Team Type 1 had successes in North America, with Matt Wilson scoring a stage win, Glen Chadwick winning the King of the Mountains crown and Moises Aldape claiming the sprinters' jersey in the Tour de Beauce in Canada. And the RAAM team is starting to catch up with the leading Byggkjøp / BMC Cycling Team.
In the Tour de Beauce, Aldape also finished third overall and Team Type 1 won the teams classification as well. In addition to Aldape's podium finish, Team Type 1 had Valeriy Kobzarenko finish fourth overall and Chadwick fifth. Canadian Svein Tuft (Symmetrics Cycling Team) took the overall title while Bernardo Colex (Tecos Trek UAG) finished second.
For Wilson, it was his second victory of the year and his first in North America. The former Australian road race champion had been slowed this season by a broken wrist suffered in a training accident. But in Sunday's 77.7-mile (125 km) circuit race in Quebec City, Wilson played team tactics to perfection by escaping out of the main break to claim the win by four seconds over Philipp Mamos (Sparkasse).
"We knew Symmetrics would try to ride a slow pace today and that the field would probably let them go," Team Type 1 Sport Director Ed Beamon said. "So we gambled that they might let the break get the five minutes Chris [Jones] needed to move into the top three overall. We got to almost four minutes, but some of the guys in the break would not cooperate and it started coming back."
In the Race Across America (RAAM) – an event in which Team Type 1 is the two-time defending champion in the eight-person team division – the squad was running a close second late Sunday night with fewer than 700 miles remaining in the non-stop, 3,015-mile (4,852 km) transcontinental race.
Team Type 1, which is made up entirely of athletes with Type 1 diabetes, trailed the Byggkjøp presented by BMC Cycling Team by less than 90 minutes at the 39th of 54 time stations. Both squads were averaging better than the record 22.42 mph that Team Type 1 averaged in winning the event in 2007.
At its current pace, Team Type 1 will arrive at the finish line in Annapolis, Maryland, Tuesday between the hours of 1:00 and 4:00 in the morning.
(Editorial assistance and research provided by Susan Westemeyer)
