Chadwick wins Vuelta Mexico

By Mark Zalewski, North American Editor

Team Type 1's Glen Chadwick won the overall at the Vuelta Mexico after leading since the second stage, a 118-mile (190 km) race from San Luís Potosí-León. Wearing the race leader's jersey and winning the overall are even more of an accomplishment for Chadwick when considering he was hospitalised in March with the life-threatening Epstein-Barr spinal virus.

"I think this is one of the biggest wins of my career, and it's extra special because we had a very good ProTour team throwing everything at us to try to unseat us," Chadwick said regarding the Scott-American Beef team. "I'm pretty sure I saw the infamous kitchen sink at least once this week."

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"I did not have big personal expectations coming to the Vuelta," he said. "This is Moises' [Aldape] national tour and I knew we had a strong team here to help him, so on the first stage I just took a chance and really went into the break to protect our team ambitions. It turned out to be the decisive move of the week, and Moises became my undying lieutenant. Sometimes you have to accept a little good luck."

"This more than makes up for everything that Chady and his family have had to go through this year," said Team Type 1's director Ed Beamon.

The racing in Mexico has been a challenge, with rough roads made even more treacherous by heavy rains. Chadwick described the racing in his Cyclingnews diary. "You couldn't see much and when you came across a massive puddle... you just had to hang on tight, grit your teeth and hope there wasn't a crater lurking somewhere in the puddles. The best way to describe the closing kilometres in the rain would be 'Like a battalion of soldiers running into battle with a sniper picking them off one by one.'"

"Defending the jersey for seven days was a big accomplishment for Team Type 1," said Chadwick. "It was not such hard work for me, because the team was so strong and worked so hard for me. It was certainly a difficult week for them."