Young takes stage 2 sprint in SRAM Tour of the Gila

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A sprint finish was on the cards today for the UCI men at the SRAM Tour of the Gila with Bissel Cycling Under 25 rider Eric Young getting the better of Competitive Cyclist's Francisco Mancebo and Chad Beyer.

The action at the front of the UCI men's race came almost immediately after the start of stage two. Small breakaways were attempted, but quickly shut down by the equally as active peloton, until the first King of the Mountain points were contested about 19 kilometers into the 129km race.

Competitive Cyclist rider Thomas Rabou, Team Type 1's Javier Megias, Kenda 5 Hour Energy's James Stemper and Team Optum's Chris Parrish opened up a 55 second gap on the rest of the peloton, and were eventually joined by Mexico National Team's Carlos Lopez and California Giant U25 rider Evan Huffman at 37 miles into the race.

Working together well, the breakaway stayed away for the majority of the race, but was absorbed back into the pack at 107km, setting up the race for a sprint finish.

Young said he managed to take advantage of a lull at the front, while Competitive Cyclist was driving the pace for Beyer and Mancebo.

"I felt that if I caught them off guard I might get lucky and that's exactly what happened," the current USA Pro Criterium Champion said, who opened up a huge gap around 300 meters from the finish.

The advantage was quickly decreasing, but Young managed to hold off the field to take his first Gila win.

"I just really wanted to get over the climbs and the whole team was there for me to help me do that. It was not easy, that was a hard win for me," Young said. "Maybe with 50 meters to go when I sat back down I knew that I had it, just because I couldn't see anyone else."

Competitive Cyclist team captain Francisco Mancebo said competing in Joe Martin Stage Race last week caused him to struggle in yesterday's stage, but he found his legs today, placing second ahead of his teammate Chad Beyer.

"I was tired yesterday, Joe Martin was a hard race for me," Mancebo said.

Tomorrow, the pressure is on for Mancebo, who must perform in the 26.6km time trial in order to stay in contention for the final stage up the Gila Monster.

"The last stage is the most important for me," he said. "I hope I feel good."

Mancebo's teammate Chad Beyer, who is currently second overall behind United Healthcare rider Rory Sutherland, also showed off his sprinting legs today, finishing a close third.

"It was a perfect stage for us, the only thing that would have been better was if we had gotten the win," Beyer told Cyclingnews.

In yesterday's stage up the Category one Mogollon climb, Beyer said he was surprised with how well he performed.

"It's funny, I didn't know how I'd be at this race, it was a long drive from Joe Martin to this race, 16 hours or so. I was just following wheels and I ended up right behind Rory."

Tomorrow's hilly out and back time trial will likely shake up the GC placings, dictating how most teams will approach the Gila's last, and crucial stage up the Gila Monster.

Armstrong nabs second stage win from Holcomb

Continuing to confirm her stellar form, Exergy TWENTY12's Kristen Armstrong won her second stage in today's Tour of the Gila, outsprinting Optum's Janel Holcomb and Carmen Small in a hard fight to the finish.

Coming off of the steep Wild Horse Mesa descent about 40 kilometers into the race, a small breakaway group established itself. Optum teammates and GC contenders Carmen Small, Jade Wilcoxson and Jane Holcomb were present, along with race leader and former 2008 Olympic time trial gold medalist Kristin Armstrong, who found herself isolated from her team.

"We wanted to be as aggressive as possible and try to isolate Kristin, because she's really, really strong. Today she raced an incredible race," Small said.

Optum unsuccessfully tried to shake off Armstrong and later, a small chase group caught the pack, which included Optum rider Courtney Lowe.

She immediately regrouped and launched an attack that stuck. Until that point, all of Optum's attacks had been neutralized.

"Courtney was just dynamite today," Holcomb said. "She's a young rider and new, but she's smart and just so willing to work hard."

With Lowe and Now and Novartis rider Robin Farina up the road, it gave the rest of her Optum teammates the opportunity to rest while Exergy TWENTY12 set pace on the front.

Armstrong said the break put her team in a more favorable position.

"If we were to have brought the break back sooner, we would have just been attacked, attacked, attacked," she told Cyclingnews. "You can only do so much with only two teammates with you. We had to, what I call, control the field as best as possible, and I think we did a good job of that."

After Farina and Lowe were swallowed up, the gap began to shrink after the final QOM of the day. Quickly, the group had whittled away to only three riders. Holcomb and Small exchanged attacks in a combined attempt to tire Armstrong, while she was trying to conserve her energy for tomorrow's time trial.

"Tomorrow I have to have the legs to do my best," Armstrong said. "It's the race of truth and it's a true time trial course. For me, every time trial I do this year, moving forward and trying to get selected for the Olympic team I have to just put this race aside for a second and think of it as a one day deal."

In the last few kilometers, Holcomb was the only rider able to hold onto Armstrong's blistering pace to the finish line, though she was unable to power past her at the line.

"Coming into the finish, she looked at me and said ‘you're just sitting on' and I said, yep at this point it's my job,'" Holcomb said.

Optum currently has three riders in the top five GC. Like Exergy, Holcomb said her team plans to continue to race aggressively and fight for the overall GC.

"Today was a really good team race for Optum," she said. "When we go out there and race, we want to race as a team and race our team plan. There are times when you are racing, and you are on the road and someone might try to convince you to deviate from your plan, but we believe so strongly in our director Rachel Heal and the abilities of each other."

Tomorrow the women face a challenging 26.5-mile time trial, with 305 meters of climbing, starting in the town of Tyrone.

Full Results -  Elite Men Stage 2

Women's Results - Stage 2