Whitten claims Exergy Tour opener

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An all-Canadian podium for the opening prologue time trial at the women's Exergy Tour in Boise, Idaho, was overshadowed by a broken clavicle for hometown hero Kristin Armstrong, who crashed hard at the turnaround of the out-and-back course after setting the fastest intermediate split of the day.

Starting last, Armstrong (Exergy-TWENTY12) burned over the course and looked on track to outshine the time of eventual winner Tara Whitten (TIBCO-To the Top), but the 2008 Olympic gold medalist washed out her front wheel in the sweeping left-hand 180-degree turn at the halfway mark and fell hard on her left shoulder. Armstrong quickly remounted and finished in tears with a time of 4:17.88 for 13th.

Dr. Jim Johnston, an Orthopedic Surgeon at St. Luke’s Sports Medicine in Boise, said Armstrong has a mid-shaft clavicle fracture. Surgery is scheduled for Friday morning, when the injury will be stabilized with clavicle pins. Johnston said a Swift recovery is expected and Armstrong should be able to ride her trainer within a few days.

Whitten started 77th out of 103 riders and bumped fellow Canadian Gillian Carleton (Canadian National Team) into second with a blistering pace of 4:09.64 over the 3.2km route. Carleton had been on the hot seat for more than half and hour with a time of 4:09.98 before Whitten eclipsed her mark by just three tenths of a second. Clara Hughes (Specialized-Lululemon) set the third-fastest time of the day with a mark of 4:10.55. Hughes' teammates Ina Yoko Teutenberg and Evelyn Stevens rounded out the top five with times of 4:12.16 and 4:12.41, respectively.

Stevens had the fastest early time, starting just 13 riders into the race, but Teutenberg grabbed the lead about 10 minutes later and held it until Carleton busted across the line with the new best time. The young Canadian had to wait another half hour before Whitten finally brushed her aside.

“I went pretty early on in the evening, so I new there was an absolutely world class field coming behind me,” Carleton said. “I was definitely quite nervous hearing the times as people came across the line. I didn't really have any expectations, I just wanted to go as hard as I could, so I was happy with how I went. It was over a lot faster than I thought it would be, which was kind of nice because I was hurting.”

Carleton and Whitten are current team pursuit mates on the Canadian track team, and Huighes and Whitten are former teammates in the same track event. So the day appeared to favor riders with velodrome experience, something Whitten said she takes a lot of pride in.

“I always take a bit of pride in my prologue performances,” Whitten said. “Because as a track rider I feel I have to represent the 3k distance. I was really excited to have my current pursuit teammate in second place on the podium with me, and another Canadian and former team pursuit teammate, Clara [Hughes] in third, so it was a great day for Canada.”

The big winner on the day as far the overall battle is concerned has to be Specialized-Lululemon, which placed three riders in the top five, all within four seconds of the race leader. Team director Ronny Lauke said he was happy for the team's result, but saddened by Armstrong's crash.

“She had the fastest split time, so it is very unfortunate if somebody gets held back by a crash,” he said. “I mean, she probably would have won, but unfortunately, that belongs to the sport, too; if you crash you lose time. It's very unfortunate, but I hope she is going to recover well.”

Current world road race champion Giorgia Bronzini finished 37 seconds down for 87th, but said she was pleased with her ride as she is recovering from a crash in the final stage of the Festival Elsy Jacobs.

“I'm happy because I start again after the crash, and I feel good today with the shoulder,” Bronzini said. “It was not my race today, but I begin. I will try to do some stage well for coming my form. It's a hard tour, but I think if I survive I will come to Philadelphia in a good condition.”

Although Armstrong's Exergy-TWENTY12 squad suffered a huge blow to a race that had been planned around their team leader's Olympic hopes, the squad vowed to carry on without her.

“We are all absolutely heartbroken for Kristin,” said teammate Tayler Wiles. “But we are ready to rally and do this for her and her hometown.”

The Exergy Tour continues Friday with the 123.5km stage 1 road race that starts and finishes in Nampa.

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