Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

TV viewers across the nation were introduced last Friday to Daniel Sheret, an amputee who is riding his United-brand bicycle 16,000 miles across four continents to raise funds for amputees who have lost limbs due to persistent landmines and other mishaps.

Sheret appeared on CNN’s “Larry King Live” to share the story of how his lower right leg was amputated in 2002, two years after it didn’t heal from a jump he made off a three-foot fence while he was living in Oregon.

That was the catalyst for the 45-year-old to leave behind a job of furniture-making and turn to work as a prosthetic technician.

With support from the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team, Sheret began his journey June 1 in Washington, D.C., completing 800 miles in 10 days. He is currently in the midst of Nevada as he winds up the U.S. portion of his long ride. His next stop will be Melbourne, Australia, where he will cycle 3,000 miles across that continent, then go to Southeast Asia, Russia, the Middle East and into Europe.

“In all my travels, there’s never been a day when I haven’t met somebody who has come up to me and said their uncle, their brother or their cousin was an amputee,” Sheret told the award-winning talk show host.

Traveling by himself, Sheret pulls a trailer behind his bicycle carrying 80 pounds of gear.

He told King he looks up to the racers on the Toyota-United team.

“They’re wonderful young professional cyclists who actually inspire me.”

The final podium (left to right): Rory Sutherland, Karl Menzies (both of Health Net presented by Maxxis) and Toyota-United's Chris Baldwin.
Altoona, Penn. - The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team’s season-long goal of winning the team classification in the National Race Calendar standings took another step forward when the boys in red, white and blue put four riders in the top six on the final classification Sunday at the International Tour de ‘Toona in Pennslyvania.

The seven-day, seven-stage race proved to be a daily battle with the team closest to Toyota-United in the team standings: Health Net presented by Maxxis.

Health Net won the race’s opening time trial by 11 seconds over Toyota-United, then held onto the race leader’s yellow jersey by passing it from Nathan O’Neil to Stage 2 winner Karl Menzies, who went on to win Stage 3 (a result which was later nullified), Stage 5 and Stage 7. The Australian also padded his lead with third place on Stage 6.

“I told our guys we can’t be disappointed,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “Of course we are used to winning – and we want to win – but we didn’t make mistakes.

“Things went according to plan. There were no mechanicals or crashes. Everyone did their jobs to the best of their abilities. We just didn’t walk away with the win.”

The precious handful of seconds riders like Chris Baldwin, Chris Wherry, Justin England and Burke Swindlehurst needed to make up to climb up the overall classification were thought to be within their grasp during Saturday’s 98.5-mile (158.5 km) Verizon/Debartolo Altoona Blair County Road Race.

But after England, Baldwin and Wherry made a 13-man break over the top of the first of three King of the Mountain climbs with a 25-second lead, it was apparent Health Net would be able to close the gap and the race finished in a bunch sprint.

“They had 25 seconds over the top but they really need 50 seconds,” Jansen said.

Sunday’s final stage, a 30-mile criterium, was seemingly tailor-made for Ivan Dominguez. But the team’s super sprinter retired from the race following Saturday’s stage.

Jansen said the effects of sitting out eight weeks of the season in parts of May and June have made it hard on Dominguez.

“When you come back from an injury as severe as the one Ivan had (back and ribs), it comes with a couple ups and downs,” Jansen said. “I think the Tour de ‘Toona was one of his downs. After this, I think he’s going to be fine.”

On the flip side, Jansen said it was good to see Wherry riding well after battling illness for part of June and July. He finished 15th in Sunday’s final stage, second only on the team to Baldwin – who was ninth.

“Both of those guys are riding particularly strong,” Jansen said. “That’s very promising for the upcoming races.”

Next up on the schedule for Toyota-United are a pair of NRC criteriums in North Carolina. Saturday is the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium in Charlotte, followed by Sunday’s Hanes Park Classic – a fixture in Winston-Salem since 1977.

Just call him Mr. Consistency...

When Chris Baldwin climbed up on the final podium Sunday at the International Tour de ‘Toona to receive his third place prize, it marked the sixth time this season that the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team rider had finished on the podium of a National Race Calendar stage race.

That impressive accomplishment makes him the most consistent stage racer on the NRC circuit this season. It also means he will unseat Toyota-United teammate Ivan Stevic in third place in the NRC individual standings.

So far, Baldwin is without a victory this season. But he has one more opportunity to take home the top prize next month at the two-day, three-stage Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove in Elk Grove, Ill. The race is Aug. 11-12.

Chris Baldwin at NRC Stage Races in 2007:
3rd, Central Valley Classic
2nd, Tour of the Gila Stage Race
3rd, Joe Martin Stage Race
2nd, Tri-Peaks Challenge
2nd, Cascade Cycling Classic
3rd, International Tour de ‘Toona

Altoona, Penn. — The expected fireworks went off on Stage 6 at the International Tour de ‘Toona Saturday but the end result was more like a dud than a spectacular show, thanks to a less-than-decisive set of climbs on the “Queen Stage” of the race.

“It was a war zone out there today,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said of the 98.5-mile (158.5 km) Verizon/Debartolo Altoona Blair County Road Race. “Our guys did what they set out to day. They attacked on the climb. But it wasn’t as hard as last year.”

Indeed, three of Toyota-United’s climbing specialists – Justin England, Chris Baldwin and Chris Wherry – were among a 13-man break that got over the top of the first of three King of the Mountain climbs with a 25-second lead. But with a significant portion of the stage still to come, the front-runners were reeled back in by the chasing efforts of race leader Karl Menzies’ Health Net presented by Maxxis team.

“They had 25 seconds over the top but they really need 50 seconds,” Jansen said.

In the end, 43 riders sprinted to the finish together with Menzies taking third place on the day to pick up a two-second bonus and pad his lead to 26 seconds over Baldwin, Wherry, England and teammate Burke Swindlehurst. The four lie third, fourth, five and sixth, respectively, in the overall standings.

Taylor Tolleson gave Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle its second stage win of the seven-day, seven-stage race as Charles Dionne (Colavita/Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) finished second.

With only Sunday’s 30-lap, 30-mile Atlantic Broadband Altoona Criterium remaining, Jansen said the lone disappointment of the final stage will be that Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez will not be participating. The Cuban sprint sensation retired from the race Saturday.

Altoona, Penn. — International Tour de ‘Toona race leader Karl Menzies (Health Net presented by Maxxis) padded his lead Friday but the seconds he gained are not expected to be a factor in Saturday’s “Queen Stage” of the seven-day, seven-stage National Race Calendar event.

Menzies won Friday’s 76.8-mile (123.6 km) Hoss’s/Parson’s/White Deer Run Martinsburg Circuit Race in a bunch sprint to earn a five-second bonus. But his team had to work hard in the closing miles to bring back a breakaway that gained more than a minute’s lead and included Toyota-United’s Caleb Manion. The advantage made Manion the virtual race leader on the road for a time.

“That move looked promising,” Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Director Harm Jansen said. “But then they started playing a tactical game thinking about the stage win.”

The escapees were reeled in with 3.1 miles (5 km) to go, which set up the finish for a field sprint.

“Ivan (Dominguez) was up there to make sure Menzies didn’t get the bonus seconds, but a bit of a scramble put him out of contention,” Jansen said. “Still, Health Net was under some serious pressure today. That was the goal – to wear them out for tomorrow’s stage.”

Saturday’s Stage 6 Verizon/DeBartolo Companies Altoona to Blair County Road Race is 98.5 miles (158.5 km) long and features two climbs that are expected to produce a finish that considerably shakes up the overall standings.

“The way we hope to play it out tomorrow is on the (first) climb to get a large motivated group separated from Menzies and really isolate him after that,” Jansen said.

With riders in third through seventh place overall, Toyota-United remains atop the team standings.

Altoona, Penn. — Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota United Pro Cycling Team won the field sprint for eighth place Thursday at the end of an aggressive Stage 4 that saw a breakaway group of seven threaten the stronghold Health Net by Maxxis has had on the overall race lead since the beginning of the International Tour de ‘Toona.

“When the break went up the road and got a sizeable lead, it became apparent Health Net wanted to give the lead away to a smaller team that wasn’t a threat to win the race overall,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “That’s something we wanted to prevent in order to keep the pressure on them.”

The result was a series of attacks by Toyota-United which ultimately whittled the breakaway’s lead from four minutes with one 20-mile (32.1 km) circuit remaining down to two minutes and 12 seconds by the finish of the 60-mile (96.6 km) Exelon/Peceo/GMC Hollidaysburg Circuit Race. Michael Friedman (Team Slipstream Powered by Chipotle) won the stage ahead of Mark Walters (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling) and Scott Nydam (BMC Racing Team).

Chris Wherry, one of five Toyota-United riders who is just 19 seconds off the overall lead of Health Net’s Karl Menzies, said the breakaway played to Health Net’s tactics because it contained no one who was a threat to win the race overall.

“And since it didn’t have any Toyota-United or Navigators Insurance riders, they decided to let it go,” Wherry said. “We started attacking them because we have guys who can threaten them on the overall. Eventually, they decided to get back on the front.”

On paper, Friday’s stage would appear to not be decisive. The 76.8-mile (123.6 km) Hoss’s/Parson’s/White Deer Run Martinsburg Circuit Race consists of four laps of a 19.2-mile (30.9 km) circuit that starts and finishes in Memorial Park in Martinsburg. But with eight different teams (besides Health Net) having a total of 25 riders within 71 seconds of the overall lead, Jansen said Health Net will likely be on the defensive again.

“There are a lot of people out there who only need a handful of seconds to win this stage race,” he said. “They’ll be going on the offensive and that that will make it harder for Health Net to control. They’re going to have their hands full.”

Toyota-United did lose one of its eight riders Thursday when Bobby Lea retired from the race. The Topton, Pa., resident had been sitting 127th overall, 23:04 off the lead.

Altoona, Penn. — The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team moved into the lead in the team competition Wednesday at the International Tour de ‘Toona but little else about Stage 3 was official.

Confusion reigned at the end of the 95.9-mile (154.3 km) road race from Johnstown to Altoona’s Logan Valley Mall when race leader Karl Menzies (Health Net presented by Maxxis) won the race by cutting the course in the final 150 meters by riding down the caravan diversion lane.

Following a protest by the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team and several other squads, the jury of race commissaries ruled that the top 47 riders on the stage would receive the same finish time and place and that no stage prizes would be awarded.

“He (Menzies) was in 10th or 15th position and just thought it would be shorter to go inside a traffic island,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “That move put him in front of everybody.”

The official communiqué for the stage read: “There was confusion and resultant course cutting by some riders in the lead group … This problem was a function of inappropriate course setup.”

Up to that point, Jansen said the stage had been decisive, with the tough climb to Blue Knob State Park decimating the field. Of the final 47 riders who came to the finish together, Toyota-United had five riders, Navigators Insurance Cycling Team had six riders, Slipstream Sports powered by Chipotle had five, BMC Professional Cycling Team had five and Health Net had only Menzies and Rory Sutherland.

“It was the dynamics of the race that saved the day for Health Net,” Jansen said. “Our guys rode a really aggressive race. They stayed very patient, as I said they had to be, and late in the race (Chris) Baldwin and (Caleb) Manion were in a breakaway. But due to the high activity in the race, they were swallowed up with two kilometers to go.”

Because Toyota-United’s Heath Blackgrove (who was also in an earlier breakaway) and Ivan Dominguez did not make the decisive split, Baldwin became the team’s best-placed rider on the overall classification. He sits in third place, 19 seconds behind, along with Manion, Chris Wherry, Justin England and Burke Swindlehurst, who are fourth through seventh overall, respectively.

Menzies retains the leader’s yellow jersey with an eight-second lead over his teammate, Sutherland.

Thursday’s stage is the 60-mile (96.6 km) Exelon/Peceo/GMC Hollidaysburg Circuit Race. The riders will complete three laps of a rolling 20-mile circuit

“It’s a shorter stage, but it’s still pretty hard,” Jansen said.

Altoona, Penn. — Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team sprinted to a fourth-place finish on Stage 2 of the International Tour de ‘Toona on a day when only 58 of the 164 riders in the race finished in the lead group.

Karl Menzies (Health Net presented by Maxxis) won the Stage 2, 48.6-mile (78.2 km) Waste Management Vitondale to Cairnbrook Road Race ahead of Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) and Charles Dionne (Colavita/Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light).

Toyota-United’s Chris Baldwin was part of a small group that made a bid to escape the peloton late in the race, but the breakaway was reeled in.

“As soon as they caught, the guys tried to set up Ivan (Dominguez) for the sprint,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “Unfortunately, it had been a pretty hilly race with three good climbs in there and crosswinds at the end, so his legs weren’t quite as fresh.”

Seven of Toyota-United’s eight riders were among the 58 in the lead group. Dominguez moves up to fifth overall, while Chris Baldwin, Caleb Manion, Chris Wherry, Justin England, Burke Swindlehurst and Heath Blackgrove slot in spots six through 11th, respectively. All seven are 19 seconds behind Menzies, who takes the overall lead from his teammate, Nathan O’Neil, thanks to an eight-second time bonus for winning the stage.

Tuesday’s stage was filled with steep climbs and twisting descents made even trickier by some afternoon rain showers. Wednesday’s Stage 3, a 95.9-mile (154.3 km) road race from Johnstown to Altoona’s Logan Valley Mall, will be even more of a challenge, Jansen said, due to a long climb at the end.

“We have to be patient,” he said. “Tomorrow’s stage has a hard finish. There are two teams with some serious contenders for the overall and we have to race smart – very smart.”

Labels: Burke Swindlehurst, Chris Baldwin, Chris Wherry, Harm Jansen, heath blackgrove, Ivan Dominguez, Justin England

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team in full flight during Monday's team time trial.
Altoona, Penn. - The preparation the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team put in for Monday night’s unique team time trial that opened the International Tour de ‘Toona paid off in the form of a second place finish.

Only the Health Net presented by Maxxis squad was faster over the 10.6-mile (17.1 km) course that traveled along a soon-to-be-opened stretch of the I-99 Port Matilda Interchange in Altoona, Penn. Health Net averaged 29.7 mph to finish in 21 minutes and 25 seconds. Toyota-United was 11 seconds slower while the Navigators Insurance Cycling Team finished third, 18 seconds behind the winner.

Of the top 10 teams, only Toyota-United and the BMC Professional Cycling Team came to the finish line with their entire squads intact.

“The boys were so smooth,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “They pretty much rode a flawless team time trial. The only way we could have gone faster was to have come out here a day earlier.”

The team reconnoitered the course Monday morning, as well as talked over strategy of sharing the workload over a course that was not flat, but never steeper than three or four percent gradient.

“We’re very happy because Health Net literally has some heavyweights out here,” Jansen said. “We missed Henk (Vogels) of course, but I think we did really well. We have a lot of climbers and this is a perfect position for us to be in.”

Nathan O’Neil (Health Net) holds down the overall lead, followed by four of his teammates. Toyota-United was led across the line by Chris Baldwin, who sits in sixth place overall. Teammates Heath Blackgrove, Bobby Lea, Justin England, Chris Wherry, Burke Swindlehurst, Ivan Dominguez and Caleb Manion hold down seventh through 13th place overall, respectively.

Tuesday’s second stage is the Waste Management Vitondale to Cairnbrook Road Race. Beginning at 2 p.m., the 48.6-mile (78.2 km) race features two king of the mountain climbs.

“There’s a lot of climbing, especially toward the end,” Jansen said. “We’re in a great position heading into the next two days.”

Labels: Harm Jansen

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team has plenty of experience riding as a team.
If you ask Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Director Harm Jansen, the 420.4-mile (676.6 km) International Tour de Toona might well be decided in the first 10 miles.

That’s because an unusual team time trial gets the seven-day, seven-stage race underway tonight. Normally reserved for larger, ProTour events, the team time trial demands that three riders must finish together, while any rider not finishing with his team will receive his actual finish time up to one-and-a-half minutes slower than the team’s time.

“The team time trial will be a very technical and tough event,” Jansen said. “I think it could be pivotal in the tour.”

The coordination to keep all eight members of the team together for much of the distance – while riding at close to 35 miles an hour – will be critical to performing well, Jansen said.

“We’re going to take some time to sit down and make sure we are on the same page. If you don’t have the right approach, you can lose a bunch of time.”

At least four riders on Toyota-United’s roster have the experience of riding in a team time trial or the team pursuit, which is a similar event run on the track. Jansen himself has ridden several team time trials in his home country of The Netherlands.

“We have done a lot of pace setting this year, so hopefully that will help us a lot as well.”

Toyota-United’s contenders for the overall title include Chris Baldwin, Chris Wherry and Justin England – all of whom finished in the top 10 in last year’s race.

Baldwin has been a consistent force in stage races this season, finishing second three times (Cascade Cycling Classic, Tour of the Gila and the Tri-Peaks Challenge) and third twice (Central Valley Classic and the Joe Martin Stage Race). He finished second to Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) last year.

Sprinter Ivan Dominguez, who is coming off back-to-back weekend criterium wins, will have his eye on the final stage, a 30-mile criterium through the streets of downtown Altoona.

Labels: Harm Jansen

Boise, Idaho — Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team scored his 10th victory of the season Saturday night by easily sprinting to victory at the end of a blazingly fast edition of the Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium in Boise, Idaho.

In front of a crowd estimated at more than 20,000, Dominguez used a perfect lead-out to take the lead before the final corner and hold off second-place finisher Ricardo Escuela (Successful Living Presented by Parkpre) and Jeffery Hopkins (Jittery Joe’s Professional Cycling Team). The 80-lap race was completed at an average speed of 30 miles an hour.

“There were so many primes that guys never got a break,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said. “Once in a while someone would go off the front, but they never got more than a few seconds ahead before they were reeled back in.”

With Toyota-United’s usual lead-out specialist, Henk Vogels, sitting out due to injury, it was left up to another Australian, Caleb Manion, to get Dominguez into position for the final sprint. Manion was the caboose on the Toyota-United lead-out train of Bobby Lea, Ryan Miller, Burke Swindlehurst, Heath Blackgrove and Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia.

“Those guys got Caleb all the way through to the halfway point of the last lap,” Willett said. “From there, Caleb took Ivan pretty close to the last corner and Ivan took it from there.”

Willett said he was confident Manion could deliver.

“It’s a little bit different role for him, but he’s always been one of the strongest guys and he is just as strong as a true sprinter,” Willett said. “All of our guys stepped up tonight. For instance, Burke (Swindlehurst) is not a criterium guy, but he was on the front from the first lap.”

The victory is the 28th of the season for Toyota-United and Dominguez’s sixth at a National Race Calendar event. It also provides valuable points in the battle with Health Net presented by Maxxis for the NRC team title.

Dominguez, Blackgrove, Lea and Swindlehurst now head to Pennsylvania to compete in the International Tour de Toona, a race that runs Monday through July 29.

Labels: Ivan Dominguez, Kirk Willett

The final Cascade Cycling Classic podium (from left): Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United), Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team), Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell).
Photo by Cascade Events Photography.
Bend, Ore. - Chris Baldwin of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team saw his quest to overtake Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) on the final day of the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic end with a sprint for a time bonus that looked like more like a frenzied dash to the line in a European classic.

“We thought it would be us against Phil – which is good for a guy like me,” Baldwin said. “It’s simpler and safer and cleaner. Instead, it seemed like everyone in the race wanted a piece of that first time bonus sprint. Health Net was lining it up, along with every other team. We got swarmed and I was never in front of anyone.”

Baldwin needed to win at least one of the four 15-second time bonus sprints in Sunday’s 80-mile Deschutes Brewery-Awbrey Butte Circuit Race to overcome a 13-second deficit heading into the final stage. Instead, Zajicek powered his way through to take the sprint himself and increase his lead from 13 to 28 seconds on the way to capturing the overall title. Meanwhile, Baldwin logged his third runner-up finish in a stage race this season.

With the way the first sprint played out, Baldwin knew it would be hard to be successful on any of the other three remaining. Said his teammate, Chris Wherry, who won the race overall last year on the exact type of time bonus sprint:

“We had a shot and we took it and it didn’t work out, but that’s kind of how life is sometimes,” Wherry said.

Despite coming up short for the overall title, Toyota-United did have a lot to celebrate after the five-day, six-stage race. The squad won the team classification, Baldwin finished in the top three on four stages, Ivan Dominguez won the downtown criterium Friday night and, in unofficial figuring, Toyota-United is back atop the National Race Calendar team standings (see sidebar).

“We tried to get the overall lead, but coming out with second, fifth and 10th on the GC and the team win was great,” Willett said. “The guys delivered.”

Another stage win for Dominguez was almost in the cards on the final stage, too. The Cuban sprint specialist – racing for only the eighth time since a crash in mid-May – nearly made it over the final climb with the leaders.

“If we get him over that climb, he probably wins the race,” Wherry said. “It’s a big sign of him coming back from his injury that he is coming onto form.”

In addition to Baldwin’s second place overall, Toyota-United placed four riders in the top 15 to win the team classification: Wherry was fifth (1:42 behind Zajicek); Burke Swindlehurst was 10th (3:07 behind) and Justin England was 13th (4:09 behind).

Swindlehurst jumped across a gap that opened after the first time bonus sprint to infiltrate a five-man breakaway that never gained more than a minutes’ lead. However, Swindlehurst made the most of his time on the front by going for the bonus sprints himself.

“I was just doing it (sprinting for the bonuses) to protect Wherry’s position because one of the riders in the group was fairly close to him. It was more to take the time sprints away from that guy than move myself up the standings.”

Swindlehurst picked up a total of 25 seconds in bonus time but it did not move him up on the general classification because he conceded time to the leaders at the finish.

Toyota-United’s other finishers were Heath Blackgrove (26th, 10:51 behind), Stefano Barberi (31st, 12:47 behind) and Dominguez (42nd, 28:04 behind). Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia felt the effects of working hard on Stages 4 and 5 and did not finish Sunday’s race.

Kirk O’Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis) won the final stage in a sprint over Ricardo Escuela (Successful Living.com presented by Parkpre) and Benjamin Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health presented by Bissell.)

Toyota-United Team Owner Sean Tucker (right) holds Baldwin's bike
as Head Mechanic Shane Fedon makes repairs.
Team Director Kirk Willett (partially shown on lower left) also chipped in to help.
Bend, Ore. - Despite a formidable performance by his Toyota-United Pro Cycling teammates on the Stage 5 Pacific Power-Cascade Lakes Road Race, Chris Baldwin was unable to steal any seconds back from race leader Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic.

Baldwin remains 13 seconds behind Zajicek heading into Sunday’s final stage, the 81-mile (130.3 km) Deschutes Brewery-Awbrey Butte Circuit Race. Four time bonus sprints, each with bonuses of 15, 10 and five seconds to the top three riders, are up for grabs on four of the five laps of a 17-mile (27.3 km) circuit.

Baldwin wasn’t conceding the race to Zajicek, who took the race leader’s yellow jersey from him after the Stage 3 time trial Friday morning. But the winner of the King of the Mountain competition at this race in 2005 admits it will be a tall order to pull back the time needed to help Toyota-United duplicate Chris Wherry’s victory on the final day last year.

“Our race is against Phil and so far he’s showing he’s the strongest guy in the race,” Baldwin said.

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Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said the time bonus sprints on the final stage necessitate a change in tactics. Don’t be surprised, he said, to see Toyota-United on the front on the first lap, setting up Baldwin for the first bonus sprint, which comes approximately 13 miles into the race.

“Basically, if Chris wins the first sprint and Zajicek is no better than fourth in it, Chris has the race lead,” Willett said. “So you know Navigators are going to want a breakaway to go away as soon as possible and we don’t want the breakaway to go away.”

In last year’s race, Toyota-United successfully helped Wherry win the race on the final day on the strength of a time bonus sprint and higher placings throughout the five-day, six-stage race. Wherry and Baldwin are two of four Toyota-United riders in the top 15 overall. Wherry is fourth, 1:27 back, Swindlehurst is 10th, 2:48 back, and Justin England is 13th, 3:39 behind.

Saturday’s race included a few tense moments for Baldwin. After he was nearly brought down by another rider about 10 miles into the stage, Baldwin discovered his rear derailleur was damaged. He switched bikes on the first climb but was able to quickly rejoin the pack. After Toyota-United Head Mechanic Shane Fedon performed a roadside repair – which included replacing the entire derailleur cable and a broken derailleur hanger – Baldwin got back onto his repaired Fuji bicycle about a mile from the summit of the first climb up Mount Bachelor.

“Shane is an incredible mechanic,” Baldwin said. “Thanks to him I was able to get right back in the race as if nothing happened.”

Saturday’s race was marked by two separate breakaways. The first – a group of eight – was chased down by Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell), who stands in third place overall, 49 seconds behind Zajicek

The second break of three riders stayed away for nearly 60 miles and, with the Navigators Insurance team doing all the work, was finally chased down six miles from the finish.

From there, Toyota-United’s impressive lineup of climbers: Baldwin, Wherry, Swindlehurst and England all made the final selection of 13 riders as the rapidly dwindling pack splintered. Baldwin was out-sprinted to the line by Jeff Louder (Health Net presented by Maxxis) and Zajicek, but finished third, ahead of Scott Moninger (BMC Pro Cycling Team). All four riders were given the same time.

England and Swindlehurst finished seventh and eighth, respectively, five seconds later, while Wherry was 10th, 15 seconds behind the winning time of three hours, 39 minutes and 37 seconds.

Swindlehurst seemed headed for a possible stage win when he covered an attack by David Vitoria (BMC) in the final kilometer. But Vitoria – confused by marshaling vehicles – did not make the final turn into the Sunrise Lodge parking lot at about 250 meters and went off course.

“I was just hanging on his wheel and thinking as soon as we make the turn, I’m going by him,” Swindlehurst said. “But at the last second, I realized he wasn’t going to make the turn. Luckily, I knew the course.”

Dominguez (right) edges out Kirk O'Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis) at the line.
Photo by Cascade Events Photography.

Bend, Ore. – A perfectly executed lead-out by the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team delivered Ivan Dominguez to victory Friday night at the Stage 4 Desert Orthopedics/Rebound Physical Therapy Downtown Criterium at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic.

In front of a huge crowd stacked two- and three-people deep around the course, Dominguez held off Kirk O’Bee (HealthNet presented by Maxxis) while Dan Schmatz (BMC Pro Cycling Team) was third in the 90-minute race that had no effect on the overall standings.

The victory was Dominguez’s ninth win of the season, his fifth in a National Race Calendar event and his first since a crash May 17 sidelined him for eight weeks. It was also Toyota-United’s 27th win of the season and marked the second consecutive year the team has won the Friday night downtown criterium stage at the five-day, six-stage National Race Calendar event (Juan Jose Haedo won in 2006).

“It feels good to be winning again,” Dominguez said. “There were so many people here tonight that you can see a lot of people love cycling here. It was cool.”

Heading into Saturday’s 92.4-mile (148.7 km) Pacific Power Cascade Lakes Road Race, Toyota-United remains first in the team classification on the strength of three riders in the top 10 in the individual standings. Chris Baldwin is second, 13 seconds behind race leader Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team), defending champion Chris Wherry is fourth (1:12 behind) and three-time former Cascade Classic stage winner Burke Swindlehurst is 10th, 2:43 behind.

“I think our strength is definitely our depth,” Baldwin said. “We have a 1-2 punch with Wherry and every other team it’s a one-man show. So we’re going to have to use each other to put them in trouble. It’s going to be a real tall order, though, because they have the perfect team to defend his lead. Ben Day, Glen Chadwick and Darren Lill are all very strong and very good climbers and these last two races are not hard to control.”

Baldwin briefly held the race lead after finishing second in the race’s first two stages. But in Friday morning’s 15-mile (24.1 km) Bend Research, Inc.-Skyliners Time Trial, he conceded 30 seconds to Zajicek, who beat his Navigators teammate, Ben Day, by one second. Baldwin’s third place on the stage dropped him to second overall behind Zajicek. In third place overall is Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell), 44 seconds behind Zajicek.

“My position on the bike was probably the best I’ve felt in a time trial all year,” Baldwin said. “So that’s a positive. But I’m used to winning time trials and I haven’t been winning in a long time so that’s frustrating. But I honestly think these guys are going faster. I’m not going slower.”

The overall team strength of Toyota-United was showcased in Friday night’s criterium. A nearly race-long breakaway of Oregon residents Ryan Trebon (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling) and Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net presented by Maxxis) that threatened to spoil the night for the sprinters never gained more than a 35-second lead, but it was not reeled in until the final laps. Zajicek’s Navigators squad kept the margin in check, but it was ultimately left to Toyota-United to help pull the escapees back.

Doing the lion’s share of the work on the front was Toyota-United’s Jose Manual “Chepe” Garcia, who recovered from a mid-race crash. Working with teammate Stefano Barberi, Garcia helped bring the gap to the break down to single-digits. From there, 12-time New Zealand national champion Heath Blackgrove took over, burying himself on the front and stringing the entire peloton into a single-file line as the final two escapees were absorbed with about four laps to go.

Justin England and Chris Baldwin each took turns on the front to keep the pace high, with Baldwin leading out Wherry three-quarters of the way around the course on the bell lap. From there, Wherry raised the tempo to its maximum, delivering Dominguez safely to the final corner for the block-and-a-half long sprint to the finish.

“You never know until you cross the finish line, but the way I was riding today, I knew it was mine to lose,” Dominguez said. “We had the last corner and I started giving chase. I passed him (O'Bee) very quickly.”

Baldwin’s last-lap turn at the front turned more than a few heads, who were startled at the sight of the rider in second place on general classification figuring so prominently into a stage where he was not destined to pull any time back.

“Usually how it works out is that guys who are going good are the guys who go to the front at the end who can turn up the heat the most,” Willett said. “The real only plan we had was that Wherry was going to be the last guy.”

Baldwin chuckled when asked about his turn at the front that caused huge gaps to open in the peloton as speeds reached more than 35 miles an hour.

“I used to win criteriums,” he said, smiling.

Labels: Chris Baldwin, Chris Wherry, Ivan Dominguez, Kirk Willett

Toyota-United's Chris Wherry gets ready to begin his race against the clock.
Bend, Ore. - Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team's Chris Baldwin didn't even
get to enjoy his time in the yellow jersey Friday at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Clasic.

The race's overall leader after Stage 2, Baldwin lost the jersey by finishing second to Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Pro Cycling) in the first of two stages on the day, a 15-mile (24.1 km) time trial.

Because the yellow leader's jersey is not a skinsuit, Baldwin wore his conventional Toyota-United team "kit" for the race against the clock. Zajicek will be presented with his yellow jersey prior to Friday night's criterium in Downtown Bend.

Labels: Chris Baldwin, Kirk Willett

Bend, Ore. - Chris Baldwin of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team rode into the overall lead at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic Thursday by finishing second on Stage 2’s 79.5-mile (127.9 km) Meridian Realty McKenzie Pass Road Race.

Stage winner Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) out-sprinted Baldwin to the summit of McKenzie Pass. The previous race leader, Ricardo Escuela (Successfulliving.com presented by ParkPre), was third, 11 seconds behind Jacques-Maynes and eight seconds behind Baldwin.

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Photo by Cascade Events Photography.

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Baldwin heads into Friday’s double-stage day with a five-second lead over Escuela and a nine-second advantage over Jacques-Maynes. In all, nine riders are within a minute of Baldwin, including a pair of his Toyota-United teammates – Chris Wherry (sixth, 31 seconds behind) and Justin England (seventh, 51 seconds behind).

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Baldwin said following his second straight runner-up placing at the five-day, six-stage National Race Calendar event. “I kind of always find my form at this race. It’s nice to be up here in Bend.”

Friday morning is the Stage 3 Bend Research, Inc.-Skyliners Time Trial. At 15 miles (24.1 km), it is double the distance it was last year when Wherry won the race overall on tie-breaker criteria. Stage 4 is the 90-minute Desert Orthopedics/Rebound Physical Therapy Criterium through the streets of Downtown Bend.

Baldwin said he rode the time trial course Tuesday and found it to be “pretty straightforward” – uphill going out and downhill coming back.

“It’s about 7.5 miles out on a two- to three-percent grade, which makes it real fast on the way back,” the two-time former U.S. National Time Trial champion said. “I would say this has been the kind of time trial that has suited me in the past.”

Baldwin credited his Toyota-United teammates for riding another textbook race Thursday. After a two-man breakaway of Glenn Chadwick (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) and Scott Zwizanski (Priority Health) gained six minutes, Toyota-United let Escuela’s Successful Living team do the chasing. When the gap came down to two minutes, Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia and Stefano Barberi of Toyota-United contributed to the pursuit of the pair.

“With Successful Living having to ride today it was phenomenal for saving our energy,” Baldwin said.

Three more racers – Matt Cooke (Navigators), Ryan Trebon (Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling) and David Vitoria (BMC Professional Cycling Team) – bridged to the pair as the final 35-mile (56 km) climb began but Zwizanski flatted and was dropped. The two Navigators riders increased the lead, but Toyota-United contributed again to the chase, adding Heath Blackgrove into the mix.

With five kilometers remaining, the four escapees had been reeled in and the attacks among a final leading group of 18 riders began.

“Burke (Swindlehurst) did a great job of containing things for us after Stefano and Heath were finished on the front,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said.

As the leading group dwindled, Baldwin sprinted away with a few hundred meters remaining, but Jacques-Maynes came around him for the stage win.

Toyota-United has high hopes of picking up a stage win of its own in Friday night’s criterium. The squad – which leads the team general classification – won the stage last year with sprinter J.J. Haedo. This year, Willett said Ivan Dominguez will be the man behind the lead-out train.

“We’re definitely going to ride for Dominguez,” Willett said. “This is one of those courses where you don’t save a lot of energy sitting 40 or 50 guys back. So the field is really going to be funneled out.”

Although he has not won a race in 2007, Baldwin has finished second overall at two stage races (Tour of the Gila and Tri-Peaks Challenge) and third overall at two others (Central Valley Classic and the Joe Martin Stage Race). This is the first time this season that he has worn a race leader’s jersey.

Before Thursday’s stage, race officials adjusted several riders’ finishing times from Wednesday’s Stage 1 road race, narrowing the margin between stage winner Escuela and Baldwin from 21 to three seconds. A transcription error was to blame, Willett said, after speaking with the officials.

Labels: Chris Baldwin, Chris Wherry, Ivan Dominguez, Jose Manuel-Garcia, Justin England, Kirk Willett, Stefano Barberi

Toyota-United's Heath Blackgrove spent more than 120 km in a seven-man breakaway.
Photos by Cascade Events Photography.
Bend, Ore. - Chris Baldwin’s second-place finish led four Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team riders in the top 12 on the Ironhorse-Brooks Resources Prineville Road Race on Stage 1 Wednesday at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic.

Baldwin was out-sprinted to the summit of Pilot Butte by Ricardo Escuela (Successfulliving.com presented by ParkPre), who won the stage in three hours, 38 minutes and 13 seconds. Baldwin finished 21 seconds behind, followed by Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Cycling), 27 seconds behind Escuela.

Joining Baldwin in the top 12 was Toyota-United’s Chris Wherry (sixth, at 41 seconds), Justin England (seventh, at 45 seconds) and Burke Swindlehurst (11th, at 53 seconds). Only 15 riders finished within a minute of the leader.

“The plan for today’s stage was to do whatever we could to make sure those four guys didn’t have to do anything,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said. “We were going to be happy if it was an 80-rider bunch starting at the base of the final climb. With Heath (Blackgrove) covering the long break, it was sort of a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

By placing Blackgrove in a break of seven riders early on in the race, Toyota-United was afforded the luxury of sitting in the pack for much of the 91.2-mile (146.7 km) stage. Joining him in the escape were two riders from Successfulliving.com, plus Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net presented by Maxxis), Ben Day (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team), Scott Zwizanski (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) and Scott Nydam (BMC Professional Cycling Team).

Their lead reached a maximum gap of seven minutes and 45 seconds before the pack began chasing on the way up the stage’s other climb, which came about 30 miles (48 km) from the finish. Because not everyone in the break was fully committed to making it stick, Willett said Toyota-United chipped in to help bring it back.

“We put Chepe Garcia and Stefano Barberi on the front and Priority Health had two guys working and BMC put some guys in,” he said.

Navigator’s Day, who had been the primary driver of the break, began to fade with about 10 kilometers remaining – including the final ascent to Pilot Butte (elevation: 4,138 feet). Immediately, his Navigators team massed at the front to finally reel in the escapees about a third of the way up the final climb.

“Baldwin didn’t have the best position when he started the climb but he’s riding well and caught up to the leaders about halfway up the climb,” Willett said. “With about a kilometer or so, he started driving it to the line and only Zajicek and Escuela were there. Escuela came around him in the last 150 meters or so.”

Baldwin is looking for his first victory of the season while Wherry is the race’s defending champion. With Wednesday’s balanced placings, Toyota-United leads the team classification.

Thursday’s stage is the 79.5-mile (127.9 km) Meridian Realty McKenzie Pass Road Race, which travels through the Dechutes National Forest past jagged lava fields featuring spectacular mountain views. It finishes with a gradual, 35-mile ascent of McKenzie pass to one of Central Oregon's favorite attractions, the Dee Wright Observatory, which sits at an elevation of 5,187 feet.

Willett said without any time bonuses up for grabs, he expects Successfulliving.com will be motivated to keep the leader’s yellow jersey on the back of Escuela. That should help Toyota-United conserve its energy for Friday morning’s all-important 15-mile (24.1 km) Bend Research, Inc.–Skyliners Time Trial, he said.

“The last climb Thursday is never steeper than five percent but it’s hard enough that the non-climbers will be eliminated,” Willett said. “Still, for the top 10 to 15 riders, it is unlikely to be a decisive stage.”

Labels: Burke Swindlehurst, Chris Baldwin, Chris Wherry, heath blackgrove, Jose Manuel-Garcia, Justin England, Kirk Willett, Sean Tucker, Stefano Barberi

Toyota-United will put no fewer than four riders on the start line of this week's Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Classic stage race who have the ability to win the overall title.

The powerful lineup features:

■ Two-time (2002 and 2006) Cascade winner Chris Wherry (second from left), who won last year’s race on the final stage.

■ Chris Baldwin (right), who has a pair of runner-up finishes in National Race Calendar stage races (Tour of the Gila, Tri-Peaks Challenge) to his credit this season.

■ Burke Swindlehurst (second from right), a three-time stage winner (1998, 2002 and last year) at Cascade who won the mountainous High Uintas Classic stage race last month.

■ Justin England (far left), a climbing specialist who finished second on the difficult Oak Glenn stage earlier this year at the Redlands Classic.

So much talent on one team for one race is a nice problem to have, said Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett.

“Baldwin, Wherry and England are all riding to maintain their pos-itions on the National Race Calendar standings,” Willett. “So those guys will be protected. Burke is in a role where he’s had such incredible results at this race before that with the right strategy or breakaway, he’ll be right in there, too.”

Wherry (pictured winning a time bonus sprint that won him the race last year) has had a quiet season, though he has played an integral role in many of the team’s victories by powering its lead-out train.

“We’re hopeful this is the event where he comes out and is on form,” Willett said.

Baldwin is searching for his first victory of 2007 after compiling five second-place and five third-place finishes.

“With the time trial being twice as long as it was last year, he’s a big favorite,” Willett said.

Also in the lineup for Toyota-United will be Ivan Dominguez, who has his eyes on Friday night’s Stage 4 Desert Orthopedics/Rebound Physical Therapy Downtown Criterium. Dominguez will race Cascade for the first time and see his first action in a stage race since crashing out of the Tri-Peaks Challenge in mid-May.

“I really want to do this race,” Dominguez said. “I cannot keep training and training and training. I need to race to get faster.”

In addition to those five, the remainder of Toyota-United’s roster will be Stefano Barberi, Heath Blackgrove and either Sean Sullivan or Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia. Sullivan experienced some knee pain over the weekend, Willett said, keeping him out of the team’s lineup for the Cougar Mountain Classic.

Toyota-United lead-out specialist Henk Vogels is out for six to eight weeks with a broken collarbone suffered on the first day at Cougar Mountain while newly crowned “B” World Champion Ivan Stevic remains in Europe after racing in his country’s national championship.

Labels: Burke Swindlehurst, Chris Baldwin, Chris Wherry, Justin England, Kirk Willett

Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett has either raced in, or served as a team director, at the Cascade Classic all but one year since 1990. (He even competed in the Masters 35+ division last year.) With that in mind, here is his stage-by-stage assessment of this year’s five-day, six-stage National Race Calendar event that runs in and around Bend, Ore.

Wednesday, July 11
Stage 1: Ironhorse-Brooks Resources Prineville Road Race
91.2 miles (146.7 km)
“This is actually a deceptively hard stage. Two things have traditionally happened: either a breakaway has gotten away and held off the rest of the field or a good-sized group has come to the foot of the mile-long climb up Pilot Butte and it becomes a sprint from there. It is supposed to be close to 100 degrees, too, so that will make this race even more difficult. There is also one good climb about two-thirds of the way through the race and if the wind is just right – a crosswind – that climb never ends because you’re in echelons all the way into town, then it’s up Pilot Butte at the end.”

Thursday, July 12
Stage 2: Meridian Realty McKenzie Pass Road Race
79.5 miles (127.9 km)
“This is a rolling stage until about the last 10 kilometers when it climbs up McKenzie Pass. It is never steeper than five percent but it’s hard enough that the non-climbers will be eliminated. Still, for the top 10 to 15 riders, it is unlikely to be a decisive stage.”

Friday, July 13
Stage 3: Bend Research, Inc. – Skyliners Time Trial
15 miles (24.1 km)
“This stage – and Saturday’s race – are the really important ones. It’s uphill all the way out and downhill all the way back. That’s where the top 15 guys in the race are going to be separated by big chunks of time. You’re going to have to ride a great time trial in order to win the race overall.”

Friday, July 13
Stage 4: Desert Orthopedics/Rebound Physical Therapy Criterium
90 minutes
“We’re the defending champions on this course so hopefully we’ll be able to set up Ivan Dominguez to have a good sprint. This is a really special race with it being at twilight and always in front of a large crowd. If a team can control the front, it takes a pretty special rider to come around a lead-out train on this course.”

Saturday, July 14
Stage 5: Pacific Power Cascade Lakes Road Race
92.4 miles (148.7 km)
“This stage has the most difficult uphill finish of this year’s race. It’s not quite as steep as Pilot Butte, but on the fourth day of racing and at a higher elevation (almost 6,500 feet), it’s about a 5 km climb that really separates the top riders. You won’t see 10 guys coming into the finish together. There will likely be groups of two or three. And thought the time gaps between them won’t be huge, there will be solid separation.”

Sunday, July 15
Stage 6: Deschutes Brewery Awbrey Butte Circuit Race
80 miles (128.7 km)
“This circuit race is hard. A lot of times if a strong team has the general classification lead, it can be controlled fairly well. But if a strong team does not have the lead, this course is hard enough that you’ll see a lot of splits. There are also multiple time bonus sprints on this stage so that adds a little extra tactical twist to the entire week. If there are four or five guys within 20 seconds and a team has a guy who can sprint well, he can come from behind and win.”

Labels: Kirk Willett

This is how Henk Vogels' day ended Saturday: with a trip to the hospital.
When Henk Vogels crashed out of Saturday’s Cougar Mountain Classic Criterium, some of his Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team teammates did not even know it.

Vogels was attempting to solo bridge to a 10-man breakaway that included teammate Ivan Dominguez when he struck a crowd control fence post in a tight corner on the Infineon Raceway.

“My shoulder hit it and I heard it snap,” Vogels said.

The violent impact didn’t knock the 6-foot, 175-pounder off his bicycle and he was able to make his way to the finish line where medical personnel rushed him to an ambulance.

When Dominguez’s breakaway lapped the field, the Cuban sprinter started searching for his leadout man.

“It never crossed my mind that he was no longer in the race,” Dominguez said.

Ryan Miller said he didn’t know what happened, but it didn’t look good.

“You deflate when you’re rolling through the finish and see your teammate lying on the ground,” Miller said.

A few hours later, Vogels received confirmation of what he already suspected: his collarbone was broken. The injury is expected to sideline him for six to eight weeks.

“Hopefully, it’s more on the six weeks side,” Vogels said Sunday. “Fortunately, it was a clean break so I didn’t have to have an operation.”

Vogels’ injury is a “huge blow” to the team, said Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett.

“He will be sorely missed, as he is one of the best in the world at what he does,” Willett said. “The fact that he has played a pivotal role all year in delivering Stevic and Dominguez to so many top placings makes our pursuit of the Team NRC (National Race Calendar) title an even greater challenge. We are going to have to fill a big horsepower and leadership hole as a team.”

Indeed, the 13-year pro has played a key role in several victories – none bigger than Dominguez’s win on Stage 7 in Long Beach in the Amgen Tour of California

“I'm optimistic that with any luck, a speedy recovery will see Henk able to start training within a month and racing in late August or early September,” Willett said.

That timetable puts Vogels back in action in time for the final NRC races, as well as the inaugural Tour of Missouri, Sept. 11-16.

Labels: Henk Vogels

Sonoma, Calif. – Any hopes that the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team had of earning some valuable National Race Calendar points at the Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic were dashed during Saturday afternoon’s criterium at the Infineon Raceway.

A mid-race crash knocked out Toyota-United’s Australian strongman, Henk Vogels (see story below), Ivan Dominguez saw his chance to win dashed by a crash and Sean Sullivan didn’t even start the race after complaining of knee pain.

“This was not a good race for us,” Dominguez said.

The team’s first-day misfortunes left only Ryan Miller (right) and Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia to compete in Sunday’s circuit race. Miller made it to the halfway point of the 120-minute event before withdrawing with knee pain. Garcia spent an hour in a six-man breakaway but succumbed to cramps on the final lap and finished alone in sixth place.

Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said it was disappointing the team ran into a string of bad luck at a time when it hoped to make up ground in the NRC team standings. Heading into the weekend, Toyota-United stood 157 points behind three-time defending NRC team champion Health Net presented by Maxxis.

“Unfortunately, this is kind of the way it is in bike racing,” Willett said. “You never know when accidents are going to happen. But to have two of them in one day is really bad luck.”

Dominguez’s crash Saturday came at a time when it appeared the Cuban sprint specialist was in perfect position to win his ninth race of the year. He had been part of a group of 10 riders who lapped the field halfway through the 90-minute criterium.

With two turns to go, Dominguez was sitting in third place, following the wheel of Alessandro Bazzana (Successfulliving.com presented by ParkPre), who was being led out for the sprint by a teammate.

“The first guy didn’t make it through the turn and went straight,” Dominguez said. “Bazzana braked so I had to brake too. I was going to be OK, but when you’re going 60 kilometers an hour the people behind you can’t get stopped and someone hit me.”

Dominguez was one of several riders who went down. Bazzana was not hit and won the sprint unchallenged. Because he had been part of the breakaway that was a lap up on the field, Dominguez was placed 10th.


Sunday, as Dominguez sat out the circuit race, Garcia (right) and Miller did their best to hang tough around the 2.5-mile circuit that featured a short – but steep – climb.

“There were a lot of attacks,” Garcia said. “I was in almost every break because I didn’t know which one was going to go.”
Halfway through the two-hour race, a break of six – which included Garcia – escaped the field. Suddenly, Garcia was a marked man.

“Everybody was waiting for me to attack because I ride for Toyota-United,” he said. “I felt good but on the last lap, I was a little tired.”

The final trip up the climb proved to be his undoing and Garcia was left behind. He finished 30 seconds behind Bazzana, who won by two seconds over Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health presented by Bissell).

Labels: Ivan Dominguez, Jose Manuel-Garcia, Ryan Miller

Click here to read this week's edition of the Toyota-United race notes.

Henk Vogels (right) holds his arm after crashing out of the criterium Saturday.
Sonoma, Calif. - Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez and Henk Vogels were injured in separate crashes Saturday at the Cougar Mountain Classic at Infineon Raceway.

Dominguez was taken out of contention on the final turn to the finish when he crashed with two other riders. The Cuban sprinter, who only returned to racing last weekend after a crash put him out of action for eight weeks, suffered minor road rash and is expected to be OK.

Vogels was not as fortunate. The Australian lead-out specialist struck a pole with his shoulder. X-Rays and a CAT scan revealed a crack in his scapula that is expected to keep him out of action for six to eight weeks.

Dominguez appeared to be on his way to the win after being part of a small group that lapped the field midway through the 90-minute race.

Labels: Henk Vogels, Ivan Dominguez

Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Owner Sean P. Tucker was quoted several times in USA Today's preview story about the Tour de France.

Tour de France's downhill slide caused by scandals
By Sal Ruibal, USA TODAY

What if the Tour de France was held and nobody cared?

The world's biggest bike race will begin in London on Saturday and wind around France for three weeks. But a steady drip-drip-drip of doping scandals and organizational dysfunction has turned off once-rabid U.S. cycling fans who latched on during Lance Armstrong's seven wins in a row.

"I'm disgusted with what's been going on over there," says Sean P. Tucker, a former pro racer on the European circuit. He is principal owner of the Toyota-United cycling team, a unique venture that has more than 20,000 "fan members" with a financial stake in the squad that races only in the USA.

"It is disheartening to see this sport unraveling. My team and our fan members aren't going to Europe until they come up with real penalties and real doping controls. The fans follow their sports heroes, then you find out about this stuff that's going on. It's criminal."

Every day brings news of current and former cycling heroes involved in doping.

When 1996 Tour winner Bjarne Riis admitted May 25 that he used the blood-booster EPO to win his title, he extended another, more ignominious consecutive string: All the Tour winners since 1996 have been accused of, charged with or admitted using illegal performance-enhancing drugs or techniques:

•1997 winner Jan Ullrich of Germany was charged this year with blood-doping offenses stemming from the Spanish Operation Puerto scandal that disrupted the 2006 race. He retired in February, saying, "I never cheated." But former Telekom (now T-Mobile) team assistants have said they injected him and others with EPO.

•1998 champion Marco Pantani of Italy was kicked out of the '99 Tour of Italy because of a high red-blood-cell level and was charged, then cleared, of using insulin. He died of a cocaine overdose in 2004.

•Armstrong's 1999-2005 streak was attacked many times by doping allegations. He was investigated by French authorities twice and sued by insurers unwilling to pay bonus money, but he has never had a positive drug test or been charged with a doping offense.

"I raced clean," he said in a recent statement. "I won clean. I am the most tested athlete in the history of sports. I have defended myself and my reputation and won every court case to prove I was clean."

•2006 winner Floyd Landis was charged with an illegal testosterone ratio during the race. He has vigorously defended himself against the charge and is awaiting a decision from a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency arbitration panel.

The Tour de France has been aggressive about doping. A day before last year's race, it forced out nine riders who were under suspicion in the Operation Puerto case. Those included favorites Ullrich and Ivan Basso, the 2006 Tour of Italy winner and 2005 Tour de France runner-up. Basso admitted his involvement this year and recently received a two-year suspension from the sport.

Race officials say they'll keep accused riders out of this year's race, too.

"In 2007, the Tour de France will be long awaited, closely watched, observed," Tour race director Christian Prudhomme acknowledged in a statement introducing this year's event. "The events of the summer (of 2006) have left their mark. Indeed, not all of them have been resolved.

"But if the spirit is indeed the expression of a staunch and shared commitment to fight against doping, then not only do we have nothing to fear in the future but everything to hope for."

What's the problem?

Charles Pelkey, the news editor of Boulder, Colo.-based VeloNews.com, says, "The problem is that riders and teams in cycling seem to have only very slowly come to grasp just how serious the management of the sport is about doping now."

Yet Landis asserts, "There is no culture of doping in cycling. Yes, there are riders who dope, but if you look at the pool of 5,000 or so pro riders in the world, the percentage is small. There are stock traders who cheat, but you don't hear people say there's a culture of cheating on Wall Street."

Johan Bruyneel, the team director and part-owner of the Discovery Channel pro team, agrees the problem has been overstated but lays the blame for the public reaction on the sport's official leadership.

"There are always doping scandals in sport. It is just that cycling always gets more attention," says Bruyneel, a Tour stage winner in the 1995 race and architect of Armstrong's seven wins. "There are too many unsubstantiated leaks coming out, officials leaking information for whatever interests. That's crazy, and I don't understand why it is tolerated. The problem starts at the top. The current leadership of cycling has no new ideas."

Bruyneel believes the answer is not more testing but more leadership.

"The sport is miles ahead of any other sport in the quantity and quality of testing, both at races and out of competition," he says. "What the sport needs now is one big personality, someone who is respected. This has to be done like a business, bringing in outside experts with a neutral view.

"We need someone like a Donald Trump or (billionaire sports magnate) Phillip Anschutz, someone who has a big reputation and can put all of the parties in the same room and start solving some problems."

Pat McQuaid, the president of the Union Cycliste International (UCI), says the sport's governing body has instituted changes that will help the sport clean up. That includes a mandatory pledge from riders they have not been involved in doping and the submission of DNA samples to verify positive tests. Riders who are caught doping will have to forfeit a year's salary and receive suspensions of up to four years.

"I am not that concerned by the past," McQuaid says. "My concern is the present and future, and I am striving that this will be credible. One cannot change culture overnight, but it will happen. In cycling today, the forces of good are much stronger than the forces of evil, and the pressure is increasing daily."

Cash flow

Unlike the U.S. professional sports leagues that depend heavily on television contracts, cycling has anemic ratings — the Versus cable network's five daily Tourcasts collectively drew an average of about 700,000 viewers last year — and is funded through corporate sponsorships.

The Discovery Channel team, known as U.S. Postal Service for six of Armstrong's wins, is looking for a title sponsor after new Discovery corporate managers decided not to extend the $12 million deal.

The search for a sponsor "has not been easy, but at the same time I feel optimistic," Bruyneel says. "We can prove that as a team, we have the best sports franchise in the history of cycling. Sure, the market for sponsorships is tough, but this is about investing. … It is all a matter of reaching the right guy at the right moment."

The team that made Americans notice pro cycling is looking to Asia for sponsorships. In the last year it signed Chinese star Fu Yu Li and Japanese national champion Fumiyuki Beppo.

"Talks are going on with some Asian companies," Bruyneel says.

At Specialized Bicycle Components in Morgan Hill, Calif., founder and President Mike Sinyard is still bullish on the sport and has bicycle and equipment sponsorships with the Belgian Quick Step-Innergetic and German Gerolsteiner pro teams.

"We're involved in cycling because we love the sport and, as a company, we revel in the competitive aspect of cycling," he says. "So we have absolutely no regrets regarding our sponsorships."

Team CSC, based in Denmark but sponsored by El Segundo, Calif.-based Computer Sciences Corp., is sticking with the squad despite the admission from owner and team director Riis that he used EPO to win the 1996 Tour. Riis can't be charged because of pro cycling's eight-year statute of limitations.

"Our experience with Bjarne Riis shows an honest effort to admit past mistakes and accept responsibility is an important step in repairing the damage caused by doping," CSC spokeswoman Theresa McDermit says. "We continue to support his efforts to make things right and to help move the sport to a new level of transparency and responsibility. … It's not too late to secure a better future for the sport we all love."

Toyota-United's Tucker doesn't buy it. "If they really had character and integrity, they would never have crossed the line," he says. "Did any of these guys apologize to their clean competitors for taking money from their families?"

Labels: Sean Tucker

Manhattan Beach, Calif. — Ivan Dominguez’s will to win was strong Sunday at the 46th edition of the Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix. But after a month-and-a-half of rehabilitating a back injury, his legs were not quite fast enough to deliver him first to the finish line at the end of the 90-minute race.

“I wanted to win badly because so many people came out to see me,” Dominguez said after finishing second to Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing). “But I just didn’t feel fast enough today. I only had two weeks of real riding.”

Dominguez was quick to add that Bahati – a former junior national criterium and road champion – won the field sprint impressively. Bahati’s teammate, Kayle Leo Grande, also made the podium with his third-place finish.

“Bahati was 10 kilometers faster than me,” Dominguez said. “He’s riding good and this was good for him because his team owner put a lot of resources and backing into the race.”

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said Dominguez’s result should instill some confidence in the Cuban super sprinter. Dominguez won eight races in the first three-and-a-half months of the season before being sidelined following a crash after the finish of Stage 1 at the Tri-Peaks Challenge on May 17.

“Of course you always want to win, but second place isn’t bad,” Jansen said.

With five other teammates in the race Sunday, Dominguez was able to sit in the back of the peloton and periodically test his legs for what would ultimately be a dash to a 180-degree corner that sets the riders up for a final 300-meter sprint to the finish.

“I did a few sprints in the back to see how my legs were going and I knew then that I was not 100 percent,” Dominguez said.

Sunday’s race, in front of an estimated crowd of more than 7,500 spectators, was also streamed live over the Internet by iBN Sports. On-line viewers saw Dominguez’s Toyota-United teammates Ryan Miller, Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia (shown at left), Chris Wherry, Sean Sullivan, Caleb Manion and Henk Vogels massed at the front with three 1.4-mile laps remaining.

Sullivan said what viewers at home could not see in the closing laps was a “messy and dangerous” battle as dozens of riders fought their way to be in the front.

“The way the wind was blowing today, it was a pretty easy ride so at the finish, everyone was really fresh,” he said.

The aggressive racing came to a head with half-a-lap to go when Wherry nearly crashed.

“Chris basically got pinched out and it nearly took out all the spokes in his front wheel,” Jansen said. “Until that point, we had everything set up perfectly with Chris on Sullivan’s wheel and Henk and Ivan right behind him. They had to come back from 20 guys so it really disrupted their whole rhythm.”

Still, Vogels was able to tow Dominguez up to the front and he was first to dive into the final 180-degree turn.

“As soon as you make the U-turn, you have to go,” Dominguez said. “I went but Bahati made it seem like I was standing still when he went by me.”

Next up for Dominguez and Toyota-United is the Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic at the Infineon, Calif., Raceway July 7-8. Both the criterium on Saturday and circuit race on Sunday will utilize the 12-turn, 2.52-mile twisting and turning course.

“It’s all about Ivan next weekend,” Jansen said. “With the guys’ help, he has to go out there and make it happen.”

Labels: Caleb Manion, Henk Vogels, Ivan Dominguez, Sean Sullivan

Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic (center) celebrates on the podium Sunday in Cape Town, South Africa, with second place finisher Erik Hoffmann of Namibia (left) and bronze medalist Alexandr Pliuschin of Moldova.
Cape Town, South Africa — Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team won the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) B World Championship road race Sunday in Cape Town, South Africa.

Stevic completed the challenging 100-mile (161 km) race in four hours, one minute and 47 seconds. Namibia’s Erik Hoffman finished second and Alexandr Pliuschin of Moldova was third.

Stevic’s victory is his sixth of the season and earns him an automatic entry into the Beijing Olympic Games next year.

“On behalf of everyone associated with the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team, I congratulate Ivan on a great win,” Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Owner Sean Tucker said. “We are proud that he will be representing his home country of Serbia and the Toyota-United team in Beijing next summer.”

The UCI B World Championships are an opportunity for countries where cycling is not necessarily a major sport to qualify cyclists for the Olympics.

Stevic now heads back to Serbia to defend his national road race title. He will return to the U.S. for the International Tour de Toona in Central Pennsylvania, July 23-29.