Amaran tops Leipheimer on wind-swept stage

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Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home) has been knocking on victory’s door for most of the early season and his day on the top step of the podium finally came at stage two of the SRAM Tour of the Gila. Overall race leader Levi Leipheimer (Mellow Johnny’s) initiated a late-race move but was passed by Amaran in the last kilometre.

“With one kilometre to go Levi made a really strong attack and I was watching him so I went too,” Amaran said. “This is a surprise but I’m in good form and so I am really happy with this win, my first win this year. Also this race is important because there are so many good riders here.”

By finishing ahead of the peloton Leipheimer added a few seconds to his overall lead ahead of Tom Danielson (DZ Nuts) and Cesar Grajales (Ouch-Bahati Foundation). Tomorrow’s stage three Dan Potts Memorial Tyrone 25-kilometre Individual Time Trial will no doubt reshuffle some of the riders amongst the top 10 in the overall classification.

“That attack was on the whim,” Leipheimer said. “We turned off the big road and it was a really strong wind from the left so when we turned right all of a sudden it was a tail wind. I was about 25 riders back and moving up. I saw that everyone hesitated and I just went for it. You get a gap and you can’t close it in a tail wind. The problem was that Amaran was fast and went right past me. He came passed me so fast that I couldn’t get on him.

“With all this wind guys were getting blown off the road and my main concern was to stay up front, though you don’t want to waste energy, but the main goal was to not crash and stay up front,” he added. “I saw guys get blown off into the dirt so it was dangerous.”

Leipheimer’s attack ruined the lead out Bissel had established for Kyle Wamsley, who ended up in third place. “I wasn’t surprised when Amaran went but when Levi went I was kind of shocked,” Wamsley said. “I figured he would just ride it in but he’s out here for blood as well as everyone else. Good on him for the effort and I’ll just try to get one in the crit.”

Current International Cycling Union (UCI) Individual Pursuit World Champion Taylor Phinney (Trek-Livestrong) kicked off the day by winning an early intermediate sprint zone. His efforts were quickly overtaken by powerhouse riders from DZ Nuts and Mellow Johnny’s, who used the stage’s opening climb to shatter the peloton.

Second overall Tom Danielson (DZ Nuts) and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong (Mellow Johnny’s) were among the riders to set a fast enough pace to cause mass destruction in the peloton behind. The field separated into four large groups with the front group containing approximately 40 of the race’s strongest riders.

As the pace slowed Ben King (Trek-Livestrong) took advantage, launching an early attack near the small town of Pinos Altos. He was soon joined by fellow under 23 rider Danny Summerhill (Holowesko Partners), with the pair then displaying their technical ability on the dangerous sections of the day’s 25-kilometre descent through the rugged Gila National Forest.

The two riders had gained one minute but it decreased as they rode over the undulating terrain surrounding Lake Robert, when their respective directeurs allowed them to sit up and return to the field. Loaded down with water bottles, they were reabsorbed into the field at the 70-kilometre mark.

The peloton swelled back up to approximately 80 riders on its return to Fort Bayard. It was greeted with a block headwind up the lengthy and typically decisive 16-kilometre ascent toward the finishing city. The wind coupled with the efforts of Armstrong and Jason McCartney (Mellow Johnny’s) and DZ Nuts’ riders made it close to impossible to form a breakaway.

The field crested the top of the climb and traveled at speeds as slow as 30 kph on the descent due to the strong winds. Teams attempted to set up their sprinters for a bunch sprint but none were stronger than Bissell. The squad used its weight in numbers to drive the peloton into the town of Fort Bayard for Wamsley.

“The team tried to give me a nice lead-out for the finish and they protected me all the way until about one kilometre to go,” Wamsley said. “They gave me a super sweet ride and drilled it to put everyone else into the gutter so I was fresh for the finish. We came around the turn and a couple guys came over the top and I got boxed in a little. Levi took off over the front. When I finally got a clear run, I attacked over the cattle guard with about 600-metres to go but couldn’t close down the five or 10 seconds.”

1-2-3 for Colavita-Baci

Colavita-Baci team-mates Carmen Small and Andrea Dvorak placed first and second respectively after crossing the finish line side-by-side well ahead of the chasing peloton at the SRAM Tour of the Gila stage two road race. Their teammate and runner up in the overall classification Cath Cheatley won the bunch sprint to the line, rounding out the podium in third place.

“This is incredible,” Small said. “This is one of the hardest stage races on the NRC and it is just incredible that we could do that. It just shows our depth in the team. So we are very, very excited.”

Dvorak proved the strongest rider of the day after spending more than 100 kilometres off the front in the stage’s significant breakaway. As the field closed in on the six-rider move at the base of the final climb, Dvorak launched another attack that resulted in a one minute gap. Her teammate Small, who was also in the original breakaway, bridged across and the pair worked together to make it to the finish line ahead of a small chase group.

“Carmen helped me tremendously to move up in the general classification,” Dvorak said. “I don’t know what the final time was but I might have moved into the top three. Carmen did so much work so I was more than happy to give her the win. It was a great team effort either way.”

The winning duo had enough time to catch a breath before turning around to watch Cheatley win the bunch sprint for third place.

“It was an awesome team effort today and right from the go we rode really well together,” Cheatley said. “It just shows that we ride really well as a team and we can back each other. It’s a nice team to be a part of this. Today shows that we never give up. You get a sniff of the win and you just keep going for it.”

Mara Abbott maintained her lead in the overall classification heading into stage three’s Dan Potts Memorial Tyrone 25-kilometre Individual Time Trial. “When the break was away we really wanted to operate as a unit because we know how strong our riders are,” Abbott said. “My team-mates were rotating at the front and did a gorgeous job organising themselves, it was so beautiful and such an honour to be a part of it. They brought the gap down very close on the climb. As we were on the climb and it got windy, it became a survival game.”

“I hope I can stay on my bicycle tomorrow,” she added.

Robin Farina (Vera Bradley Foundation) was the first to launch an attack, approximately 10 kilometres into the stage on the ascent toward the small town of Pinos Altos. She was quickly joined by Dvorakand the pair gained a sizable lead ahead of the peloton.

“I didn’t plan to go there but we knew we wanted to get Peanut Butter chasing and that we couldn’t just sit around,” Farina said. “The opportunity was there so I took it. Dvorak and I were working really well together. We kept it going all through the forest. All of a sudden Alison Powers was right there at the bottom of the descent.”

The pair made their way through the Gila National Forest and down the day’s technical descent onto a relatively flat section of road. However when they looked back they found three bridging riders, including Farina’s team-mates Alison Powers and Alexis Rhodes along with Dvorak’s team-mate Small.

“Carmen and Alexis came across a few seconds later,” Farina said. “Carmen was actually sitting on most of the time until we hit the headwind section. She said she was told not to work. We felt like it was in her best interest to work but I guess, it didn’t matter at the end of the day. I think Dvorak had really awesome legs today.”

The six riders worked reasonably well together, with the exception of Small who was given orders not to work until the base of the final climb. “I didn’t want Carmen to do too much work because I wanted her to go for the stage,” said Colavita-Baci’s directeur sportif Rachel Heal. ”Vera Bradley had a lot more to gain by that breakaway staying away. I think the wind and a really concerted effort from Peanut Butter brought the break back.”

Back in the field Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 set a tempo fast enough to keep the breakaway in check before the final 16-kilometre climb back to Fort Bayard. However as they rounded the corner onto HWY 152 strong winds shattered the peloton. The gusts of wind caused many riders to lose control of their steering and forced many other riders off their bikes.

“We didn’t foresee these headwinds being as strong as they were and props to Colavita for holding that off,” Farina said. “We would have liked to have been up there; that was the goal. We are just going to try again in the next couple of days.

“The gusts were excessive and the headwinds were brutal,” she added. “Especially coming back through the headwind section we were spread all across the road. We were being cautious but at the same time you never knew what the wind was going to do.”

A small group of chasers emerged behind the six lead riders that contained Abbott, whose team-mates set a fast paced tempo, along with riders from Webcor-Builders, Tibco and Vera Bradley Foundation. The break was in close proximity to the chasers when Dvorak made the decision to continue on alone.

She gained a one minute lead before her teammate Small bridged across. Farina, Powers and Rhodes all returned to the peloton.

“I saw large men walking with their bikes,” Dvorak said. “I was so happy to hear that it was just Carmen that had bridged across to me. From then on we knew. We rotated as hard as we could and pulled as hard as we could.”

To their surprise the pair gained a maximum of two and half minutes and continued to work together all the way in to the finish line. The chase group descended into Fort Bayard where an unfortunate crash, likely caused by the wind, took Kelly Benjamin (Colavita-Baci) out of the final sprint as Cheatley went on to win the bunch sprint for third.

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