Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

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