Garcia's Sixth Place Lone Highlight Of Lost Weekend
0 Comments Published by Unknown on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at 8:49 AM.
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).
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
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