Bissell sweeps stage 1 podium

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Bissell's Rob Britton opened the season with a convincing victory at the Merco Cycling Classic's stage one Merced Irrigation Distract Road Race on Thursday. The Canadian climber outpaced his teammates and breakaway companions Ben Jacques-Maynes and Paul Mach to the top of the roughly two-kilometre finishing ascent.

"Regardless of what time of year you win a race, it's always great for the team morale - but to start the season with the top three and have the whole team riding well, everyone would want that kind of a start," said Bissell's new part-time directeur sportif Burke Swindlehurst. "I think it's great; all the guys are gelling well and the new additions to the team are fitting in very well."

Britton, Jacques-Maynes and Mach are sitting comfortably in the top three positions of the overall classification heading into the stage two 19.2km time trial. California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized rider John Bennett is in fourth and another Bissell man, Jay Thompson, in fifth.

"I think all four of our riders who are up there are all great time trialists and I feel good about their positions right now," Swindlehurst added. "I don't know too much about John Bennett, with him being so new and so young you can't take anything for granted. I feel pretty confident in our guys."

The Pro/Cat 1-2 men's field lined up on the starting line for what has traditionally been the opening event of the season at the Merco Cycling Classic. This year, race organisers upgraded to a four-day stage race, attracting some of the top domestic racers. The opening stage included a hilly 20km loop around Lake McLure, of which the men completed six-and-a-half laps.

"It was a pretty hilly circuit and the race started to come apart quite a bit on the first circuit," Swindlehurst said. "It wasn't as much of an attacking race as it was an attrition race, that happened quite early with guys testing out their early season fitness."

Bissell was up against strong teams Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth, Full Circle Sports, California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized and riders from Team Type 1-Sanofi Aventis, Wonderful Pistachios, Jamis-Sutter Home, Jelly Belly-Kenda, McGuire Cycling Team and Kenda/5-hour Energy.

Some 11 riders snapped off the front of the field on the third lap that included six riders from the Bissell squad - Britton, Mach and Jacques-Maynes - along with Jay Thompson, Frank Pipp and Andy Jacques-Maynes. Thompson accumulated enough points on each of the King of the Mountain ascents to lead the event's best climber competition.

"Things started to get separate on the top of the KOM climb," Swindlehurst said. "I'd say the KOM competition was what forced the selections and ultimately decided what the last breakaway group would be as well. On the fourth lap there were more attacks from the breakaway and we ended up with four of our riders and John Bennett."

Bennett hung onto a swift uphill tempo set by Britton, Mach, Thompson and Jacques-Maynes over the mid-loop ascent with two-and-a-half laps to go. The five riders entered the base of the finishing ascent together with Britton, Jacques-Maynes and Mach climbing into the top three podium places. Bennett hung on for fourth place ahead of Thompson in fifth.

"Bennett is a young rider with strong mountain bike skills and he was able to hang with our guys on the climb," Swindlehurst said. "He was looking good and I would say that was an impressive showing from him today."

Miller makes stage one her own

Amanda Miller (HTC-Highroad) took a convincing victory at the season-opening Merced Irrigation Distract Road Race, stage one of the Merco Cycling Classic. Miller won a predominantly uphill battle for the win ahead of Flavia Oliveira (Wells Fargo Racing) in second and Alison Starnes (Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12) in third.

"There was a two-kilometre uphill and Peanut Butter was very active at the bottom," said Miller. "I followed wheels and in the last 500 metres Alison Starnes attacked and I jumped on her wheel. I stayed there until about 200 metres to go and I sprinted and got the win."

Miller is currently leading the Merco Cycling Classic as the race heads into the stage two 19.2km time trial on tomorrow. She is leading the race by six seconds ahead of Oliveira and Starnes.

"Time trialing is not my strong point; I can time trial but it is not my specialty by any means," Miller said. "I will definitely go out there and give it my all. Alison Starnes is a time trial specialist and she is right behind me in GC now so it will be hard to contend that but I am up for the challenge."

Miller arrived at the Merco Cycling Classic fresh off her first win of the season during stage six of the recent Women's Tour of New Zealand. "I've trained hard and I am motivated," Miller said. "I'm on my new team and I want to do well, help the team and be the best rider that I can be.

"I didn't know what my form was like going into New Zealand but the team was awesome, a very good environment. Everyone is on the same page and super dialed in. Just being in that kind of environment gives me a lot of motivation."

A high quality women's field lined up to start one of the first events of the season Stateside at the Merco Cycling Classic, a revamped four-stage race held from March 3-6 in and around the city of Merced, CA.

The opening stage took the riders on four and half laps of a hilly 20km loop around Lake McLure that concluded on a lengthy uphill drag to the finish. Some of the most well-represented teams in the event included Webcor-Alto Velo, TIBCO-To the Top, Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12 and Vanderkitten-Focus.

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (HTC-Highroad) attacked on the first lap and pushed the pace in a solo effort for the following three laps, representing nearly 60km. Teutenberg was later joined by a bridging rider Rebecca Werner (Webcor-Alto Velo) on the third lap. Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12 did the majority of the work to reduce the gap to Teutenberg and Werner, both of whom were caught with half a lap to go.

"Ina was off the front for the whole day, pretty much, so I was able to sit in and save energy," Miller explained. "We caught her on the final lap before we went up the feedzone climb. Peanut Butter & Co were all at the front working.

"In the back of my mind I figured that we would catch Ina on the climb and we did. It really helped me because I just got to sit in the draft all day and didn't have to do any work."

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