming in 3rd was stage 1 of the Fyxation Open Omnium's second place finisher, Emil Abraham. The 4th and 5th place riders were Alexander Castavo and Sebastian Salinas, both of whom were riding Fyxation Eastsides that we had built them for the race.  That put 3 of our bikes in the top 10 as Chad Conley ended up finishing 7th after leading for much of the race.

Because of low rider turnout we combined the men's and women's field this year here in Milwaukee but the competitors that showed up for the race put on quite a show. The race within the race was led from start to finish by former Fyxation Open Omnium winner Ash Duban and Ash ended up taking home her second 1st place of the Omnium putting her solidly in the lead for the overall Omnium points total. Coming in 2nd was Team Cinelli rider Paola Panzeri and 3rd place went to Team State Bicycle rider Caroline Poole.

We couldn't be happier with the results from the first 2 stages of the Fyxation Open fixed gear omnium here in Milwaukee and we're excited for stage 3 and 4 that will take place in Chicago next month. Stay tuned for additional updates, video footage and rider interviews here and at www.fyxationopen.com.