Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Owner Sean P. Tucker has a few ideas on how the sport of cycling can discourage riders from cheating through the use of performance enhancers.

"The dynamics in European bicycle racing are structured to open the door to doping for two main reasons: First, the riders are doing these long, two- and three-week stage races and they are doing a lot of racing throughout the season," Tucker says in the article. "Second, if they do well in these big races, they can make a million or more dollars in salary and endorsements per year for years after that. So the way cycling in Europe is structured, with the length of the tours and the number of races throughout the season, if you do well, you can set yourself up pretty well for retirement."

Read the rest of his interview with René Schuijlenburg of cyclingheroes.info by clicking here.

Toyota-United swept the podium at the Quad Knopf Sequoia Cycling Classic criterium.
With more than half of the 2007 race schedule in the books, the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team is on pace to exceed its 2006 win total.

During its inaugural season, Toyota-United scored 55 victories and garnered 112 podium finishes.

Team Owner Sean Tucker sees a lot to be proud of with three months of racing to go.

“We are the only domestic team to win stages at the Tour de Georgia and the Amgen Tour of California,” Tucker said. “Our fan club membership numbers more than 20,000 and we are on track for our goal of winning the National Race Calendar team classification.”

Through June 28, Toyota-United has won 26 races and gained 76 podium placings. That amounts to reaching the podium in 94 percent of all races competed in during 2007.

At this time last year, the team had 25 victories on its way to a second place finish in the NRC team classification.

With 13 events left on the NRC calendar, Toyota-United trails only three-time defending team champion Health Net presented by Maxxis in the team standings.

You wouldn’t know it by the sound of his voice, but it has been a frustrating six weeks for Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team’s Ivan Dominguez.

The Cuban super sprinter has been sidelined since a bizarre crash May 17 during Stage 1 of the Tri-Peaks Challenge in Arkansas. Dominguez had already crossed the finish line that day when his front wheel suddenly twisted sideways, tossing him headfirst over the handlebars.

The 5-foot-9, 160-pounder landed squarely on his back, bruising his ribs. He was off the bike for more than two weeks and still has trouble sleeping at night.

“If I am riding real hard, I feel the pain in my back,” Dominguez said.

So what are his expectations for his return to racing this Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix?

“It’s hard to say,” he said Thursday. “I stopped for a month and although I feel good training, racing is a lot different.”

The crash at Tri-Peaks forced Dominguez to miss the “Philly Week” races earlier this month. The series of single-day races have previously showcased his sprinting ability, including the second place he scored at the International Championship last year in Philadelphia.

But while Dominguez has won eight races this season (his last victory was May 11 at the Joe Martin Stage Race), Toyota-United has continued its winning ways without him, racking up 11 first place finishes.

“Some teams only have one guy who can win. Our team has many,” Dominguez said. “It’s made me feel more relaxed seeing them win.”

Dominguez will be joined by a host of talented teammates when he takes the start line for the 46th edition of the race that has seen its spot on the National Race Calendar moved up from its mid-August date of a year ago.

Last year’s race was won by Toyota-United’s J.J. Haedo while Dominguez finished fourth. In addition to Dominguez, Toyota-United riders Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia, Caleb Manion, Ryan Miller, Sean Sullivan, Henk Vogels and Chris Wherry will be racing in front of a crowd that traditionally numbers more than 10,000.

The 90-minute race will be broadcast live on the Internet by iBN Sports (www.ibnsports.com) and archived for later viewing.

The hot dog-shaped course for the expected field of more than 150 riders features a pair of long straightaways, two sweeping 180 degree turns and 50-feet of climbing per lap.

Making each 1.4-mile (2.2 km) lap most challenging is the 180-degree turn that comes 300 meters from the finish line.

“If you’re not in the top two or three places coming around that turn on the last lap, it’s going to be hard for you to win the race,” Dominguez said. “Every year, you have people crashing and getting all crazy.”

Toyota-United’s Stefano Barberi and Bobby Lea finished 25th and 51st, respectively, in Thursday’s opening time trial of the 48th annual Fitchburg Longsjo Classic in Fitchburg, Mass.

Barberi completed the 6.55-mile (10.5 km) point-to-point race against the clock in 17 minutes and 35 seconds. Russell Langley (Battley Harley-David) won in a time of 16:17.6. Lea clocked a time of 18:13.3.

Friday’s stage is the 78-mile Fitchburg State College Circuit Race, followed by Saturday’s 104-mile Wachusett Mountain Road Race. The race concludes Sunday with the 50-mile Workers Credit Union Downtown Criterium.

“Hopefully these guys can seize the opportunity in the road race,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “There’s a nice uphill finish which will suit Stefano.”

Ivan Stevic's victory was his first stage race win since turning pro in 2005.
Stillwater, Minn. - Ivan Stevic will be the first to tell you that his first overall stage race victory in his two-and-a-half seasons as a professional was hardly an individual effort.

Stevic’s Toyota-United Pro Cycling teammates helped the 27-year-old win the opening criterium of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Then they spent the rest of the five-day, six-stage National Race Calendar event chasing down break-aways or controlling the field in the race’s remaining criterium and two road stages.

After losing the lead after Thursday night’s Cannon Falls Road Race, the two-time Serbian National Champion regained it with a stunning third-place in the following morning’s time trial.

Stevic sealed the win – and his victory in the Wheaties sprint points competition – by finishing sixth in Sunday’s criterium in the same time as winner Frank Pipp (Health Net).

On the final classification, Stevic finished 27 seconds ahead of Rory Sutherland (Health Net) in a race that covered 251 miles (405 km) in a blazingly fast 29.2 mph.

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said the team approached the race with the idea that Stevic would win.

“He had the best odds,” Jansen said. “If you limit mistakes, you secure those odds.
“It’s always tough to ride a flawless race but that’s where the state of the team comes in. This group of guys can really pull together and make it happen. If you have a concise, clear plan in place, everyone can visualize that win and that’s they did this week.”

Henk Vogels said the timing of the victory was also good.

“This was the most valuable race of the year for us as far as the NRC is concerned,” he said.

Race Note: Chris Wherry said he is feeling better after having to abandon the race after the second stage. “I had a cold and it went straight to my lungs, which made it hard to breathe,” he said. “I’m already doing better and looking forward to racing at Manhattan Beach next week.”

Labels: Chris Wherry, Harm Jansen, Henk Vogels, Ivan Stevic

Riders tackle the challenging climb of the circuit in Mankato.
Mankato, Minn. — Defending Ivan Stevic’s lead at the Nature Valley Grand Prix on the penultimate stage Saturday may have cost the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team a chance to put two riders in the top five overall and its third-place spot on the team classification.

But the efforts of riding on the front and working hard to reel in a pair of dangerous breakaways on Stage 5’s 86-mile (138.4 km) Mankato Road Race were more than enough to keep Stevic in the race leader’s yellow jersey with only on stage remaining in the five-day, six-stage race. Sunday’s Stillwater Criterium – a 60-minute race on a highly technical 1.5-mile (2.4 km) course – was one of Stevic’s seven wins of the 2006 season.

Rory Sutherland (Health Net presented by Maxxis) emerged from a group of six riders who escaped on the final lap of the finishing circuit to give Health Net its fourth consecutive stage win of the race. But eight seconds later, Stevic won the bunch sprint from what remained of the shattered peloton to retain his race lead over Health Net’s Nathan O’Neill by 23 seconds.

“Today was the hardest stage for us because we had to do so much to control the race,” Stevic said.

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said defending the jersey became most difficult when a group of about 15 riders rolled off the front 35 miles into the race.

“The gap may have never gone past 20 seconds, but it was a hard, hard chase,” he said. “We spent 30 minutes on the front before we brought them back.”

A second break of four riders later rolled off the front and had a 20-second lead as the race entered Mankato for four laps of a 2.2-mile (3.5 km) finishing circuit featuring the challenging climb up Man Hill Road that gains 200 feet of elevation in half-a-mile. But Toyota-United’s all-out chase pulled them back and the field was together as it received the bell for the final lap.

Moments later, teammates Sutherland and O’Neill joined up with two riders from the Navigators Insurance Cycling Team (Darren Lill and Phil Zajicek), Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) and Cesar Augusto Grajales (Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling Team) and charged up the climb as Stevic found himself isolated for the first time. With O’Neill 31 seconds off the lead in third place, Stevic knew he had to keep the break in sight.

“His legs weren’t the best at the end,” Jansen said. “But he did what he had to do to keep the jersey.”

Stevic said he is not feeling the pressure of trying to score the first stage race win of his two-year professional career.

“That’s because I came here with the idea to win,” he said. “All the guys on Toyota-United really want me to win so it’s easy to defend the lead when you’re surrounded by so many great teammates.”

Toyota-United’s Chris Baldwin, who was fifth overall heading into the stage, lost contact with the peloton after expending so much energy on the chase on the finishing circuits and dropped to 13th place overall. Baldwin had been on his way to his fourth top five placing at a National Race Calendar stage race this year.

The Stillwater course features a climb up Chilkoot Hill averaging 18 percent grade, along with 10 90-degree turns. It has traditionally been a decisive stage that figures prominently into the overall. When Stevic won the stage last year – ahead of current Toyota-United teammate Caleb Manion (who was riding for the Jelly Belly Cycling Team) – only 22 riders finished within a minute of the lead as the field was decimated by the difficulty of the course.

Toyota-United's Ivan Stevic joins the other jersey wearers after Stage 4.
Minneapolis - — Calling his teammates’ performance “simply amazing,” Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team widened his overall lead Friday night during the Stage 4 Minneapolis Downtown Classic Criterium at the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

An estimated crowd of nearly 20,00 watched as Toyota-United controlled the 60-minute race, helping Stevic win three time bonus sprints (amounting to 15 seconds) as well as a 10-second time bonus for second place on the stage. Kirk O’Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis) scored his second stage win of the race while Toyota-United’s Henk Vogels finished third.

“The guys were doing perfect lead-outs for me all night,” Stevic said. “They did everything as we planned, except for me getting second. I had hoped to win. Unfortunately, in the final sprint, I didn’t see O’Bee coming around at all. But we’re happy with second and third on the stage. It shows Toyota-United is the strongest team at the race.”

Stevic’s lead over O’Bee stands at 19 seconds with two stages remaining: Saturday’s 86.8-mile (139.7 km) Mankato Road Race and an hour-long criterium in Stillwater, Minn. Sunday. Nathan O’Neill (Health Net) and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) are tied for third, 31 seconds behind Stevic. Toyota-United’s Chris Baldwin is fifth, 40 seconds off the lead.

Throughout Friday night’s race, Toyota-United rode on the front to discourage attacks and limit breakaways from getting too far ahead. The average speed for the race was 36.9 mph.

“From the first moment I came back to the bus after the race, I saw the guys were so happy,” Stevic said. “This night was all about winning those bonus sprints and keeping the pressure on. They definitely want to win this race and it really gives me so much positive energy.”

In third place in the team classification, Toyota-United’s remaining seven riders include Baldwin, Heath Blackgrove, Justin England, Caleb Manion, Sean Sullivan and Vogels. An eighth team member who started the race, Chris Wherry, had to retire after Stage 2 due to illness.

Saturday’s road race includes four point bonus sprints (a classification Stevic leads) but only time bonuses on the finish line for the first three finishers. The 118 riders remaining in the race will complete four laps of a 2.2-mile (3.5 km) finishing circuit in Mankato that Stevic calls “challenging.”

“They’re short, but steep climbs, so the finish is pretty hard,” he said. “Before that, it will pretty much be rolling hills and we’ll have to contend with the wind like we did on the other road stage. So it’s going to be hard to control the race.”

Ivan Stevic is back in the lead at the Nature Valley Grand Prix after Stage 3.
St. Paul -Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team pulled off a stunning performance in Friday morning’s Stage 3 individual time trial to regain the yellow jersey he lost the night before at the ninth annual Nature Valley Grand Prix.

The Serbian National Champion was only nine seconds slower than eight-time Australian national time trial champion Nathan O’Neill (Health Net presented by Maxxis), who won the 5.0-mile (8.0 km) race against the clock with an average speed of 31.6 mph.

Stevic’s third-place finish – behind Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) and just six-tenths of a second ahead of Toyota-United teammate Chris Baldwin – put him back in the race lead heading into Friday night’s Minneapolis Downtown Classic Criterium. Stevic leads O’Neill by six seconds, with Stage 2 winner Kirk O’Bee (Health Net) in third place, nine seconds back. Baldwin’s time trial moved him from 34th to fifth place overall, 15 seconds behind Stevic.

There are a total of four bonus sprints in tonight’s criterium, each carrying time bonuses of five, three and one-second for the first three riders. Additionally, there are bonuses of 15, 10 and six seconds for the first three finishers of the stage. With 39 riders within one minute of the lead, the time bonus sprints are expected to figure heavily into the 60-minute race.

Stevic’s remarkable ride back into the race lead helped Toyota-United forget the misfortunes suffered on Stage 3’s 65.3-mile (105 km) road race Thursday night in Cannon Falls, Minn. Baldwin was involved in a large pile-up less than 15 kilometers into the stage and had to switch bikes three times after it was discovered his Fuji bicycle frame had been damaged in the crash.

Additionally, Toyota-United’s Chris Wherry, who has been plagued by illness for much of the season, withdrew from the event after finishing more than nine minutes down in Thursday night’s race. Earlier in the stage, Wherry had figured prominently in Toyota-United’s chase to catch three riders who held a nearly two minutes’ lead with 30 km remaining in the race. The trio was caught after the race reached the finishing circuits within Cannon Falls and Stevic finished fourth in the bunch sprint.

Toyota-United spent much of Stage 2 on the front chasing down a break.
Cannon Falls, Minn. - Toyota-United's Ivan Stevic finished fourth in the bunch sprint finish on Stage 2 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix but it was not enough to hold onto the yellow jersey of race leader.

Stevic lost out on time bonuses to stage winner Kirk O'Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis).

Labels: Ivan Stevic

Stevic wins with a fist pump while Vogels (right) has time to celebrate as well.
St. Paul, Minn. - Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team captured the opening stage of the ninth annual Nature Valley Grand Prix Wednesday night by winning the Downtown St. Paul Criterium.

Stevic rebounded from a mid-race crash that sent him over the handlebars and onto the pavement coming into the first turn of the six-corner, six-tenths of a mile (1.1 km) course that the racers circled for 60 minutes.

“Two guys in front of me crashed and I lost control and went down,” Stevic said. “I got back up and I was pretty angry after that so the adrenaline was really flowing.”

Stevic was delivered to the finish line by teammates Henk Vogels, Caleb Manion and Sean Sullivan (pictured at right) in what Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen called “an impressive leadout.” Kirk O’Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis) finished second and Jonathan Page (Nature Valley) was third.

“Henk (Vogels) was the last one to pull off and even he managed to finish fourth,” Jansen said.

The victory was Stevic’s fourth of the season and the 25th for Toyota-United in 2007. Just three days ago, Stevic won the Driveway Criterium in Austin, Texas, using another picture-perfect lead-out from Vogels.

“I was feeling pretty good before the crash,” Stevic said. “It helps that the guys were amazing and did more than a perfect job to help me tonight.”

Jansen said Toyota-United has every intention of keeping the yellow jersey of race leadership on Stevic’s back for the remainder of the five-day, six-stage race.

“We definitely want to protect the jersey,” Jansen said. “Tomorrow, we will be protecting Stevic and one or two of our other riders.”

Thursday’s stage is the 65.3-mile (105 km) Cannon Falls Road Race. The race starts and finishes at Cannon Falls, Minn., with a 5 p.m. start. Though it is a short race, Jansen cautioned that it will be made more difficult by five laps of a difficult 1.9-mile (3 km) finishing circuit.

“It’s going to be windy and the finishing circuits are pretty tough. That makes tomorrow’s race a tough one,” Jansen said.

Stevic, who won the final stage of the 2006 race, said he hadn’t even looked that far ahead.

“If it’s like last year’s course, it is pretty steep, short climbs,” he said. “No matter what, I think we have a strong team here so we’ll see how it goes.”

Labels: Harm Jansen, Henk Vogels, Ivan Stevic, Sean Sullivan

Toyota-United’s Burke Swindlehurst climbed to the top step of the podium Sunday as the winner of the two-day, three-stage High Uintas Classic Stage Race in Evanston, Wyo.

Swindlehurst soloed away to win Saturday’s 80-mile race through the rugged mountains of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest to the summit of Bald Mountain. He followed that with third in Sunday morning’s 10-mile time trial and second in the afternoon criterium.

“I'm pretty happy with this since I've been second at this race the previous four times I’ve done it,” Swindlehurst said.

With Swindlehurst's victory, Toyota-United has now won 22 races in 2007.

Labels: Burke Swindlehurst

Bobby Lea’s quest to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing began Friday night in the venue known as the “Track Cycling Capital of the World,” the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, Penn.

Over the next three-and-a-half months, Lea will become very familiar with the 333.3-meter concrete track and its 28-degree banked turns as he attempts to gain enough points to make the United States Olympic team in the points and Madison races.

“It’s no secret that it’s less competitive to make the Olympic team on the track than on the road,” Lea said. “For someone like me, track is by far my best shot. I know that if it is something I want to do, I have to get it done now, then I can switch over to road racing full-time.”

Lea has the opportunity to compete in seven Union Cycliste Internationale events this season, the most of any velodrome in the world. During UCI-sanctioned events, riders accumulate points for the world championship and toward qualifying for the Olympic Games. Because of this, more than a dozen top international riders are spending the summer in Trexlertown.

Since he started racing at Lehigh Valley (at the age of eight) in 1991, Lea has won seven elite national championships, five national titles as a junior and 30 National Collegiate Cycling Association national track titles. But adding to those victories seemed questionable this spring when Lea underwent surgery to repair arteries in his legs.

The Easton, M.D., native had been experiencing problems with blood flow to his legs while pedaling with maximum effort during competition and training. An examination revealed constriction of the external iliac artery in both legs. Surgeons at the University of Virginia Medical Center placed a patch inside each artery to act as a wedge and open the artery back up to its proper size.

After extensive rehabilitation following the March 8 surgery, Lea was back on the bike in a few weeks and racing again by the last week of April.

“The first couple of weeks back were tough,” he said, “but I am definitely stronger than what I was before the surgery.”

Lea surprised even himself with a win at the Leonardtown Criterium on May 20 and raced impressively at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic earlier this month.

The two events Lea has his sights on for the Olympics are similar. In the Madison, he will pair with another rider to compete for points during sprint laps. The event is a variation of the points race – Lea’s other main discipline – in which points are awarded to the first five finishers of sprints that occur periodically throughout the race.

Even though his primary goal is to compile UCI points toward an Olympic qualifying spot, Lea will split his time between the track and road racing.

Sunday was a prime example of the demands he will face. After finishing third in the 30 km points race and fifth in the 15 km scratch race Friday night, Lea was racing early the next afternoon in the Crystal City Classic criterium in Arlington, Va.

“I rode the first 45 kilometers sitting in, just trying to find my legs,” Lea said.

After working his way into three different breakaways – the last of which was caught with two laps to go – Lea finished 19th.

Labels: Bobby Lea

Toyota-United's Sean Sullivan (center) escaped with USA Crits series leader Mark Hekman (Abercrombie & Fitch) and Phil Wikoff (HealthCoach) with 10 laps to go.
Austin, Texas - Short on numbers, the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team still managed to come up with impressive results at a pair of weekend races in Austin, Texas.

Only Sean Sullivan, Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels made the trip to Texas’ capital city to compete in Saturday’s AT&T Downtown Austin Criterium and Sunday’s Driveway Criterium.

In front of a huge crowd, Sullivan nearly pulled off a win Saturday jumping out of a three-man breakaway – only to be caught on the last lap of the 70-minute race.

Frank Travieso (AEG-Toshiba-Jet Network) took the win, as Stevic and Vogels finished third and fourth, respectively.

“We were hoping Sean would make it to the finish,” Stevic said. “It was really hard to control things with only three guys.”

Sunday’s race featured a smaller field but speeds were still high on the car and go-kart racing track where the race was held.

The 45-minute race featured a flurry of attacks. But it all came back together in the end with Stevic taking the win and Vogels placing third. The victory was Stevic's third of the season.

Labels: Henk Vogels, Ivan Stevic, Sean Sullivan

Left to right: "Chepe" Garcia, Sean Sullivan, Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels.
Austin, Texas — The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team will field one of the strongest squads for Saturday’s 2007 AT&T Austin Downtown Criterium, the fourth race of the USA CRITS Series.

Toyota-United’s lineup for the 70-minute race consists of Serbian national champion Ivan Stevic, Australian Tour de France veteran Henk Vogels, former Mexican national champion Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia and former Australian Under 19 national champion Sean Sullivan.

The four are responsible for five of Toyota-United’s 21 victories this season. Stevic scored one of the team’s most impressive wins on Stage 2 of the Tour de Georgia when he soloed over the top of Clocktower Hill in Rome, Ga., to notch the only victory by a domestic team at the ProTour race.

Toyota-United has been ranked either first or second all season in the National Race Calendar team standings. In addition to its 21 wins, the team has more than 60 podium finishes (first, second or third placings) to its credit and is rapidly closing in on the 100-win mark in just its second season as a professional cycling team.

Vogels was Toyota-United’s best finisher in Philadelphia, placing 13th. He was one of a number of racers that were delayed by a crash a couple hundred meters from the finish line.

“It’s frustrating when you ride six hours and everything comes unglued in the last kilometer,” Sullivan said about the end to the 156-mile (251 km) race that was won by former Toyota-United rider Juan Jose Haedo.

At the last USA CRIT Series race in Arlington, Va., June 2, Stevic narrowly lost the sprint to Rashaan Bahati (Rock & Republic Cycling Team). Toyota-United did not field any riders for the first two races of the series.

Toyota-United is one of the most fan-friendly teams in the pro peloton. Its riders wear their last names on the backs of their jerseys for easy identification (like other “mainstream” sports such as basketball, football and baseball). The team also has a fan club that boasts 20,000 members who receive discounts on team merchandise and apparel, as well as monthly e-mail newsletter and other special offers. For more information, visit www.toyota-united.com.

Labels: Henk Vogels, Ivan Stevic, Jose Manuel-Garcia, Sean Sullivan

Philadelphia - The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team saw its two best opportunities to win Sunday’s Commerce Bank International Championship end in two different ways.

A late-race breakaway that included Toyota-United’s Caleb Manion and Ivan Stevic was chased down and caught on the final trip up the Manayunk Wall.

But the bigger blow came with the finish line in sight and four Toyota-United riders near the front of the pack. A collision nearly took down Henk Vogels and held up the others as CSC’s Juan Jose Haedo sprinted down the parkway for the victory.
Despite the misfortunes, Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen had many positives to point out after the 156-mile (251 km) race that was run in record time.

“The guys had a phenomenal race,” Jansen said. “In all honesty, maybe a better race than last year. They didn’t make mistakes.

“Stevic and Manion did what they had to do. They had to make moves in the final part of the race and that’s what they did. Everyone did their job.”

Indeed, after Stevic crashed hard, he regained the field with the help of teammate Heath Blackgrove and rode straight through to a breakaway up the road that included Manion.

“When I saw Caleb, it was a beautiful day,” Stevic said.

The group of 10 included two from the Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, two from the Symmetrics Cycling Team, one each from the two ProTour teams (T-Mobile and CSC), plus riders from Health Net presented by Maxxis and the BMC Professional Cycling team. The escapees’ lead grew to nearly 90 seconds before they were reeled back in through the combined chasing efforts of the Slipstream presented by Chipotle and Tecos de la Universidad teams.

“Everyone but Slipstream loved it,” Manion said.

Toyota-United’s Chris Wherry, who won the race in 2005, also made his way into breakaway that gained more than a minute’s lead. But each time, like all the rest of the breakaways before and after that, it was reeled in.

But the most decisive blow to Toyota-United’s chances of improving on last year’s second-place finish by Ivan Dominguez came as Vogels was sitting in 10th place. A rider lost control as the final sprint began.

“It started on the left and came across four lanes of traffic to the right,” Wherry said. “It actually hit Henk and he was sliding sideways but managed to pull out of it.”

Vogels’ 13th-place finish was the best Toyota-United could manage. But it did not diminish Jansen’s spirits.

“I walked onto the bus with a smile on my face and told the guys they rode a fantastic race,” he said.

Philadelphia –The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team will put two former champions and a stage winner at the Tour de Georgia on the start line of Sunday’s Commerce Bank International Championship in Philadelphia.

American Chris Wherry (2005) and Australian Henk Vogels (2000) have each earned wins in the 156-mile (251 km) race when it was contested as the USPRO road race championship. They will join Serbian national champion Ivan Stevic, winner of Stage 2 at the Tour de Georgia, on Toyota-United’s roster for the final event of the Triple Crown of Cycling.

Stevic has competed in the Philadelphia race twice before, but has never placed better than 14th. Last Saturday, he finished second to Rashaan Bahati (Rock & Republic Cycling Team) at the CSC Invitational in Arlington, Va.

But it is another Ivan – Ivan Dominguez – who has been grabbing headlines for Toyota-United this season. The Cuban has won eight races, including Stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California, and finished second in last year’s International Championship. But a crash in mid-May at the Tri-Peaks Challenge Stage Race sidelined Dominguez with back and rib injuries.

“It is definitely a loss to not have Ivan Dominguez here with us,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “It would allow us to be a little more flexible with our tactics.”

Toyota-United will field one of the most international lineups of any team in the 140-plus rider field.
Joining Stevic, Wherry and Vogels on Toyota-United’s roster will be Brazilian Stefano Barberi, New Zealander Heath Blackgrove, Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia of Mexico and Australians Caleb Manion and Sean Sullivan.

Sunday’s forecast calls for sunny skies with low humidity and a high temperature of 80 degrees Farenheit (27 degrees Celcius). Stevic said he wouldn’t mind the temperature to be even warmer.

“I want it to be hot – like 90 degrees or more,” he said. “I always feel good in hot and humid weather.”

Jansen agrees that the race takes on a different complexion when the mercury rises.

“We would fare well with hot weather because it would make for a smaller group coming to the finish,” he said. “That would make it an easier race to control in the end.”

Nearly half a million spectators are expected to turn out for Sunday’s race that includes 10 laps of a 14.4-mile circuit. The featured aspect of the course is the brutal ascent of the 17 percent grade Manayunk Wall. Thousands pack the climb, contributing to a world championship-like atmosphere that is unlike any other in a race in the United States.

“It’s probably the single-most prestigious one-day race in the United States,” Jansen said. “It’s one of those races that we were very close to winning last year and we’ve definitely put our sights on it.”

“Philadelphia is a special race, unlike any other we will ride the entire year,” Stevic said. “You really have to have a feeling that you’re going to win this race.”


Although the race will be the longest single-day event Toyota-United will compete in this year, Stevic said long training rides aren’t necessary to adequately prepare for the distance.

“The big effort in this race only lasts about two hours,” Stevic said. “Before that, it is just about riding your bike.”

Toyota-United will spend Friday training outside Philadelphia, in Reading, where the team competed in the second leg of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown on Thursday afternoon, then ride the course on Saturday.

German Bernhard Eisel (T-Mobile) is the leader in the Triple Crown standings after the first two legs of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown. With victories at both Lancaster and Reading, Eisel has an 80-point lead over Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team), who finished second in Lancaster on Sunday. Through the first two races, Toyota-United’s best placing is the 10th place finish by Caleb Manion in Thursday’s race in Reading.

Toyota-United has won 20 races this season and is the only domestic team to win stages at both the Amgen Tour of California and the Tour de Georgia. The second-year squad is also the only one in the U.S. with an official fan club. The Toyota-United membership team (www.toyota-united.com) boasts nearly 20,000 fans who have signed up to receive the team’s newsletter and purchase team merchandise and apparel at discounted prices.

Toyota-United celebrates after Heath Blackgrove's stage win at Mt. Hood.
Reading, Penn. – Toyota-United, one of the top-ranked professional bicycling racing teams in the National Race Calendar standings, is among more than a dozen squads that will participate in the Commerce Bank Reading Classic on Thursday.

Toyota-United’s roster includes Australian Henk Vogels, a veteran of several Tours de France, as well as Serbian national champion Ivan Stevic, who finished second Saturday at the CSC Invitational in Arlington, Va.

More than 140 racers will compete in the race Thursday over a 75-mile, 11-lap circuit course that winds its way through the streets of Reading. On the final three laps, the course diverts the cyclists up the challenging Mt. Penn climb.

“The race organizers have made the race much tougher this year by making us climb Mt. Penn two more times than last year,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “That climb seemed to be the decisive factor in the race, so I would expect it will figure prominently again this time.”

Reading is the second stop of The Commerce Bank Triple Crown Series. On Sunday, Bernhard Eisel of the German T-Mobile squad won a rain-soaked, 85-mile race in Lancaster, Penn. The series concludes on Sunday with the Philadelphia International Championship, a grueling 156-mile race that is widely considered the single-most important bicycle race in North America.

Toyota-United has won 20 races this season and is the only domestic team to win stages at both the Amgen Tour of California and the Tour de Georgia. The second-year squad is also the only one in the U.S. with an official fan club. The Toyota-United membership team (www.toyota-united.com) boasts nearly 20,000 fans who have signed up to receive the team’s newsletter and purchase team merchandise and apparel at discounted prices.

Labels: Henk Vogels, Ivan Stevic

Heath Blackgrove wins while teammate Bobby Lea celebrates.
Hood River, Ore. - Heath Blackgrove won his first race since the first week of January and teammate Bobby Lea cruised in behind him to give the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team a 1-2 finish on the final stage of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic.

Blackgrove and Lea were hardly challenged in the final sprint to the line at the end of Sunday’s Stage 6 Downtown Criterium. Blackgrove said he was originally going to lead out Lea at the end of the 60-minute race. But on the tight, four-tenths-of-a-mile course, the New Zealander recognized an opportunity to win himself when Lea allowed a gap to open up through the final corners.

“I took the last four corners and just bombed through those as hard as I could,” Blackgrove said. “I didn’t want to lead Bobby out too early because it was an uphill sprint and into the wind. Once I got through the final corner, I just kept waiting for someone to come around me and no one did.”

Lea said he thought it would be a good idea to back off from Blackgrove heading into the final corner in order to keep his momentum onto the 150-meter finishing straightaway.

“But when I came out of the last corner, I hit it and no one was on my wheel,” Lea said. “So I didn’t even have to come around Heath.”

The 1-2 finish in the criterium that featured an average speed of 45.2 kph (27.9 mph) came in addition to Toyota-United’s Stefano Barberi winning the King of the Mountains classification. Those results brought a huge grin to the face of Team Director Kirk Willett.

“The guys raced aggressively today and, in the end, the week turned out great for us,” Willett said.

Sunday’s race was a role reversal of sorts for Toyota-United’s top two riders on the general classification. With their spots in the top 12 overall likely not to change in the final stage, Chris Baldwin and Justin England went to work following attacks and keeping Lea and Blackgrove out of trouble.

England, who was third across the line in Saturday’s Stage 5 Wy’East Road Race, finished in fifth place overall, three minutes behind Nathan O’Neill (Health Net), who repeated as the race’s overall champion. Chris Baldwin, who came into the race a handful of points behind Ben Jacques-Maynes on the National Race Calendar standings, finished 11th overall, 3:41 behind.

Blackgrove, who now has four wins to his credit this season, said the victory eases some of the frustration that came with rehabilitating a nagging knee injury suffered at the Amgen Tour of California in February.

“It’s been a long, hard road back but finally things are slowly starting to improve for me over the past few weeks,” he said.

Blackgrove and Barberi will now head to the East Coast to ride the second and third races of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown race series on Thursday and Sunday.

Burke Swindlehurst (left) joins Justin England (right) and
stage winner Darren Lill (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team).
Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area, Oregon – Intent on making sure Stefano Barberi remained in the King of the Mountains jersey at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett devised a plan Saturday that would pay even bigger dividends.

Facing the toughest stage of the race, Willett instructed Barberi and teammate Burke Swindlehurst to initiate a break early on in Stage 5’s 89-mile (143.2 km) Wy’East Road Race. The result was an eight-man group that stayed in front nearly the entire stage, with Swindlehurst finishing second, followed by teammate Justin England in third.

“We had a plan set up for today and everyone executed the plan exactly as we discussed,” Willett said. “We came out of that with second and third on the day and the KOM jersey. That’s a pretty darn good day.”

Darren Lill (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) rode away from Swindlehurst and Barberi in the final kilometers to win the stage by 21 seconds. England jumped out of the peloton with 3.1 miles (5 km) to go and finished seven seconds behind Swindlehurst. The result moved England up to sixth place overall, two minutes and 55 seconds behind race leader Nathan O’Neill (Health Net presented by Maxxis).

“This race has been really tough, with good courses,” England said. “But I think our team has represented itself well. We’ve been active in the breakaways – both today and yesterday – but we really would have liked to have come away with a stage win.”

Barberi said he envisioned the early breakaway being able to stay away on the course that featured 9,200 feet of climbing. At one point, the escapees had a four-minute lead.

“It was a good group of guys and everyone was working well together,” Barberi said. “There was no looking back. We were either going to win the stage or destroy the rest of the field. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the win.”

With only Sunday’s 60-minute Downtown Criterium remaining in the six-day race, Barberi needs only to finish to win the first-ever special classification of his three-year professional career.

Toyota-United also moved into third place Saturday in the team classification behind Navigators Insurance Cycling Team and Health Net presented by Maxxis.

Labels: Burke Swindlehurst, Justin England, Stefano Barberi

Stevic led with 200 meters to go, only to be nipped at the line.
Arlington, Va. — Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team came within inches of winning the sprint finish Saturday at the 10th annual CSC Invitational.

It was a drag race from the final corner to the finish line, with Stevic being beaten by Rashaan Bahati (Rock & Republic Cycling Team) while Hilton Clarke (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) was third.

“It was a long sprint and into a headwind, so it probably helped Rashaan that he was able to come from behind me,” Stevic said. "I'm happy for him and his team.”

Stevic’s finish was the second runner-up placing on the day for Toyota-United. At the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic in Oregon, Burke Swindlehurst and Justin England finished second and third, respectively, on Stage 5 at that National Race Calendar event.

Stevic, the reigning Serbian National Champion, said he received a perfect leadout from teammates Chris Wherry and Henk Vogels on the final lap of the 62-mile (100 km), 100-lap race that is billed as the “Hardest Crit in America.” The only glitch, Stevic said, was that he came around Vogels on the outside of the final turn, rather than the inside.

“I should have told Henk I was coming up on the inside,” Stevic said. “I can usually do the corners really tight, so I usually go to the inside. Rashaan saw my mistake and jumped, and there was no way to catch him.”

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said he was pleased the team performed so well despite the absence of its top sprinter, Ivan Dominguez, who is recovering from a crash that injured his back and ribs.

"Ivan Stevic was really fantastic today," Jansen said. "We had only six guys in the race and we got second place, so I'm pretty happy about it."

Of Toyota-United’s six riders, two of them – Jose Manual Garcia and Caleb Manion – were not feeling 100 percent in the 90-degree heat. Garcia was suffering from stomach problems and Manion was experiencing back pain, Stevic said.

“Everyone did what they could today,” Stevic said. “With eight laps to go, I almost crashed and went all the way to the back of the bunch. But Chris (Wherry) came back and got me and took me right back to the front. We were very lucky that he was feeling good today.”

In the early going of the race, Victor Rapinski (Navigators Insurance) ventured off on a solo breakaway and was within 15 seconds of lapping the field on the five-turn, one-kilometer course through Arlington’s Clarendon district before several teams began working hard on the front.

Rapinski was eventually brought back and, in the closing laps, Toyota-United and Team CSC controlled the front to set up the bunch sprint.

“It looked like it was going to come down to a bunch sprint,” Jansen said, “so we played it that way.”

Labels: Harm Jansen, Henk Vogels, Ivan Stevic

The Dalles, Ore. – Stefano Barberi of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team can secure the King of the Mountains crown Saturday in the Stage 5 Wy’East Road Race at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic.

The 89-mile (143.2 km) race features 9,200 feet of climbing to the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area. With three KOM sprint opportunities, Barberi needs only to retain his seven-point lead over teammate Burke Swindlehurst and 10-point margin over Jeff Louder (Health Net presented by Maxxis) to hang onto the special green and white jersey. (Sunday’s final stage is a criterium with no KOM points on the line.)

“He rode a little bit easy in the time trial today,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said of the Brazilian. “His goal will be to win that first King of the Mountain sprint and lock it up.”

Points are available for the first five racers across each of three KOM sprint lines along Saturday’s race route. Point values range from seven (first) to two (fifth) for each sprint.

Saturday’s race begins with the Category 1 climb over Road 44 (at mile 12.9), followed by the ascent to Tygh Grade (mile 42.4) and, finally, a 35-mile, 4,500-foot climb to the mountaintop finish at Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area. All three climbs are KOM sprints.

Willett said Toyota-United’s remaining goal for the six-day, six-stage race is to win a stage. Chris Baldwin has come the closest, finishing third in the opening time trial on Tuesday.

Baldwin had the best time of the Toyota-United team in Friday’s 18.5-mile (29.7 km) Best Western Hood River Inn Scenic Gorge Time Trial. But his result was only good enough for ninth place, two minutes and 28 seconds behind stage winner Nathan O’Neill (Health Net).

“Yesterday’s effort in the breakaway seemed to have an effect on Chris,” Willett said. “I think he’s a little tired. After doing so many months of racing, it’s finally starting to show this week.”

Justin England finished 11th in the time trial, 2:36 back, while Heath Blackgrove (pictured at right) was 12th (2:43 behind), Burke Swindlehurst was 36th (5:02 behind), Bobby Lea was 45th (5:42 behind) and Barberi was 57th (6:27 behind).

In the overall standings, Baldwin is ninth overall, 3:00 behind O’Neill, followed by England in 10th (3:03 back), Swindlehurst is 28th, Lea is 31st, Blackgrove is 38th and Barberi is 44th.

Arlington, Va. — Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team sprinter Ivan Dominguez will miss Saturday’s CSC Invitational and the entire Commerce Bank “Triple Crown of Cycling” series while he continues his recovery from a bizarre crash at the Tri-Peaks Challenge last month.

Dominguez has been Toyota-United’s most successful racer this season, winning eight races – including Stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California. The Cuban is a past winner of the CSC Invitational (in 2005), finished second at the Philadelphia International Championship last year and was third at the Wachovia Invitational in Lancaster, Penn., in 2005.

“It’s a tremendous loss for us,” said Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen. “He was coming into such great form.”

Dominguez severely bruised his back and ribs when he flipped over the handlebars 200 meters after crossing the finish line in Stage 1 of the Tri-Peaks Challenge May 17 in Russellville, Ark. The eighth-year pro said he doesn’t remember making contact with anyone and nothing was found to be wrong with his bicycle.

“It has really bothered me the way I crashed,” Dominguez said Friday from his Los Angeles-area home. “If I crashed going into the last turn or going for it in the sprint, I’d expect something like that. But this was while I was rolling in at the back of the group after the finish. I’m still trying to figure out what happened.”

Dominguez said he expects to resume training next week but might not be able to start racing again for some time.

“It’s a very frustrating situation, but like I said to my teammates, I want to make sure I heal the injury the way I’m supposed to,” Dominguez said. “I don’t want to crash again and make it worse.”

Jansen said with Dominguez out, Toyota-United will look to Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels to be the designated team leaders for the four races over the next nine days. Stevic was third at the CSC Invitational in 2005 while Vogels has won in Philadelphia (in 2000).

After Saturday’s CSC Invitational, Toyota-United will compete in three Pro Cycling Tour events: the Tom Bamford Lancaster Classic on Sunday, the Commerce Bank Reading Classic on June 7 and the Philadelphia International Championship on June 10.

The rest of Toyota-United’s roster for the series will be Jose Manuel Garcia, Caleb Manion, Sean Sullivan and 2005 USPRO Road Champion Chris Wherry. The rest of the Toyota-United team is competing in the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic in Oregon through Sunday.

Washington, D.C. – Endurance bicyclist Daniel Sheret began his around the world bicycle ride Friday with two racers from the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team at his side.

Serbian National Champion Ivan Stevic and Tour de France veteran Henk Vogels pedaled alongside Sheret in the opening miles of his 14,000-mile journey that started in the shadow of the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Sheret is an amputee who lost the lower part of his right leg in an accident five years ago.

Toyota-United is a proud sponsor of Sheret’s ride, which will raise funds and awareness for amputees who have lost limbs due to landmines. Funds raised by his "Ability Trek 2007" ride will benefit Clear Path International, a non-governmental organization that assists survivors of landmines and explosive remnants of war in Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Thailand-Burma border. His ride will also benefit the Basra, Iraq Prosthetic Center's capacity to treat Iraqi amputees in Iraq's southern region.

“He’s an amazing guy,” Stevic said of Sheret. “He’s more than just someone who is riding his bike around the world. He is a great inspiration to everyone he meets.”

Stevic and Vogels accompanied Sheret from Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial, where he was given his final sendoff. Riding a team-issue Toyota-United bicycle and wearing the team’s official uniform, Sheret will haul everything he needs in a small trailer behind his bike.

“It’s amazing to me that he can do this,” Stevic said. “You have to be so strong mentally to take on a challenge like the one he’s doing.”

Sheret will pedal through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah and Nevada, before arriving in San Francisco, in approximately 66 days.

From there, Sheret will bicycle through Southeast Asia and visit a Clear Path International mine survivors assistance project in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. His epic tour will include Jordan, Turkey, the Balkans, the Czech Republic, and Western Europe, and conclude in the United States in 2008.

To learn more about Sheret’s “Ability Trek 2007” and follow his daily blog, visit abilitytrek.org. The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team website will also provide updates.