Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

Chattanooga, Tenn. – With a group of 13 riders up the road representing 11 different teams, it was left to the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team to decide whether to help chase down the rapidly moving breakaway or let it go on Stage 3 of the Tour de Georgia.

Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said there was little to gain by assisting the Predictor-Lotto team – which also did not have a rider in the front group – with a pursuit.

“We’ve kind of burned up a lot of our team the past two days,” Willett said. “There wasn’t any great advantage to burn guys and we didn’t have guys to burn, either. We could have put guys in the chase, but it would not have dramatically altered the outcome because those guys up front were really motoring.”

Gianni Meersman (Discovery Channel Pro Cycling) won the 118.2-mile (190.3 km) race in four hours, 33 minutes and 33 seconds. David Canada Gracia (Saunier Duval) finished second and moved into the overall lead by three seconds over teammate Rubens Bertogliati.

Toyota-United’s Caleb Manion said he was disappointed he didn’t make it into the move that may prove to be the decisive one overall in the seven-day, seven-stage race.

“I was actually looking for that sort of move today, but I got caught a little far back but I
guess that’s racing,” Manion said. “Lotto brought it back to about 45 seconds but the boys in the front were riding extremely fast and Lotto started blowing up because nobody was helping them. So the bunch stopped riding. At that stage it was all over.”

With a mountain time trial Thursday and a rolling 107-mile stage on Friday, Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said the race for the overall will hinge on two factors over the next two days.

“I believe it’s going to be one-third time trial and two-thirds Brasstown Bald,” Jansen said. “We have great climbers, that’s why I think that it’s not over.”

Mechanic Shane Fedon’s Wednesday Stage Report
Flat Tires: None
Flat Tires, Tour to Date: One
Mechanicals: None

Thursday’s Stage 4 Time Trial Start Times For Toyota-United:
Burke Swindlehurst, 11:14 a.m.
Chris Wherry, 11:16 a.m.
Ivan Dominguez, 11:28 a.m.
Caleb Manion, 11:30 a.m.
Henk Vogels, 11:38 a.m.
Chris Baldwin, 11:43 a.m.
Justin England, 11:45 a.m.
Ivan Stevic, 12:37 p.m.

Previewing The Stage 4 Time Trial
Toyota-United climbing specialist Justin England is well-suited for Thursday’s individual time trial. But the Raleigh, N.C., native is thinking ahead to a stage where time can be gained in minutes, not seconds.

“I’ll probably save my legs for Brasstown Bald,” England said. “There’s no point in a guy like me riding hard because the best I could probably do is finish 10th on the stage. But if I can save my legs and do something on the Brasstown stage, that would be worth something.”

Thursday’s 18.9-mile (30.4 km) individual time trial begins in Chickamauga, Ga., and climbs to Lookout Mountain. The first rider goes off at 11 a.m.

Time in the Wind Tunnel Pays Off Later Down The Road
The quest to gain a competitive edge in time trials is what lured several members of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team to the San Diego Air and Space Museum's Low Speed Wind Tunnel in late January.

With experts in aerospace test engineering and related fields looking on, each rider rode for 10 to 20 minutes at a time in the wind tunnel, changing his position on the bike by adjusting the "drop" and "reach" of the bars mounted on his handlebars.

Like a downhill ski racer tucked tightly on a descent, each was looking for a position that cuts wind drag without reducing power to the pedals. That meant technicians had to adjust time trial handlebars up and down and forward and back.

"There is a difference between the ability to produce power and the ability to be aerodynamic," said Chris Baldwin, who won the US National Time Trial Championship in 2003 and 2005. "There are positions that are very aerodynamic but impossible for you to pedal."