Huffman claims Gila time trial victory

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California Giant's Evan Huffman proved his Merco Cycling Classic time trial win in March wasn't a one off in today's TT stage of SRAM Tour of the Gila. The 22-year-old powered his way over the hilly TT course to take the win over Rory Sutherland by just two seconds.

Bontrager-Livestrong rider Joe Dombrowski, the current leader in the young rider's jersey, took third, just 17 seconds off the pace.

Former New Zealand National Time Trial Champion and last year's second place finisher Jeremy Vennell took the hot seat early on with a time of 34:47, but eventually dropped down to fourth overall, 23 seconds behind Huffman.

"I felt really, really good and strong today," Huffman said. "I did this race last year so I knew what my split times were, so I knew I was going to be close."

Over the last year, Huffman said he's worked hard to better his time trailing ability, and after winning Merco's time trial and today's result, it's paid off.

"I think I can call myself a time trialist now," he said.

Huffman predicts the next couple days will be a challenge for him, anticipating fellow U25 rider Dombrowski will launch some serious attacks on the crucial last stage up the Gila Monster.

Even though UnitedHealthcare's Sutherland said he didn't feel great during the time trial, he remains in the red jersey going into tomorrow's crit in downtown Silver City.

"I was on a new bike trying out a new position today," he told Cyclingnews. "Trying to get used it before the Tour of California. I was actually really surprised that I came second or even that close to the kid who won and did a phenomenal ride."

Staying safe in tomorrow's crit is a priority for the Australian, who is looking forward to solidifying his victory in last stage.

"Things are going in the right direction for the Tour of California," Sutherland said. "But you can't really predict what will happen on that last stage, it's a grueling long day."

Heading into the next stage, Sutherland continues to hold the overall lead, with U25 rider Joe Dombrowski moving up into second and Francisco Mancebo third.

Armstrong crushes everyone

Kristen Armstrong (Exergy TWENTY12) shattered Clara Hughes's time in last year's TT by more than two minutes on today's hilly 16.5-mile course, winning her third stage in a row at the SRAM Tour of the Gila.

Alison Powers (Now & Novartis) was second ahead of Carmen Small (Optum Pro Cycling), but did not gain enough time to overtake Small on the general classification.

Armstrong was in high spirits after her incredible result today, telling Cyclingnews it puts her on track for the upcoming Olympics. Thinking of the TT singularly, instead of a collective part of a stage race, helps her focus toward a stellar end result.

"I went into it with enough time cushion I could have just gone and said ‘oh well, I think I have enough time on these girls I don't have to go hard,' but I knew that every performance that I do until the Olympic selection in mid-June is important."

Powers, who finished fourth on the two previous stages and is one to watch in tomorrow's criterium, was pleased with her performance today on the testing 16.5-mile course.

"I did my best for sure," Powers told Cyclingnews. "Our team is slowly moving up on GC so that's important. We are excited to race the next two days."

After coming out of retirement, Armstrong has proven to continue to be at another level of performance, which she attributes to an unsurpassed ability to motivate herself. She wants to taste the Olympic experience again, and the drive to get there again is what she calls "laser focused."

"I came back from being on top of the world," she told Cyclingnews. "I was world champion in 2009 and I retired. For most people that would be a peaceful place and a little bit of closure and that I should be happy because I'm at the pinnacle of the sport."

But the 2008 Olympic gold medallist wasn't content with reaching the highest level of the sport just once. Her dedication to repeating the performance has even her own teammates wondering how she does it.

Armstrong said she does much of her training solo, because she feels that if you can learn to hurt on your own without using others, you can hone in that focus needed for the time trial discipline.

She achieves her top end speed from racing with others, but when she's alone she said she makes herself accountable by having mini competitions with herself.

"I know that each and every person out here is sacrificing, it's not a lucrative sport by any means," Armstrong said. "Most of us have gone to college and have degrees and have choices on going off and doing other things, but this is our passion and I feel like when I'm sacrificing so much around me I want to control everything I can. One of those things is my training."

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