Toyota-United Second In Team Time Trial
0 Comments Published by Unknown on Monday, July 23, 2007 at 7:10 PM.
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
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