Zirbel, Stephens win Tour of the Gila time trial

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Tom Zirbel (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Lauren Stephens (Team Tibco-SVB) claimed the wins in the Tour of the Gila stage 3 time trial on Friday, with Stephens getting the double bonus of moving herself into second in the general classification, just 10 seconds off of leader Mara Abbott (Amy D Foundation). Brianna Walle (Optum) was second on the stage, with Twenty16's Allie Dragoo in third.

Rafael Montiel (Orgulla Antioqueno) held onto the lead in the men's race, but SmartStop's Rob Britton moved into second overall at 22 seconds thanks to his second-place finish in the stage. Former Australian U23 time trial champion Jordan Kerby (Drapac) was third. Optum's Phil Gaimon moved into third overall, chipping away five seconds on the race leader.

The 26km Tour of the Gila time trial, which takes place on a wide open highway in Tyrone, New Mexico, normally punishes the riders not only with double climbs on the out-and-back, but painfully strong winds. Friday was unusually calm, leading to fast times on the day.

"Usually it's really windy here," Zirbel told Cyclingnews. "This is abnormal, it's the calmest I've ever raced here. I thought that would be a disadvantage for me today, but it seemed OK."

SmartStop's Evan Huffman set the fastest early time with a 34:48, passing seven earlier starters on the course, but he was soon eclipsed by Zirbel, who crushed the field with his fastest performance here since 2008 when he went two seconds slower. He was still well off Levi Leipheimer's course record of 32:59, but happy to take Optum's second stage win in a row.

"It's always good to get the stage win," Zirbel said. "It was a weird feeling coming into today. Almost everyone in the race expected me to win, but I still didn't feel confident because anything less than a win would have been a disappointment. It's still bike racing - it's so hard, you never know how you're going to go on the day. I'm pretty pleased. It's two stage wins in a row for us. We'll keep it going for the last two stages."

Britton, like Stephens, parlayed his strong performance into a second-placed position in the general classification, getting revenge for a disappointing 2014 race where he lost time in this stage and ended up missing the overall victory by four slim seconds.

"Last year I made a few mistakes coming into the finish and it cost me a few places, and eventually the overall by six (sic) seconds. This year I was dead set on improving on that. I did a lot of work on the time trial this year and it showed today. Last year's close third place is very fresh in my memory, so that was a lot of motivation for this year."

Britton sees the overall contenders saving their legs during tomorrow's criterium, with Sunday's Gila Monster finale sure to shake up the overall. "Sunday's course can change everything, it does every year. I feel really good on the bike, the form's good. I think I've finished second on the Gila Monster stage twice now, so I hope to improve on that, too," he said.

Kerby, racing for his second time in the US, had previewed the course earlier in the week and thought he could get into the top 10 on the stage, but was surprised to take third, 31 seconds behind Zirbel. "I knew the downhills were so fast I'd have to freewheel it," Kerby said. "The tactic was just to go full gas up the hill and recover on the descent. I came into the day thinking I would be happy with a top 10. When I started I was feeling quite good and thought I could push for a top five. I knew Zirbel was starting behind me, and he's pure class in the time trials - I knew if I could stop him from catching me for as long as possible then I'd be on a good one. He ended up catching me with about 500m to go. When I crossed the line I thought I might be on the podium."

Although the Colombian climbers are not known to be expert time trialists, race leader Montiel only lost a significant amount of time to Britton - who put 50 seconds into him and is now within shouting distance at 22 seconds on GC. "It was a hard race," Montiel said. "I was confident in my abilities, and I knew it was a hard time trial. Some of the guys reduced the advantage I had, but I'm happy to maintain the lead. While it's never really enough, it's never predictable. I'm expecting to have a hard fight on Sunday, but I think the team will respond. We won't be able to tell until Sunday, but I hope it's enough."

On the women's side, Julie Emmerman (Amy D Foundation) set the fast early time with 40:53, staying in the hot seat until Optum's Brianne Walle rocketed through almost two minutes faster in a 38:59. Twenty16's Allie Dragoo came within 30 seconds of Walle, setting a 39:21. Stephens had been setting fast times along the course, and came screaming down the final descent, blasting through the line with a 38:35. With climbers Flavia Oliveria (Visit Dallas) and Abby Mickey (UnitedHealthcare) losing minutes, and Optum's Jasmin Glaesser conceding 51 seconds to Stephens, it was only down to how race leader Mara Abbott would perform.

Abbott came through with a solid ride in 39:28, keeping the race lead by only nine seconds over Stephens.

"My husband thought I could do 38:15, but you can only go as fast as you can go," Stephens told Cyclingnews. "It felt very solid. I rode the stage a little differently from last year, I'm more of a steady rider. This year I tried to push it on the climbs and recover on the downhills. It seemed to be a success for me, because I went quite a bit faster than last year."

The winner of the Joe Martin stage race, and last year's NRC overall winner was unsure of whether or not she could get back those nine seconds on Abbott in the next two stages, but said her Tibco-SVB team would give it their best.

"To come out with a stage win and move up in GC is phenomenal," Stephens said. "I never came to Gila expecting to be in contention for the GC, so we'll just take it race by race and see what we can do."

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