Zirbel wins North Star Grand Prix stage 1 time trial

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North Star Grand Prix defending champion Tom Zirbel (Rally Cycling) showed off his time trial skills Wednesday by winning the St. Paul Riverfront Time Trial with the only sub-10 minute finish on the 8km out-and-back course. Aaron Beebe (ICC Bissell-ABG-Giant) and Evan Huffman (Rally Cycling) rounded out the podium in second and third, respectively.

"It's short enough and straight enough that you gauge your effort over 10 minutes and make sure you're completely exhausted at the end," Zirbel said of the course. "None of the corners are technical. It's just about feeling good on the day."

Minneapolis-based Rally Cycling broguths its top talent to North Star Grand Prix, including former North Star Grand Prix champion Jesse Anthony and stage winner Brad Huff.

"We bring our best team to this race every year," Zirbel said. "Our sponsors are from Minneapolis and we take this race very seriously."

Huff kicked off the time trial as the first of 147 riders. Huff held his early lead until Eric Thompson (Donkey Label) took over the lead 34 riders later with a finish time of 10:07. Thompson held his lead for another 36 riders until Huffman rode in with a time of 10:02. Beebe topped Huffman's time by just one-hundreth of a second.

"You always know Tom's the guy to beat in something like this," Beebe said. "It's always going to be real tough. I feel fortunate to be up with these guys.

"It's a straightforward course – just stay focused for 10 minutes. The road is a little rough so you just have to keep your head up to not ride into any big holes, but that's about as complicated as it gets. The turnaround is really easy so you don’t have to touch your brakes."

The course was an advantage to 19-year-old Australian rider Liam Magennis (Subaru NSWIS & MS), who came in fifth on the stage with a time of 10:06. Magennis leads the Penn Cycle Top Amateur competition and the Greg LeMond Best Young Rider competition.

"It was heaps flat," said Magennis. "I knew it would suit us, but we haven't slept for the last two days because we missed our flight due to thunderstorms. We've had to drive through the night [from Tulsa, Oklahoma]. That wrecked our jet lag again, so it's been pretty disruptive but I'm pretty happy how it went."

Magennis said he and and his team are looking forward to tonight's St. Paul Downtown Criterium.

"We have a couple of guys who could do really well," Magennis said. The Australian-based Subaru NSWIS & MS team boasts brothers Scott and Jackson Law, World Champion medalists on the track. They come to North Star Grand Prix in top form, taking first and second place in a criterium just three days ago. Men’s racing continues tonight at 7:45 at the St. Paul Downtown Criterium.

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