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From the peloton
By Chris O’Brien
For the International Tour de Toona
It was a cool and partly cloudy morning for the men's race. According to some predictions, this stage was likely to be an easy day for the riders because they want to save energy for the queen stage tomorrow. However, right from the gun the attacks started. The current King Of the Mountains Glen Mitchell (Kodak/Sierra Nevada) was the first to attack on this rolling course.
The pace was high, over 30mph for the first lap as attack after attack went off the front. The largest gap was around 20 seconds. At the end of the first lap there was a hard sprint for the green jersey points. The sprinters sat up, but a few riders continued to push the pace after the field had been strung out.
Seven riders got off the front - Alejandro Acton and Ryan Blickem from Target; Alexandre Lavallee from VW-Trek, Tim Larkin from Kodak/Sierra Nevada; Jonathan Sundt from Jittery Joes; Jason Donald from RMCEF; and Aaron Olsen from Colavita. A few racers attempted to bridge when the gap was 20 seconds, but didn't make it. The pace went down in the peloton, and the gap climb quickly to one minute.
The leaders worked well together most of the time, with little jockeying. Alexandre Lavalle (VW-Trek) suffered a mechanical and had to take a bike from Mavic, which he rode for the rest of the race. The Mavic neutral service guys got his bike swapped so efficiently that he was able to stay in the break! (Later in the race the Mavic car jokingly asked the officials if they could talk to "their" rider!)
An hour into the race (31.6 mi) the gap had grown to 1'25". At end of lap 2, Ryan Blickem (Target) appeared to be cooked; dropping back to the pack and beyond. But the gap kept growing - at 39 miles the leaders had 1'45" on the peloton. The break maxed out at three minutes. In the break the Colivata rider was in virtual yellow, so HeathNet went into action.
They lead the chase and by 60 miles the gap was down to 1'15". At 66 miles the gap is down to 1 minute, and the cooperation in the lead group seemed to be fading. RMCEF racer Jason Donald slipped off the back of the break and hanging in limbo for 3 miles courageously fighting the inevitable before he was finally dropped.
At 70 miles the gap was down to 45 seconds with HealthNet and Webcor leading the chase. Two miles later with a gap of 33 seconds, Aaron Olsen (Colivita) and Tim Larkin (Kodak/Sierra Nevada) accelerated and pulled away as the rest of the break was absorbed back into the peloton.
With a mile to go, the last of the break is reeled in then the fight to place sprinters in position began. Webcor, Kodak/Sierra Nevada, Colavita, and HealthNet were all taking pulling hard and battling for the front. In the end it the stage was owned by Colavita, as they took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. But HealthNet still has the overall race leader, Chris Wherry.
After race Chris Wherry said that the first lap was hard but in the end the day went exactly as they had hoped - a non-threatening break got away and was caught at the end. Chris says tomorrow will be the big day, he thinks that Blue Knob will likely break up the race leaving only the strongest men in the lead break after the mountain.
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