Whitten brings track power to Toona prologue

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Tara Whitten (Tibco-To the Top) used her world-class track expertise to win the Altoona Sunset Time Trial, the opening stage of the Tour de Toona on Wednesday night. She out-paced her teammate Jennifer Wheeler, who placed second, and Anne Samplonius (Now-Novartis-MS Society) in third.

"I am really excited to win and for my team Tibco to get first and second on the podium, that was really exciting," Whitten told Cyclingnews. "We pre-rode the course over the last couple of days and we were thinking about what equipment to use and how to take certain corners and we really gave it a lot of thought."

Whitten will lead the women's peloton into the stage one road race, a 116 kilometre road race that finishes at the top of the lengthy and steep Blue Knob ascent on Thursday.

"We will have to see how the race plays out," Whitten said. "I know that we have some strong climbers on our team. We checked out the finishing climb yesterday and we know what it looks like. Depending on how I am feeling and how my teammates are feeling, we have a few cards to play."

The prologue offered the field a five-kilometre and technical jaunt through the downtown streets of Altoona, Pennsylvania. The parcours included 15 corners along with several steep inclines and fast descents.

"It was a very technical course and so I knew that the distance would suit me but I was a little bit nervous about all the cornering," Whitten said. "I felt that I carried my speed pretty well in and out of the corners, so I was very happy with that."

Organizers were forced to cancel two of the original six stages due to limited support from surrounding towns Martinsburg and Hollidaysburg. Despite the last minute changes, Whitten is expecting a showdown between some of the top teams and riders participating in the now four-day event.

"I was disappointed to hear that we were losing a couple of stages but at the same time I was really looking forward to coming down to do this stage race, once I heard that it was on again. I had never done this race because it hasn't happened since I started road racing and I always heard great things about it."

Van Uden secures win for Pure Black

Roman Van Uden (Pure Black Racing) secured a victory in the men's race with the youngster pipping the day's favourite Frank Pipp (Bissell), who placed second and his teammate Chase Pinkham in third.

"I'm really happy winning the prologue and it was a great win for the team," Van Uden told Cyclingnews. "The course was about five kilometres long and about 15 really tight and difficult corners, which was pretty much perfect for me."

Van Uden is confident that his team will be able to hold onto the overall leader's jersey after the stage one 116 kilometre road race that includes a grueling mountaintop finish on the famed Blue Knob ascent.

"It will definitely be a hard stage and I am going to ride as best as I can to try and defend the jersey," Van Uden said. "Hopefully we can keep the jersey within the team. That would be awesome. We have eight guys and we finished with six guys in the top ten. We have plenty of cards to play and plenty of guys that can do something."

Pipp was the first rider off and was ranked at the top of the prologue leader board for most of the event. However, Van Uden surpassed his time for the win late in the race.

"It was the same prologue that I felt like I did before in 2006 and 2007 when I raced here," Pipp said. "It was up and down and a lot of turns, very technical. I think I improved my time trialing and prologue each year and it was perfect for me. I was first off and had the fastest time until the last ten riders. I was really trying to go for the win today and I thought I had it until Roman beat me."

The following stages will likely conclude with a showdown between the two dominant teams Bissell and Pure Black Racing, which have registered eight riders a piece. According to Pipp, however, there are no doubt several local riders who will shine on the two mountainous stages one and two.

"There are only teams here minimum of five and maximum of eight, Bissell has a full team and so does Pure Black Racing along with a few other squads," Pipp said. "I don't want to discount anyone because sometimes you have those guys that can climb. If you do well tomorrow, because of the type of stage on Saturday, if you have a decent team you should be able to hold onto it. I believe that Pure Black and Bissell will be fighting it out."

The participating teams arrived to Altoona on Monday, expecting to begin racing the following day. However, race organizers were forced to make some last minute adjustments to the original six-day race that included canceling two circuit races in Martinsburg and Hollidaysburg.

"Initially it was frustrating," Pipp said. "It turned out fine and had a good ride yesterday and got to refresh our memory of blue knob climb, we went up it the two different ways. It was too bad though because we brought a team that has GC contenders and also a sprint heavy squad for the two circuit races and the criterium. It will work out in the end and there is not much you can do."

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