Mach makes prologue his own

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Paul Mach will start stage one of the 2010 Indie Hops Mt. Hood Cycling Classic wearing the same garment he wore at the end last year's race - the yellow leader's jersey.

The Bissell Pro Cycling team rider, who recently wore the KOM jersey at the Tour of California, covered the four-mile, pancake flat prologue course in 07:11.85, just two seconds faster than runner-up Morgan Schmitt of United Healthcare. Yahoo! Cycling Team's Ryan Parnes was third, five seconds in arrears.

UHC's Chris Baldwin, second on GC in 2009, finished fifth on the day behind teammate Roman Kilun. Both Kilun and Baldwin are seven second behind Mach. Team Type 1's Michael Creed sits sixth, just one second behind the UHC pair.

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Steady rain washed over the fast, wide course at Portland International Raceway as the evening wore on, but that didn't stop Schmitt from blistering over the course with a time that held throughout most of the evening before Mach, the last rider on the course, managed to eclipse his old teammate's mark.

"I was a little surprised," Mach said of his performance. "I didn't know how the legs would feel after [the Tour of] California. Either you're still tired or you're bouncing back up and getting the good training bonus. But it turned out good. I'm happy to be in yellow."

UHC's Schmitt, who rode with Mach last year in the Bissell squad, said the wet conditions made caution the order of the day with five more stages remaining.

"It was wet and slick," he said. "I didn't want to take too many chances out there because there's a lot of racing left. But I certainly wanted to keep the pressure on the pedals and stay upright. It was kind of a gamble out there in some of those turns."

Schmitt will get another run at Mach's jersey Wednesday at the UnitedHealthcare Mt. Tabor criterium on a course that features 150 feet of climbing per 1.5-mile lap. The race is scheduled for 90 minutes, but organisers and officials may shorten the event if a forecast deluge of record Oregon rainfall materialises.

"I'm sure Gord (Fraser) will come up with a pretty good plan," said Schmitt. "We'd definitely like to be in the jersey or at least win the stage tomorrow because it's important to our sponsor."

Schmitt experienced the Mt. Tabor course in 2008, when he and his teammates rode at the front nearly the entire race defending Ben Jaques-Maynes' leader's jersey, which he ultimately lost because of time bonuses handed out to the stage winner.

This year Schmitt will be able to leave the defending to Bissell and Mach, who says they're ready to take on the challenge despite UHC's superior numbers.

"If it's raining, we'll be near the front," Mach said. "That should be to our advantage. But we'll have to see what the other teams decide to do. We're just gonna race our bikes."

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