Day claims stage win, Sutherland retains overall lead

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Ben Day (Fly V Australia) made full use of his 55 tooth front chain ring in order to set the best time at the Skyliner Rd 25-kilometre time trial, stage two of the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic. The Australian all-rounder finished with a time of 31:28 minutes, outpacing prologue winner Jesse Sergent (Trek-Livestrong) by 15 seconds and race leader Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis) by an additional 12 seconds.

“I really feel like Rory has been trying to fatten me up by inviting me to all his barbeques back in Boulder,” Day joked at the podium presentation. “It’s a conspiracy that I want to be known by all.

“Kidding aside, I’m really happy to have some consistency this year,” he added. “I haven’t had too much preparation for this event so I’m happy that, here at Cascade, I’m able to get another win. It is carrying on from the great season that I’ve been having and I’m happy with that.”

Day moved into second place overall 16 seconds behind Sutherland. His Fly V Australia teammate Darren Lill sits in third place a further 41 seconds back.

“There were two guys in front of me in the time trial that are known for time trialling and prologues, so to be able to be close to them is good, especially after yesterday,” Sutherland said. “Once you get the lead you don’t want to let it go, especially not to the Fly V guys who are obviously very strong. I’d rather be in front and try and maintain it than catch up.”

Day dedicated his win to friend and former teammate Ben Brooks. In 2008, Doctors at the St. Charles Medical Centre intensive care unit in Bend put Brooks into an induced coma for nearly a week following a horrific crash during Cascade’s opening stage.

“I dedicate this time trial win to Ben Brooks, an old teammate and friend who has had a tough couple of years after a big crash in Cascade in 2008,” Day said. “I want to send him some positive vibes.”

Lill heads back into the mountains as the event’s best climber and Frank Pipp (Bissell) continues to lead the event’s best sprinter competition. Timothy Roe (Trek-Livestrong) moved ahead of his teammate Benjamin King as the event’s best young rider.

The overall contenders are presented with a second mountaintop finish in the stage three Cascade Lakes 128-kilometre road race that will finish at the Mount Bachelor Ski Resort.

“I’m hoping to be able to rub shoulders with Rory in the next couple of days,” Day said. “I’m sure we are going to throw some cards at them with some of my Fly V Australia teammates and I’m sure UnitedHealthcare will be rubbing shoulders with us too. We will see who comes out on top.”

Willock wins first-ever time trial in Cascade

Erinne Willock (Webcor Builders) snagged her first professional time trial victory in the Skyliner Rd 25-kilometre time trial. Her 35:56 minute individual performance was nine seconds quicker than Mara Abbott (Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12) and a further 35 seconds quicker than Alison Powers (Vera Bradley Foundation).

“Alison started one minute ahead of me and she is a great time trialist. I knew if I kept her in sight, or even caught her on that hill, that I was doing a good day and that was my goal,” Willock said. “My race was to the top of the hill. I went as hard as I could to the top and kept it going. I felt good today.

“I knew I was going good because I caught Alison. I knew I was doing a good time,” she added. “I’m in the top three now and we have a really strong team here. They will do their best to get me up as high as we can. There is still a lot of racing left.”

Abbott’s second place moved her into the overall race lead by 1:13 minutes over runner-up Cath Cheatley (Colavita-Baci) and 1:59 minutes ahead of third placed Wilock.

Abbott dedicated her strong time trial performance and her race lead to health and happiness of her ill grandfather, Lyle Abbott. “I spoke with my Dad on the phone and my grandpa is not doing well,” Abbott said. “He had to be put on oxygen today. I want to dedicate this to him.

“This is my first good time trial in a while,” she added. “I figured it back out again at US Nationals and to be able to come back here and do well is special.

“To be able to take the general classification lead in a time trial is something that I have never done before,” she added. “In order to become a complete rider it is the sort of thing that you have to be able to do, to be a well rounded rider. That is an exciting step forward, more so than winning a mountain stage because it signifies development in all sorts of areas for me as a rider.”

Abbott is confident that her short handed team of four women will be capable of defending the yellow jersey after tomorrow’s stage three Cascade Lake Road Race. The pro women will complete 113-kilometre trek around the Deschutes National Forest and conclude at the top of Mount Bachelor Ski Resort.

“We have a small team but we work really well together and communicate really well,” Abbott said. “We commit to one goal and go for that goal. If you have four people truly committed to one goal it is like 10 people who are a little bit scattered.

“I believe in my team,” she added. “There are three days left and you don’t know what could happen but that is what makes it exciting. The last few days have been big steps in the right direction for our team.”

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