De Maar delivers time trial win

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United Healthcare's Marc De Maar celebrated his first day in the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic's leader's jersey by taking out the time trial in front of Bissell's Paul Mach.

De Maar covered the 18.5-mile windswept course in 44:06:2, 14 seconds faster than Mach, who placed second in this stage last year. Team Type 1's Michael Creed finished third with a time of 44:20:2. Last year's Scenic Gorge Time Trial winner Chris Baldwin (UHC) suffered mechanical problems with a rubbing brake and finished well off the pace of the other GC contenders.

The top three places in general classification remain unchanged, with DeMaar leading Mach by 14 seconds, followed by Hagens Berman rider Sam Johnson in third 42 seconds down. Creed now sits fourth, 44 seconds in arrears.

The course traversed the Historic Columbia River Gorge Scenic Highway and threw nearly 2,000 feet of climbing at the riders, but the biggest obstacle was the famous gorge winds that draw windsurfers from around the world to Hood River.

“It was a good day to weight 185 pounds,” said Johnson, who placed fourth in the time trial, 39 seconds off De Maar’s winning mark. “It was super windy out there; very hard to ride in a straight line. And it was gusty. Big gusts would come and just grab your front wheel and whoosh you over.”

The gusts wreaked havoc, especially on smaller riders, but DeMaar cut right through the winds. UHC team director Gord Fraser said the difficult course helped his rider.

“Marc’s not the best time trialist in the world,” said Fraser. “But with the course as difficult as it was with quite a bit of climbing and a lot of wind, you know, being Dutch he’s used to the wind. So it kind of gave him some confidence that he could do a pretty good time trial, even against a guy like Mach who’s quite good at the TT.”

DeMaar’s margin of 14 seconds over Mach also takes out the possibility of time bonuses changing the GC, which makes UHC’s job tomorrow at the 92-mile Wy’East Road Race much simpler.

“All we need to do is just keep it together and have Marc beat Paul Mach in the sprint and we’ll be just fine,” Fraser said. “It’s a good position. Obviously, the race is far from over, but we like where we sit.”

Women's Race

Metro Mint’s Holly Van Houweling set the fastest time trial mark for the women’s race, covering the course in 51:47.4, 40 seconds faster than second-placed Robin Secrist. Total Restoration’s Laura Brown finished third.

Van Houweling takes over the yellow jersey, with Secrist in second 40 seconds back and River City Bicycle’s Sue Butler in third, 1:18 down.