Derek Bouchard-Hall (Mercury Viatel) and Genevieve Jeanson (Rona) were clearly the best in Saturday's  NCC Tour of the Hilltowns in Windsor, Massachusetts. The race produced by the Northampton Cycling Club also doubled as the Massachusetts State Championships.

Bouchard-Hall easily outsprinted Jon Hamblen (Wheelworks/Cannondale) to the line after they broke away along with Kissena's Chris McDonald on the difficult East Hawley Road climb near the mid-point of the 100km loop. Jeanson, who also won the race in 1999, was untouchable as she rode away from the field early and steadily increased her lead throughout the day.

Bouchard-Hall said his group formed at the top of the twisting 5.5km climb that rises 400m to the tiny New England town of Hawley. The trio worked well together, stretching their lead on the chase group even in a stiff headwind over the final 30km. "It looked like at feed zone that we would be caught.  But we turned into the headwind and I think they lost their cohesiveness when it got really hard to pull," he said.

McDonald lost contact with the leaders on the windy, rolling climb to the finish, leaving the two to duke it out in a sprint but Hamblen was no match for Bouchard-Hall at that game. "Jon was climbing very well and I thought he would try to attack me on the final climb but with the tough headwind it made it pretty hard," Bouchard-Hall said. "It kind of seemed like he was resigned to his fate."

Jeanson wasted no time in taking control of the women's race as she formed a two-rider break after just 5km. They were eventually caught but Jeanson rode away alone at the 14km mark and quickly built a big lead on East Hawley Road which pitches upward at 12% in some places.

"Two years ago I had a great day here so I just came back because it's such good training," Jeannson said afterward. "My legs are hurting a lot. I had a good workout and that's why I came here so I'm pretty happy about that."