It’s over, folks, and the King of the Roubaix now has a healthy supply of potassium.
Fought since March and over varied terrain, the inaugural edition of the Top Banana Competition has finally come to a fitting conclusion. After a dominating performance all season, Mike Anderson will go down in the annals of history as the first ever winner of the illustrious Top Banana Award.
His first race of the season set the tone. His Barry-Roubaix victory gave him a solid lead early, and his points on the road gave him some healthy separation from the likes of John Cowan, Chad Wells and a storming Jorden Wakeley. It was then more than fitting that Anderson capped 2012 with a 4th place in the biggest race of the season, the Iceman Cometh.
Here’s the points haul:
1 316 Sam Schultz 50 2 347 Geoff Kabush 49 3 299 Brian Matter 48 4 242 Michael Anderson 47 5 319 Ben Sonntag 46 6 346 Derek Zandstra 45 7 334 Jorden Wakeley 44 8 345 Cole House 43 9 336 Troy Wells 42 10 282 Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski 41 11 303 Adam Morka 40 12 315 Tristan Schouten 39 13 256 Colin Cares 38 14 305 Isaac Neff 37 15 307 Mike Phillips 36 16 294 Mark Lalonde 35 17 318 Mike Simonson 34 18 342 Travis Woodruff 33 19 273 Tyler Gauthier 32 20 350 Brad Cole 31 21 348 Cameron Jette 30 22 268 Russell Finsterwald 29 23 331 Alex Vanias 28 24 326 Christian Tanguy 27 25 238 Matt Shriver 26 26 280 Scott Hoffner 25 27 269 Chris Fisher 24 28 312 Ben Renkema 23 29 265 Drew Edsall 22 30 260 John Cowan 21
Wakeley’s 7th place was more than enough to stay high atop the points standings and put an emphatic mark on an unbelievable 2012 season. The Einstein Racing phenom will be even more dangerous next year with a focus on cross country races instead of his normal 100 milers early on. John Cowan and Chad Wells were solid all year long for NCCS, while Alex Vanias, Mac Brennan and Nate Williams helped Anderson represent BISSELL in a big, big way.
Please applaud from your seat…Here’s the Top 25.
Mike Anderson at 154 points
Jorden Wakeley at 137 points
Alex Vanias at 82 points
John Cowan at 81 points
Nathaniel Willams at 78 points
Chris Fisher at 74 points
Brian Matter at 67 points
Scott Hofner at 67 points
Derek Graham at 66 points
Mike Simonson at 66 points
Cole House at 63 points
Chad Wells at 55 points
Sam Schultz at 50 points
Geoff Kabush at 49 points
Ben Sontagg at 46 points
Derek Zandstra at 45 points
Troy Wells at 42 points
JHK at 41 points
Adam Morka at 40 points
Sven Baumann at 40 points
Mac Brennan at 39 points
Colin Cares at 38 points
Adam York at 38 points
Dan Korienek at 37 points
Alexey Vermuellen at 36 points
Mark Lalonde at 36 points
Ben Renkema at 36 points
Earl Hillaker at 35 points
John Card at 35 points
A massive congratulations to Mike Anderson, Jorden Wakeley and Alex Vanias on their Banana podium. A special nod to Vanias, who used a resilient ride after a mechanical to overtake John Cowan and hop into the top three at the Iceman. Thanks for reading, Dear Readers, and stay tuned later this winter for the announcement of ten (10, count’em) race stops for the series next year.