O’Neill, Holden shine in Valley of the Sun opener
Nathan O’Neill (Colavita-Bolla) gave his new sponsor something to celebrate with a victory in the opening stage of the Valley of the Sun stage race on Friday. The former Saturn racer covered the 13.6-mile individual time trial in 24:05:06, 22 seconds faster than Mariano Friedick (Jelly Belly) and an additional two seconds ahead of Joey Dantoni (Cycles de Oro). Defending champ Aaron Olsen (Colavita-Bolla) was 14th, 1:12 off the pace. In the women’s race, T-Mobile put two racers in the top three. Mari Holden took the win in 27:15:17, with teammate Lynn Gaggioli third at 0:15 and Rona’s
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By VeloNews Interactive
Nathan O’Neill (Colavita-Bolla) gave his new sponsor something to celebrate with a victory in the opening stage of the Valley of the Sun stage race on Friday.
The former Saturn racer covered the 13.6-mile individual time trial in 24:05:06, 22 seconds faster than Mariano Friedick (Jelly Belly) and an additional two seconds ahead of Joey Dantoni (Cycles de Oro). Defending champ Aaron Olsen (Colavita-Bolla) was 14th, 1:12 off the pace.
In the women’s race, T-Mobile put two racers in the top three. Mari Holden took the win in 27:15:17, with teammate Lynn Gaggioli third at 0:15 and Rona’s Katrina Grove in the runner-up spot at 0:13. Grove’s teammate, Geneviève Jeanson, didn’t start, though a race official said she was present at packet pickup on Thursday night.
Saturday brings a road race south of Phoenix – 89 miles for the men, and 57 for the women.
Valley of the Sun, Stage 1
Men
1. Nathan O’Neill, Colavita-Bolla, 13.6 miles in 24:05:06
2. Mariano Friedick, Jelly Belly, at 0:22
3. Joey Dantoni, Cycles de Oro, at 0:24
4. Gordon McCauley, Team Monex, at 0:27
5. Ryan Blickem, Aida’s Bail Bonds, at 0:35
6. Tim Carolan, Landis-Trek-VW, at 0:49
7. Timmy Duggan, TIAA-CREF, at 0:56
8. Andrew Miller, Landis-Trek—VW, at 0:58
9. Austin King, same time
10. Jacob Rubelt, Landis-Trek-VW, at 1:00
Women
1. Mari Holden, T-Mobile, 13.6 miles in 27:15.17
2. Katrina Grove, Rona, at 0:13
3. Lynn Gaggioli, T-Mobile, at 0:15
4. Susan Palmer-Komar, Genesis Scuba, at 0:26
5. Rook Campbell, at 0:30
6. Susan Cooper, Bicycle John’s, at 0:36
7. Grace Fleury, Genesis Scuba, at 0:41
8. Julia Whiteside, Paramount Racing, at 0:44
9. Jeannie Longo, Team Vital Plus, at 0:46
10. Heather Woodhouse, Kenda Tire, at 0:48
For complete results, click here.