Amgen tour of California 2012

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July 9, Time trial:

Plaxton claims men's TT

By:
Dave McElwaine
Published:
July 10, 2010, 15:16,
Updated:
July 10, 2010, 17:52

Gould too good in women's race

Max Plaxton (Sho-Air/Specialized) riding to victory in the time trail.

Max Plaxton (Sho-Air/Specialized) riding to victory in the time trail.

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Today’s race was the first of a three-day US Pro XCT stage race and is part of the Carmichael Training Systems International Classic. Max Plaxton (Sho-Air/Specialized) powered his way to victory, followed by Geoff Kabush (Team Maxxis/Rocky Mountain) just nine seconds back.

Plaxton seemed like he was on par with the other riders in the technical first mile, but then applied the gas once the trail became double track. “It’s a hard time trial course,” he said. “In that first section, the rocks are really tough. You can’t get a rhythm, and I was hitting my pedals and I hit my shoulder pretty hard once.

“I think I chose the right bike,” he said. “I was riding the dual suspension…it was better through the rocks.”

Despite hitting a tree with his shoulder, Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Trek) was able to ride himself back to third place. Trek teammates Sam Schultz and rookie Russell Finsterwald finished fourth and fifth respectively.

The race was on a challenging 4.39-mile track, with 393 feet of climbing, and a base elevation above 6,000 feet. It began on pavement but quickly entered the Medicine Wheel Trail for about 25 percent of the course. This trail is extremely twisty and is littered with huge rock obstacles. Several areas are so tight that riders' pedals could be heard scraping against rock. Pre-riding the course helped many of the top professional riders not only to find faster lines, but to also gain confidence in the tight sections.

Once through the Medicine Wheel Section, the course mostly followed the Sundance Trail, which is hard-packed doubletrack, often covered with slippery pea stone. The climb to the high point on the course is also twisty, broken up by an occasional downhill, so that it does not feel like a sustained climbing effort. The final downhill section of the course is wide but tricky. Not only are there slippery, off-camber corners, but there are also about 10 water bars that can throw a rider off their bike.

“I am just going to try to clean it…no dabs…just going to have to manage it clean through the first section and then there are lots of places to lay down the power in the middle out there, then cruise to the finish and not wash out,” said Kabush before the race.

“The downhill is all about cornering speed…going fast enough but not too fast and staying smooth,” he said. “Today is all about tyres - big volume and low pressure. It’s pretty skittish out there so you need a lot of rubber on the ground.”

Gould rides smoothly en route to victory

Georgia Gould (Luna Pro Team) took a 45-second victory over an ever-improving Katie Comton (Planet Bike) in the women’s race. Heather Irmiger had a solid ride to third ahead of Chloe Forsman (Tokyo Joes) who had another impressive ride to finished fourth. Mary McConneloug (Kenda-Seven-No Tubes) continued her acclimation to racing at altitude by finishing fifth.

Two hours before race time, the course was soaked with downpours. It was quite amazing that the course seemed to soak up almost all of the water before race time. “The rain definitely made it a little bit better traction,” said Gould. “I was worried that it had made the rocks slippery but it had all dried off by the time I got there. I definitely was riding better than in my pre-rides, when my laps kept getting worse and worse.”

“I was really relieved to have a clean run in the technical section,” Forsman said. “My strategy was to bury myself in the first minute-and-a-half then try to recover a bit, and ride smooth through the technical stuff.”

On Saturday, the riders will move on to the cross country competition. Women start at 4:00 PM while the men start at 6:00 PM. The men will race approximately 120 minutes and the women 105 minutes.

Results

Elite men
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Max Plaxton (Can) Sho/Air-Specialized 0:17:11  
2 Geoff Kabush (Can) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain 0:00:09  
3 Jermey Horgan-Kobelski (USA) Subaru-Trek 0:00:10  
4 Sam Schultz (USA) Subaru-Trek 0:00:29  
5 Russell Finsterwald (USA) Subaru-Trek 0:00:53  
6 Benjamin Sonntag (USA) 0:00:57  
7 Ryan Trebon (USA) Kona 0:01:08  
8 Brady Kappius (USA) 0:01:09  
9 Troy Wells (USA) 0:01:15  
10 Colin Cares (USA) 0:01:18  
11 Michael Broderick (USA) Kenda / Seven / No Tubes 0:01:24  
12 Spencer Paxson (USA) 0:01:28  
13 Bryan Alders (USA) 0:01:36  
14 Robert Marion (USA) 0:01:39  
15 John Bennett (USA) 0:01:43  
16 Greg Carpenter (USA) 0:01:46  
17 Kevin Kane (USA) 0:01:47  
18 Menso De Jong (USA) 0:01:48  
19 Mitch Hoke (USA) 0:01:49  
20 Andy Schultz (USA) 0:01:50  
21 Doug Johnson (USA) 0:01:52  
22 Kerry Werner Jr. (USA) 0:01:55  
23 Kalan Beisel (USA) 0:01:57  
24 Joe Schneider (USA) 0:02:06  
25 Scott Frederick (USA) 0:02:10  
26 Matt Wiebe (USA)    
27 Peter Ostroski (USA) 0:02:11  
28 Aaron Elwell (USA) 0:02:13  
29 Matthew Beaton (USA) 0:02:19  
30 Tristan Uhl (USA) 0:02:24  
31 TJ Woodruff(USA) 0:02:25  
32 Cody Peterson (USA) 0:02:37  
33 Bryan Mickiewicz (USA) 0:02:41  
34 John Nobil (USA) 0:02:44  
35 Matt Connors (USA) 0:02:47  
36 JJ Clark (USA) 0:02:48  
37 Macky Franklin (USA) 0:02:55  
38 Michael McCalla (USA) 0:03:00  
39 Todd Wells (USA) Specialized Factory Racing 0:03:01  
40 Graham Aldredge (USA) 0:03:03  
41 CR Wohlschlaeger (USA) 0:03:32  
42 Will Patterson (USA) Whole Athlete Cycling Team 0:03:48  
Elite women
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Georgia Gould (USA) Luna Pro Team 0:19:14  
2 Katherine Compton (USA) 0:00:45  
3 Heather Irmiger (USA) Subaru-Trek 0:01:05  
4 Chloe Forsman (USA) 0:01:07  
5 Mary McConneloug (USA) Kenda / Seven / No Tubes 0:01:09  
6 Krista Park (USA) Incycle / Cannondale 0:01:17  
7 Allison Mann (USA) 0:01:39  
8 Amy Dombroski (USA) Luna Pro Team 0:01:40  
9 Pua Sawicki (USA) 0:01:41  
10 Amanda Carey (USA) 0:01:46  
11 Judy Freeman (USA) 0:02:00  
12 Willow Koerber (USA) Subaru-Trek 0:02:08  
13 Jennifer Smith (NZl) 0:02:21  
14 Molly Throdahl (USA) 0:02:36  
15 Michelle Bellamy (NZl) 0:02:49  
16 Aleksand Mooradian (Pol) 0:02:58  
17 Bryna Blanchard (USA) 0:03:35  
18 Danae York (USA) 0:04:54  
19 Erin Disterheft (USA) 0:05:08  
20 Deidre York (USA) 0:05:46  
Cat. 1 Women 17-18
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Meghan Kane    
2 Kara Uhl    
Cat. 1 Women 19-29
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Philicia Marion    
2 Kerri Stone    
Cat. 1 Women 30+
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Katina Walker    
2 Lauren Ziedonis    
3 Syrae Weikle    
Cat. 1 Men 15-16
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Chase Dickens    
2 Taylor Smith    
3 Ryan Geiger    
Cat. 1 Men 17-18
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Skyler Trujillo    
2 Tony Smith    
3 William Curtis    
4 Zachary Valdez    
5 Alex Stevenson    
6 Nicholas Newcomb    
7 Colby Pastore    
8 Lewis Gaffney    
9 Riley Predum    
10 Joseph Yoham    
11 Roman Brockley    
Cat. 1 Men 19-29
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Peter O'donnell    
2 Chris Hurst    
3 Matthew Mooradian    
4 Derek Brinkerhoff    
5 Matt Williams    
Cat. 1 Men 30-39
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Kervin Quinones    
2 Brent Gorman    
3 Jean Matthews    
4 Kyle Ashton    
5 Kevin Noleen    
6 Darian Founds    
7 Craig Kennedy    
8 Patrick Coady    
9 Jacob Gonzales    
Cat. 1 Men 40-49
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Dario Fredrick    
2 Ron Bollenberghe    
3 Art Macfarland    
4 Brian Maslach    
Cat. 1 Men 50+
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Steve Cherry    
2 Russell Asleson    
3 Miroslav Novak    
4 Roy Gryskevich    
Cat. 2 Men 15-16
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Philip Meyer    
Cat. 2 Men 17-18
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Bobby Zidek    
2 Sven Beer    
Cat. 2 Men 19-29
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Benjamin Hess    
2 Zach Bodhane    
3 Ranjodh Gill    
4 Rafael Olvera    
5 Daniel Gerow    
Cat. 2 Men 30-39
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
  Steven Thompson    
  Pete Vanbreemen    
Cat. 2 Men 40-49
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Robert Willcox    
2 Chip Stadjuhar    
3 Chris Kuzma    
4 Juan Gutierrez    
5 David Rosenbaum    
6 Bob Catalano    
7 Stephen Trahey    
8 Bill Harms    
Cat.2 Men 50+
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Emil Gercke    
2 Robert Rodriguez    
Cat. 3 Women
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Megan Henning    
Cat. 3 Men 15-16
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Zach Kuzma    
2 Connor Mason    
Cat. 3 Men 17-18
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Dakota Pittman    
Cat. 3 Men 30-39
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Guillermo Guerra    
2 Craig Oboyle    
3 Scott Swandal    
Cat. 3 Men 50+
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Steve Simmons    
2 Tim Gaffney    
3 Paul Mcchellan    
Singlespeed men
# Rider Name (Country) Team Result
1 Cameron Chambers    
2 Ben Ollett    
3 Jeff Walker