Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

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