Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

There was no doubt Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez was the winner.
Las Vegas — In a season punctuated by flawless teamwork, Ivan Dominguez was ultimately on his own when it came time to deliver a victory for his Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team.

Dominguez dramatically chased down Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefit Strategies presented by Medifast) on the final lap, then outsprinted him to the line after the final turn to win the World Criterium Championship Thursday night under the lights in Las Vegas. The victory was Dominguez’s 15th of the season – a career-best – and the 38th of the season for Toyota-United.

“This feels great,” Dominguez told the estimated crowd of 20,000 that gathered under the lights to watch the inaugural edition of the race. “All the guys are very happy. This has been a great year.”

But before the 60 km (37-mile) race outside the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, Dominguez was downplaying his chances.

“Before today, (I considered) the Tour of Missouri my last ride,” he said. “I was sitting at home, doing nothing. Then I went to the show (Interbike) today and a lot of people were saying they put money on me. I said, ‘Dude, you should ask for your money back because I don’t think I’m going to win.’ This is a very dangerous race.”

The danger of racing 60 laps on a flat and sweeping, six-turn course that was set up in a parking lot was illustrated several times Thursday night. In the Bicycling Magazine Industry Cup race that preceded the pro men’s event, a massive pile-up disrupted the final lap. About a half-hour later, the pro men’s race became a crash-fest, with Toyota-United’s Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia one of the victims on the opening lap. The first turn was particularly treacherous, with more than a half-dozen separate crashes.

Dominguez, though, avoided the mayhem and was in position to follow Gilbert when attacked through the start/finish line with a lap to go. Behind them, an immediate gap opened up when a rider crashed in the first turn.

“I thought I would wait because he (Gilbert) was taking too many chances in the turns and I preferred to keep it safe,” Dominguez said. “Coming into the second-to-last turn, I caught him and he took me to the finish. He was tired.”

Dominguez didn’t even have to get out of the saddle while Gilbert (pictured, left of Dominguez) held on to finish second, just ahead of his teammate, Dave McCook. Besides Dominguez, only two of Toyota-United’s six racers finished the race: Justin England was 41st and Heath Blackgrove was 61st.

“We were fortunate today,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “It was a one-man show tonight, but it was the result of one season of hard work by everyone on the team. We all share in the win.”

Las Vegas – Ivan Dominguez made sure Team Directors Harm Jansen (left) and Kirk Willett each went out a winner.

In early August, Dominguez won the Hanes Park Classic Criterium in Winston-Salem, N.C., in Willett’s final race with Toyota-United. The 37-year-old is now pursuing a career in medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

Jansen announced Monday that Thursday’s race would be his last for Toyota-United. Len Pettyjohn will take over as the team’s director in 2008.

“Going out like this makes it harder – and easier,” Jansen said. “It’s easier because I can’t go out any better. And it’s harder because it is that great. These are the great moments you work for.”

Las Vegas - More than 25,000 people turned out for the second day of Interbike, North America's largest bicycle trade event.

The show in the Sands Convention Center that draws more than 1,000 suppliers and representatives from 4,000 bicycle retail stores also played host to the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team and its sponsors.

Toyota-United’s six riders who would be racing in Thursday night’s World Criterium Championship took time to sign autographs at the Fuji Booth earlier in the day.
Toyota-United's Heath Blackgrove meets Fuji Bicycles President Pat Cunnane.
Henk Vogels, who has been sidelined since July with a shoulder injury,
is still pretty adept with a Sharpie.
Cycling announcer Dave Towle (right) interviewed Ivan Stevic on Cycling.tv…

Las Vegas – It all comes down to this.

After more than 100 races in 20 states over the past 40 weeks, the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team goes after one more win in Thursday night’s season finale.

The WCSN USA Crits Final is also the last race in the 2007 USA Crits Championship Series.

WCSN.com will provide live coverage of the 37.2-mile (60 km) race along a fast, five-turn, one-kilometer course at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, situated near Interbike’s home at the Sands Convention Center.

Toyota-United’s sprint specialist Ivan Dominguez and B World Road Race Champion Ivan Stevic are among the 109 starters. Toyota-United is one of seven teams that will field a full complement of the maximum number of six riders.

Race-time temperatures, normally a concern in the desert heat, are expected to be in the mid 80s when the race goes off at 9:15 p.m. PDT.

Only one of Dominguez’s 14 wins of the season has come at a USA Crit Series event (the Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium in Boise, Idaho). He stands a team-best 13th place in the individual series standings while Toyota-United lies eighth in the team standings.

Frank Travieso (AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork) is the individual USA Crit Series leader while his squad leads the team standings over the Abercrombie & Fitch Pro Development Cycling Team.

Before the men’s pro race Thursday, an inaugural “industry cup” race will go off, featuring two sponsors of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team. Bicycling Magazine and Fuji Bicycles are both fielding four-man squads for the 25-mile (40 km) race that will take place on the same course as the professionals.

Paul Davi estimates he drove about 27,000 miles in 2007.
Along I-70, Outside of Las Vegas — The races may blend together for Toyota-United Bus Driver Paul Davi. But one thing sticks out from driving mile after mile, week after week, from one end of the country to the other.

“I’ll remember all the times I got to listen to the guys while I was driving and I’d be just laughing my head off,” he said. “That was really the rewarding intangible that I will miss.”

In between the time he spent behind the wheel, cleaning the bus and pumping gas, Davi was living out his dream. He grew up watching the Coors Classic in his hometown of Boulder and followed the Tour de France religiously – even to the point of watching videotapes of the race over and over.

“Even before I got this job, I was a bit of a pro cycling junkie,” Davi said.

So it was quite a “rookie moment” when the team’s riders first stepped on board the bus in February, all decked out in their uniforms and headed for a photo shoot during training camp.

“Not long after we got going, Chris Wherry said, ‘I think you’ve got a bit of a problem.’ I was so new to the bus that I didn’t realize our tanks were full. Some of the gray water tank (the non-waste water) had started coming back up through the shower drain. It was a pretty horrible ride.”

Perhaps less memorable was his task of keeping the 48-foot red, white and blue motor coach clean – inside and out.

“Cleaning was the least glamorous part of the job,” Davi said, “Sometimes I’d be detailing the thing at 11 o’clock at night because that was the only time it was not being used.”

But perhaps his most important task was keeping the refrigerator stocked.

“Ivan Dominguez loves mayo but doesn’t like mustard,” Davi said, recanting a list from memory. “Chris Baldwin has to have the right stuff for his oatmeal and his late-night snacks. And you can’t forget our owner, Sean Tucker. He absolutely has to have regular bread. The rest of the guys prefer baguettes and big crusty loafs. But to keep Sean happy, you had to have sliced, white sandwich bread.”

Davi’s routine was like a lot of the team’s support staff – late to bed, early to rise.

“I’m not really a morning person, but the sport of bike racing seems to be,” he said. “I’d set my alarm to wake up and unlock the door and then try to go back to sleep. But every time someone gets on board, the bus tends to lean a little to one side, so I was pretty much up after that.”

Davi will close out the season the same way it began – tooling down the freeway. Only this time, look for him behind the wheel of a rental car and not the Toyota-United bus.

Len Pettyjohn and Scott Moninger.
Newport Beach, Calif. — Two of the most successful individuals in the history of American bicycle racing will lead the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team in 2008.

Veteran pro cycling team director Len Pettyjohn will be joined by 17-year pro Scott Moninger to work as Toyota-United’s new director and assistant director, respectively.

Pettyjohn, 66, has worked with some of the most successful U.S. cyclists (Greg LeMond, Davis Phinney, Alexi Grewal and Moninger) while directing a number of domestic teams, including the dominant Coors Light squad of the early 1990s.

Moninger, 41, has 275 victories to his credit and was the winningest active U.S. racer until announcing his retirement last week.

Toyota-United Owner Sean P. Tucker said the pair’s hiring came after an intensive, worldwide search.

“These two gentlemen have a 21-year history together,” Tucker said. “No one is more qualified to lead a team than Len while Scott knows the races and the racers having just capped off a spectacular career of his own.”

Pettyjohn has been living in Boulder, Colo., and working in race promotion since retiring from active team directing in 1994. He has managed the CyberBike Indoor Race Program since 2001 and put on the challenging, one-day Saturn Cycling Classic from 2001 to 2003. His experience as a director includes the Coors Light team (1989-94), Crest team (1988-90), the Lowrey’s women’s team (1987-89), the Lowenbrau team (1985-87), the American Savings/Dia-Compe team (1982-84) and the Panasonic team (1980-81).

“I’ve considered a number of team offers over the past decade, but nothing remotely of the caliber that Toyota-United had to offer,” Pettyjohn said. “For Scott and me to join such a high-level organization, with a world-class sponsor and a stellar group of riders that are a force in ProTour caliber races, is just exceptional.”

Moninger is a four-time winner of the Cascade Cycling Classic and the Nevada City Classic, a two-time winner of the Tour of the Gila, the Redlands Bicycle Classic, and the International Tour De ‘Toona. He was twice the individual champion of the National Race Calendar series, in 1992 and 2005. He raced for six different professional teams during his pro career: Coors Light (1991-94), Chevrolet-Los Angeles Sheriff (1995-96), Navigators Insurance (1997-98), Mercury (1999-2002), Health Net presented by Maxxis (2004-06) and BMC (2007). Born in Atlanta, Ga., he grew up in Wichita, Kan., and now lives in Boulder.

“I am confident that Scott and Len will ambitiously take us to the next level in our quest to continue to be the leading domestic team in pro cycling,” Tucker said. “Both have competed and managed athletes at the sport’s highest levels. I can’t wait to see what they can accomplish with the talent we have on our roster for 2008.”

Megan Gillam, engagement marketing manager for the team’s title sponsor, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., echoed Tucker’s enthusiasm for the new hires.

“We are thrilled to welcome Len and Scott to the Toyota-United family,” Gillam said. “Their collective experience and passion for the sport of cycling will be a powerful catalyst in driving this incredible team to an even higher level of success.”

Toyota-United’s 2008 roster will include three powerful new riders – Ben Day and brothers Hilton Clarke and Jonny Clarke.

“In Ben Day, we have a proven stage racer and elite time trialist,” Pettyjohn said. “Hilton Clarke has demonstrated he is one of the fastest sprinters in North America and Jonny is a versatile young rider with a great deal of potential.”

Toyota-United returns the core of its roster that scored 37 victories and 105 podium finishes in 2007. The squad was the only domestic pro cycling team to win races in all three “grand tour” bicycle races in the United States: the Amgen Tour of California, the Tour de Georgia and the Tour of Missouri. In 2008, Americans Chris Wherry (2005 USPRO road champion) and Chris Baldwin (2003 and 2005 national time trial champion) will join Cuban sprint sensation Ivan Dominguez (14 wins) and B World Road Race Champion Ivan Stevic of Serbia, along with veteran Australian strongman and lead-out specialist Henk Vogels.

“The key goals for Scott and me were to add some additional strength and speed to an existing group of champions,” Pettyjohn said. “With Ben, Hilton, and Jonny on board, we are pretty comfortable that Toyota-United will bring some serious horsepower to the peloton next season.”

Newport Beach, Calif. — The man who helped lead the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team in its first two seasons is saying goodbye.

Harm Jansen, 39, will direct his final race for Toyota-United at the World Criterium Championships in Las Vegas on Thursday, Sept. 27. He has been with the team since its founding in 2005 and served as co-director with Frankie Andreu in 2006 and Kirk Willett in 2007. For the past 18 years, Jansen has been involved in pro cycling as a competitor, coach and team director.

“This has been a very difficult decision because my heart is with cycling, but it is time to move on,” Jansen said. “These are two years I will obviously not forget. I was fortunate to be in a position to build this team to where it is today and I feel fortunate to have several choices of what I will do next.”

Toyota-United Team Owner Sean P. Tucker said Jansen’s contributions to building and growing the team would not soon be forgotten.

“He has been part of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team since the early days of its existence in 2005,” Tucker said. “His commitment to the program made the team an instant success and a force on the domestic circuit.”

Under Jansen’s guidance, Toyota-United won 92 races, including 55 in its inaugural season. The team also captured stage wins at all three of the “grand tours” in the United States in 2007 (the Amgen Tour of California, the Tour de Georgia and the Tour of Missouri), as well as three stage victories in both grand tours in 2006 (Amgen Tour of California and Tour de Georgia).

Jansen said being a team director helped him appreciate what a good staff can do for a cycling team.

“It’s something that is highly underestimated,” he said. “I had seen it from a bit of a distance as a rider, but witnessing it up close as a director made me fully understand their importance. I was fortunate to have been able to choose from so many talented athletes and to be around such a good group of personalities – both staff and riders.”

Jansen is a former Dutch National Champion and the 2001 USPRO Champion who won more than 180 races during his career. He completed his thesis at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and has a masters degree from the Civil Engineering and Geosciences faculty (graduating cum laude) at the Delft University of Technology (DUT) in The Netherlands. He lives with his wife, Amy, and son, Nico, in Los Angeles.

A list of links to some of the feature stories specifically written about the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team during the Tour of Missouri...

From Spare Cycles:
Justin England: "Favorite Tour of Missouri RIder"

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Riding With Toyota-United

From the Kansas City Star:
For Cyclist, It's Been A Long Road To A Sweet Life"

From Tour de France Lanterne Rouge:
England is Lanterne Rouge

From the Columbia Daily Tribune:
The View Rarely Changes From The Team Car
A Ringing Endorsement: Dominguez Wins First Stage"

Ivan Dominguez easily scores his second stage win of the race.
St. Louis, Mo. - Ivan Dominguez stamped his name on the final stage of the Tour of Missouri by impressively sprinting to victory Sunday on the final stage in St. Louis.

Dominguez, working with the help of only three teammates, scored his second stage win of the race. On Tuesday, he won the opening stage in Kansas City.

Less than a half-hour before the start of the final stage of the Tour of Missouri Sunday afternoon, Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Director Harm Jansen gathered what remained of his original eight-man squad for the six-day, six-stage race.

Seated in the team’s bus just a few blocks from the start line were the three riders who would be charged with helping Ivan Dominguez get to the finish line first in the 74-mile (119 km) race that comprised seven circuits of a loop through the streets of downtown St. Louis.
There was Chris Wherry, the team’s captain whose focus has shifted from being a powerful stage rider and overall contender to that of top lead-out man following season-ending injuries to Henk Vogels, Ivan Stevic and Caleb Manion.

Next to him sat Heath Blackgrove, the tough, quiet super domestique whose season started all the way back on Jan. 1 in his home country of New Zealand. The toll of a long season showed on Blackgrove’s face, as he hardly managed a smile when team bus driver Paul Davi greeted him.

The only other engine on the Toyota-United lead-out train this day would be the most unlikely of suspects. Normally a climbing specialist, Justin England would be asked to drive the pace hard enough to keep the other 98 riders in the race behind him.

“Remember, we’re not equipped to be able to do any work today until the very end,” Team Director Harm Jansen said to the four. “Remain patient. Our time will come.”

Each of the four nodded in agreement as they made last-minute adjustments to their race radios, helmets and sunglasses.
Integral to Jansen’s plan would be for the pack to be together as it neared the finish. Fortunately, that is exactly what happened, thanks to the chasing efforts of several teams – with the 150-pound England helping out in the rotation.

“I tried to take longer pulls since there was only one of me and everyone else helping with the chase had three or four riders,” England said.

The patience that Jansen preached was never more evident than in the final three miles. Despite the frenetic, 36 miles-an-hour pace at the head of the peloton, Wherry, Blackgrove and Dominguez remained calm, riding at the back of the field.

“We knew when our time to go to work would come,” Blackgrove said. “It was just a matter of waiting.”

That time came inside the final mile. Blackgrove helped a fast-fading England marshal Wherry and Dominguez up the side of the pack. With 1,000 meters to go, Wherry took Dominguez toward the front, then sprinted out of the last turn like he was going for the win himself.

From there, Dominguez flew by to finish it off.

“It was just like we drew up,” Blackgrove said afterwards, grinning. “Pretty simple, eh?”

Columbia, Mo. — Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team narrowly avoided a potential disaster and still managed a third-place finish in the closing meters of Stage 4’s 133-mile (214 km) road race from Lebanon, Mo., to Columbia Friday afternoon.

Within sight of the finish, Dominguez brushed against a spectator, momentarily sapping his momentum while forcing him to demonstrate his bike-handling skills. Undeterred, the Cuban sprint sensation roared back to nearly catch stage winner Luciano Pagliarini (Prodir-Saunier Duval) and runner-up Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics Cycling Team).

“Coming to the end I was behind (teammate Chris) Wherry,” Dominguez said. “In the last kilometer, he got me in good position and he asked me where I wanted him to jump. I told him to go when he saw the 600-meters-to-go sign and he jumped and I was on his wheel. The field spread across the road and my only option was to take the right side. I was coming fast from 20th place and I think I hit one of the spectators and lost my momentum. When I got to the guys out front it was too late.”

Dominguez’s third-place finish did earn him enough points to tie Pagliarini for the Edward Jones sprint points jersey.

Earlier in the stage, Toyota-United’s Justin England was part of a 10-man breakaway that formed 49 miles (79 km) into the stage. The group remained in the lead until being caught on the fast run-in into Columbia.

“After the time gap got up to three or four minutes, it was my job to sit on because I knew they would be chasing from behind to set up Ivan,” England said.

Branson, Mo. - Chris Wherry’s 18th-place finish led the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Thursday in the individual time trial on Stage 3 of the Tour of Missouri.

Wherry covered the 18-mile (29 km) rolling course in 43 minutes and 49 seconds, a time 4:12 slower than stage winner Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team). Wherry’s performance moved him from 69th to a team-best 27th place in the overall standings.

“The terrain made for a seriously tough time trial,” Wherry said. “The whole course was up and down. There was not a flat section of road the entire 18 miles.”

Riders reached speeds of more than 55 mph on a sweeping descent, only to have to suffer through a nearly two-mile long climb back up to the finish.

Toyota-United’s string of bad luck in the six-stage, six-day event continued Thursday when Sean Sullivan finished outside the time cut and was eliminated. His departure means the team is down to five riders (Ivan Stevic abandon Wednesday and Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia was time cut on Tuesday).

Sullivan said breathing problems that first flared up 10 days ago nearly kept him from finishing Wednesday’s 125.6-mile (202.1 km) stage.

“That was probably the most I’ve ever suffered on a bike,” Sullivan said. “It’s not really in my character to quit something. But in a stage race you’re kind of just filling up space if you’re not well. I want to get home and get rested and come back better and stronger next year.”

Springfield, Mo. - Reporter Dave Luecking of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper rode along in the Toyota-United Prius Team Car Wednesday at the Tour of Missouri.

Writes Luecking:

"In cycling, each team’s director sportif – known in traditional ball sports as the manager or head coach – drives the team car. To make another comparison to major sports in the United States, riding shotgun in the team car is akin to sitting next to Tony La Russa in the dugout during a Cardinals game, or roaming the Rams sidelines with Scott Linehan, or standing behind the Blues bench with Andy Murray. You just don’t get that kind of access."

Read his entire behind-the-scenes account of the developments on Stage 2 by clicking here.

Ivan Dominguez signed autographs before Wednesday's stage.
Springfield, Mo. — The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team saw its first-day race leadership at the Tour of Missouri evaporate when a 12-man breakaway went up the road early on in the 125-mile stage from Clinton to Springfield, Mo.
Without representation in the break, Toyota-United chased valiantly. But in the end, no other teams contributed to the effort and the team was left to stop its chase and converse energy for the remainder of the day.

“We did a lot of work yesterday with one rider [time] cut because they qualified yesterday’s stage as a flat stage, while it was hillier than today,” said Toyota-United director Harm Jansen in response. “(Sean) Sullivan is sick with asthma problems, (Ivan) Stevic has a bad knee and pulled out of the race, (Chris) Baldwin crashed twice, Dominguez is our leader and two of our riders left, (Justin) England and (Heath) Blackgrove are just spent from yesterday. So the only guy I had left was Chris Wherry and I’m not going to finish off that last piece of bread I have left on my plate."

Wherry said Toyota-United held to its responsibility as race leader to chase the break.

“When the break went up the road, we immediately had five guys on the front,” Wherry said. “Only one other team was helping us and their guys blew up pretty quickly, so we were left to do it. It wasn't a good move for everybody because not every team had its top GC riders in there. We did what we could for a while, but no other teams wanted to help us. So it was basically us against 11 other teams. Eventually we called it quits and hoped some teams would organize after that. It just didn’t happen.”

Dominguez said he surprised himself with his win in Kansas City.
Kansas City, Mo. – He may have been the favorite to win the first-ever stage of the Tour of Missouri, but Ivan Dominguez wasn’t feeling like a winner with fewer than five miles left in Tuesday’s 85-mile (137 km) road race that started and finished in Kansas City, Mo.

“I was not expecting to see that hill on the back end of the circuit,” Dominguez said. “I was hurting every time we went up.”

So with his legs badly cramping and only two of his seven teammates still in position to help him, Dominguez’s chances didn’t look good on the last of three laps around a circuit through Kansas City’s famous Plaza district.

That all changed, though, when the peloton swung onto the finishing straight in front of thousands of fans on a sun-splashed afternoon.

“Coming out of the last corner I was in 40th wheel and I did not expect to pass so many guys so fast,” Dominguez said. “I realized it was a long way but I said to myself, ‘I’m going to try!’ ”

With 250 meters to go, Dominguez was still 20 riders back, but moving up fast. He went from the right side of the road, across to the center, then attacked on the left to earn his 13th victory of the season, the team’s 35th this year and the 90th win overall for Toyota-United in its second season.

Earlier in the stage, a five-man breakaway gained a nearly six minutes’ lead. But the chasing efforts of several squads, including the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, Toyota-United and Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle brought the gap down to fewer than two minutes with about 15 miles remaining.

“I buried four guys off the back of the leading group,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “One guy has a knee (problem), the other couldn’t breathe. Two other guys were buried because they had worked so hard helping chase.”

Shawnee, Kan. – Shane Fedon won’t easily admit to it, but the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Head Mechanic knows a lot more about the Tour of Missouri than most of the riders who will be competing in it.

That’s because the Virginia native has spent the past two years living in Shawnee, Kan., where he and his girlfriend, Cheryl Singleton, treated the team’s riders and staff to a steak dinner Sunday night.

“I’ve lived all over the world, but this is the first place that I really call home,” Fedon said.

Fedon said some riders might be surprised at what the courses in the six-day, 558-mile race have to offer up.

“I think it’s going to be a hard course,” Fedon said. “It’ll be a lot like Univest, with some rolling hills and some good kickers. If a group gets away, you might not see them again.”

Plus, the time trial will be important. But even if you win the TT, there’s still three more days of racing after that and at least two of the days are the same."

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team will be providing daily updates and behind-the-scenes information each day of the Tour of Missouri.

Check this site, and the team's official site, for photos, race resports and inside insight into Toyota-United as it competes in the inaugural edition of the six-day, six-stage race

Greenville, S.C. - Chris Baldwin didn’t know if he would have the legs to get all the way to the finish of Sunday’s 110-mile (177 km) USA Cycling Professional Road Race.

After all, the day before, the 31-year-old rode a blazing 18.1-mile (30.7 km) time trial, finishing eighth.

So when Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team) attacked on the third of four ascents of Paris Mountain, Baldwin went with him.

“I had talked to (Toyota-United teammate) Chris Wherry before that and he warned me to watch for attacks on that lap,” Baldwin said. “I told him I would cover everything.”

Little did Baldwin know what he had signed up for.

"He (Leipheimer) just put it in the big ring and went,” Baldwin said. “We were racing in our 39-19 and 39-21 the whole way up.”

“Levi went big ring and everybody else went ‘ugh’ except for Chris,” said Toyota-United’s Burke Swindlehurst, who would go on to finish a team-best 10th place.

“Chris was really the only guy who could go with him,” said teammate Justin England. “It was really impressive.”

Not only the duo ride away from the peloton, but they also climbed Paris Mountain faster than anyone ever had before – obliterating the former record of eight minutes and 54 seconds by 25 seconds.

“It was an awesome effort for Baldwin to follow Leipheimer, though I think Leipheimer was unmatchable today,” said Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen.

Baldwin shadowed Leipheimer up the climb and, when the road started going downhill, he tried to catch a breather – without much success.

“Leipheimer is so small that it’s like riding behind a 90-pound motorbike. There’s no draft at all,” Baldwin said.

Wherry initially thought Baldwin and Leipheimer might have made the winning move.

“But I’m sure Chris (Baldwin) was feeling it from the time trial,” Wherry said.

Baldwin and Leipheimer worked together to catch a small breakaway group that had escaped on the first two large laps of the 21-mile (34 km) circuit.

“We didn’t catch them until we came into town,” Baldwin said. “Once we caught ‘em, they were dead. But then Andrew Bajadali (Jelly Belly Cycling Team) and Frank Pipp (Health Net presented by Maxxis) came up. The problem was, those two guys were so strong, the other guys were dead and Levi was 20 percent stronger than all of us.”

The group of leaders stayed together until the final time up Paris Mountain, when Leipheimer attacked and rode the final hour of the race alone. Baldwin lost contact on the climb and eventually withdrew.

“I felt really good today,” he said. “A lot better than I thought I would.”

Swindlehurst was Toyota-United's best finisher in the 110-mile race.
Greenville, S.C. - Burke Swindlehurst’s 10th-place finish Sunday led the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team at the USA Cycling Pro Championship Road Race.

Swindlehurst was one of four Toyota-United riders in the 110-mile (177 km) race, three of whom finished. Chris Wherry was 20th and Justin England was 28th. Chris Baldwin joined eventual race winner Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team) in a record ascent of Paris Mountain (see related story) before withdrawing from the race.

Swindlehurst was with a small group that was chasing Leipheimer entering the first of three 3.76-mile (6.1 km) circuits in downtown Greenville. Swindlehurst attacked repeatedly, only to be chased down each time by Bobby Julich (CSC).

After four unsuccessful attacks, Swindlehurst lost contact with the group when George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) attacked.

"I took a bit of a calculated risk thinking there was no way Julich and the other guys with me were going to let Hincapie go," Swindlehurst said. "Then, when I realized everybody was hurting, it was too late for myself to get across. All I could hope for was some cohesion in the group, but it didn’t happen."

Driving behind in the Toyota Prius Team Car, Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen had already seen the signs that Leipheimer would not be brought back.

“When the gap was one minute and 20 seconds over the last climb and we came down the climb and saw there was no organized chase, I knew Leipheimer was going to stay away,” he said.

Leipheimer won by 71 seconds over Discovery Channel teammate and defending champion George Hincapie. Neil Shirley (Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling Team) was third, 1:14 behind Leipheimer.

Toyota-United’s England said the pace up Paris Mountain was a lot more steady than the fierce attacks that saw the pack whittled in half each time up the climb last year. In an attempt to bring more riders to the finish, race organizers eliminated one 21-mile (34 km) lap. Still, only 30 of 114 starters finished.

“The last time up the climb, we had four guys still in the race,” Jansen said. “Burke had a shot at a great result but in the end, it’s a timing issue of who happens to make the right attack.”

Swindlehurst, who finished fourth in this race a year ago, said his legs were cramping, but he was hanging tough until the final 500-meter riser to the finish, where he conceded a few places.

“I almost felt like I had better legs than last year,” he said. “If there had been one more lap up Paris Mountain, I think the results might have been pretty similar to last year.”

Chris Baldwin rounds the first turn of the time trial Saturday.
Greenville, S.C. — Chris Baldwin said he could not have gone any faster in Saturday’s USA Cycling Championship Time Trial.

“I was riding harder than I was last year,” Baldwin said. “I couldn’t have done any better training or preparation.”

Baldwin finished eighth in the 18.1-mile (30.7 km) time trial through The Cliffs Valley. David Zabriskie (CSC) successfully defended his time trial national championship with a time 59 seconds faster. Zabriskie crossed the finish line after 39 minutes and 34 seconds, averaging 28.3 mph (45.6 kph). Two riders from Team Slipstream presented by Chipotle, Danny Pate and Timmy Duggan, finished second and third, respectively.

On a slightly longer (20.15-mile) course last year, Zabriskie won by 1.4 seconds over Pate with an average speed of 28.8 mph (46.4 kph). Seven riders were within one minute of Zabriskie’s time this year, compared to three last year.

“Guys are just going fast. They’re flying,” Baldwin said. “To have seven guys within a minute of Zabriskie shows that there are a lot of riders at a high level right now."

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said Baldwin can hold his head high despite falling short of his goal of winning a third national time trial title. The 31-year-old won the event in 2003 and 2005.

“He’s done more racing than anyone else on our team this year,” Jansen said. “And he has been consistent in all these different stage races. When you look at how many races he’s done and how well he’s performed, it actually transforms him into a more of an endurance athlete than strictly a strong time trialist.”

Toyota-United had a special guest riding in the Toyota Prius team car Saturday: Toyota-United-sponsored endurance cyclist Daniel Sheret, an amputee who is riding his United bicycle across the world to raise money and awareness for two organizations’ work with landmine survivors. Sheret is getting ready to embark on the second part of his journey, which will take him across the United Kingdom and Europe later this month. For more information about his ride, visit www.abilitytrek.org.

Greenville, S.C. - The executive director of Medalist Sports, one of the organizers of this weekend's USA Cycling Pro Championships, said he expects a larger crowd than the one that turned out for last year's inaugural edition of the event in Greenville, S.C.

"We had 62,000 spectators last year," said Chris Aronhalt, Executive Director of Medalist Sports. "We think everyone who came last year will bring someone with them so we hope to hit six figures."

Aaronhalt made his remarks at Friday afternoon's pre-event press conference. Barry Bennett, Director of Communications for Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, emceed the event, which took place at the Greenville Community Hospital.

Scott Beville, President of Sales and Marketing for The Cliffs, said the time trial the company is hosting has been changed for the better.

"The start is the same, but we want to create a better experience for the riders and the fans," he said. "It will be not as technical of an approach to the finish line. You’ll be able to see the riders come down for about the last mile. And it will help the riders hit the finish line full speed ahead."

Here are what other participants in the press conference had to say:

Steve Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, USA Cycling, Inc.:
It’s great to be back in Greenville. All of us were overwhelmed by this community and the experience and friendliness that was apparent last year. The word “significant” was used a lot last year. It marked year zero last year for me, when we had a significant, American-only pro peloton in our championships. Right now, we’re probably farther ahead than anyone to be the next major theater for professional cycling than any other country in the world. We’re on track to produce the best events and the best riders. We ended up turning away some of the top level teams for the Tour of California this year, so we know people are interested in racing here in America. Plus, we have some of the top riders in the world right here in our own backyard. We have increased our club membership more than 100 percent in the last four years. Junior membership is up, too. This even will capture the hearts and minds of some of the youngsters here in this community. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of them years from now stand on an international podium because they watched this event as they grew up.

Kevin Dunn, President, Palmetto Peloton Project:
Dunn shared a story one of the riders wrote last year. “All I could think as I was climbing Paris Mountain was what patients have to endure during their chemo treatments,” she wrote. “I didn’t stop going up that mountain because of them.” If you think 125 riders in the peloton is impressive, wait until you see 500.

Michael Riordan, President/CEO, Greenville Hospital System:
He thanked USA Cycling for bringing the championships to Greenville. The Greenville Hospital System is serving as the title sponsor for the event through 2008 and providing all medical services throughout the weekend.

Mayor Knox White, City of Greenville:
White hanked the athletes for being a part of the event, despite having a “hometown favorite” in the race (George Hincapie). Be warned, he said, there is a lot more excitement about this event. “The crowds will be much bigger than they were last year,” he said.

Jim Bourey, Greenville City Manager:
We anticipate a much larger crowd this year and want to ensure everything goes as smoothly as it did last year. There will be only one permanent road closure (Broad and Main) for the events, but there are maps and traffic advisories on the website that detail the route.