Abbott, Acevedo ace Gila opener

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Jamis-Hagens Berman's Colombian climber Janier Acevedo and Exergy-Twenty16's Mara Abbott each soloed up the difficult final Mogollon climb to take stage 1 of Silver City's Tour of the Gila Wednesday in New Mexico.

Acevedo rolled off the front of a compact men's peloton as the climb pitched upward for the final time and gained enough of a gap to hold off runner-up Chris Baldwin (Bissell) by 12 seconds. UnitedHealthcare's Lucas Euser crossed the line with teammate Phil Deignan for third and fourth. Two-time NRC champion Francisco Mancebo finished fifth.

Exergy-Twenty16 played its cards to perfection in the women's race Wednesday, claiming the top two spots with Abbott and Kristin McGrath and placing Andrea Dvorak in fifth. Now & Novartis for MS filled out the top five with Kathryn Donovan in third and Alison Powers in fourth.

All-day breakaway animates men's race

The men wasted little time setting off the fireworks in their 148km opening test that finished just below a ghost town on the steep slopes of the Mogollon climb. Arizona-based domestic elite team Landis-Trek seemed determined to make the day difficult, launching attack after attack in the opening kilometers until a breakaway group of four finally forged a gap before the first bonus sprint about 28km into the race.

Landis-Trek put two riders in the move with Jared Gilyard and Paul Thomas. They joined Bissell's Jason McCartney and Team Novo Nordisk's Christopher Williams in the all-day adventure that eventually ran out of time as the field caught them at the base of the final climb.

"With only four guys, it's really tough, because once they get the train going behind, they can go a lot faster on those sections where we struggle," McCartney said of the breakaway effort. "We needed really seven minutes at least by the bottom. We gave it a go. It was fun, good training."

With the group back together heading onto the exposed climb that featured numerous switchbacks, a long plateau in the middle and sections near the top that reached 19 percent, the riders stayed mostly together up the initial slopes expecting the attacks to come nearer to the end of the stage. But Acevedo's lack of knowledge about the climb's difficult finish may have actually been a positive.

"There was not much strategy because I didn't know the climb," Acevedo said through an interpreter. "So I just waited until I started to feel good to attack."

Acevedo waited until the group had passed the climb's flat spot and then picked up the tempo once it pitched back up. He started opening a gap immediately and repeatedly checked behind to see who was coming with him, but there were no takers. Euser said the other riders may have thought Acevedo would fade before the finish.

"He went strong, but it was a bit of a headwind," Euser said. "So I guess we tried to call his bluff."

But Acevdeo was obviously not bluffing. He continued to open the gap as the field behind began to disintegrate. Bissell's Phil Gaimon, in his first race back since crashing hard at the San Dimas Stage Race, set out after Acevedo and eventually caught the Colombian. But Gaimon blew up after just a few kilometers and dropped back into the chase.

It was Gaimon's teammate Baldwin who eventually took over the chaser's role. Baldwin said he wasn't calling Acevedo's bluff when the the Jamis rider rode away, he just thought it was too early to attack.

"I didn't want to call his bluff because we all know he's a world class bike racer," Baldwin said of Acevedo. "But I've seen a lot of people go that early and die because it's so hard in the last two kilometers. So I prefer to wait because I have more brains and less brawn."

Baldwin's effort distanced himself from the ever smaller and smaller chasing groups while Acevedo continued up the climb, making it look almost effortless as he crossed the line arms aloft for the win. Baldwin came in 12 seconds later, with Deignan pulling Euser across the line for third.

After the race, Acevedo, who returned to the states from Colombia in time for Gila and the upcoming Amgen Tour of California, said he favors the short, steep climbs like Mogollon because he feels "more powerful" on them. He also said he's ready to defend his leader's jersey throughout the week.

"I live at altitude so that really helps," Acevedo said. "I trained very good, so I feel confident that I am well-trained."

Baldwin, sitting just a dozen seconds out of the lead, is also ready to fight for the overall win.

"It's a long hard race," Baldwin said. "We've all seen the leadership here change many times over the course of a race, but like I said, [Acevedo] is world class bike rider, and it should be a real exciting race."

Exergy-Twenty16 claims top two spots

Mara Abbott has made a habit of winning the Mogollon stage at the Gila, adding her fourth win there this year by soloing away at the bottom of the final steep pitch and putting more than two minutes into all of her rivals for the overall.

"You have a very intimate feeling about what it feels like to go up this grade or around this corner," Abbott said of her familiarity with the route. "So it's fun when I know a climb and I know what's coming next. It's almost exciting, like meeting an old friend again."

Abbott greeted her old friend by attacking a select lead group as the route pitched upward following the brief respite over a plateau through the middle section, and from there she was long gone.

Attacks were plentiful throughout the women's 117 km stage, but nothing could stick or gain more than a minute as the peloton remained vigilant throughout. All of the major women's teams were represented in most of the moves, with Rushlee Buchanan taking part in each escape except for a short-lived solo try by Optum's Brianna Walle that gained a minute on the bunch before succumbing to the chase.

As the compact field made the sweeping right-hand turn onto the final climb, Optum's Jade Wilcoxson joined Now's Donovan and Exergy's McGrath off the front in a move that gained some traction on the lower slopes before the plateau. Donovan fell back to the group to support team leader Alison Powers as McGrath briefly dropped Wilcoxson, who climbed her way back to McGrath before cracking one last time as the field caught the lead duo with four kilometers remaining.

The catch, and a counter move by TIBCO's Claudia Haeusler, put Abbott in perfect position to launch her winning move.

"We were in a group together through the flat section in the middle," Abbott said of herself and Haeusler. "When we got to the second pitch of the climb, Claudia pulled off to come around the gap, and I was able to go around here. So I was alone from there."

McGrath had faded back into the field, where Now leader Powers gave Donovan free rein to put in her own dig as long as she didn't drag Haeusler along with her.

"Katie was freaking awesome," Powers said of her teammate. "She kept me out of the wind and she rode with me, and then once Claudia was gone and some of the others, it was like, 'Katie you go, go get on the podium and I'll just survive.'"

Donovan attacked, and McGrath, who had recovered from her previous effort, tagged along. The two rode to the finish together until McGrath jumped about 100 meters from the line to give Exergy a one-two finish.

"This is a very long race and anything can happen," McGrath said. "So our goal was to get as many people up the climb as high as possible, and we accomplished that today, so that was great."

McGrath and Donovan both now sit 1:58 behind Abbott, while Powers is 2:10 behind and Exergy's Dvorak is 2:28 in arrears with Haeusler. For all its hard work on the stage, Optum had to settle for Joelle Numainville's eighth-place finish, 3:20 behind.

Powers, the current NRC leader, said she was happy with her fourth-place finish and was looking forward to an exciting race, although she wasn't sure how she would get past Abbott and the well-placed Exergy squad.

"With Mara, I mean, she's the best climber in the world," Powers said. "What are you going to do? Just minimize time and hope it's windy on time trial day."

So does Abbott have the legs to add a third career overall Gila win to her palmares this week?

"You'll find out," she said. "It's a surprise."

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NRC Women