On Thursday the wind turned SRAM Tour of the Gila into a survival test for many women. Colavita-Baci's Carmen Small won in a two-woman breakaway with teammate Andrea Dvorak, and the team's Cath Cheatley won the sprint for third. Mara Abbott of Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty12 used her powerful team to maximum effect, retaining her overall lead.
With the Tour de France just nine weeks away, a windblown Lance Armstrong was candid about his condition at the SRAM Tour of the Gila. It’s not great, but it’s coming around, he said. “Yesterday I did not have a good day; I was off,” Armstrong told VeloNews. “Today I felt better.”
Levi Leipheimer doesn't often challenge for sprint finishes, but on a blustery day in New Mexico Thursday, the SRAM Tour of the Gila race leader saw an opportunity and jumped on it, and almost came away with a second consecutive stage win.
U.S. Scene This Week: Speed Week, Gila top the calendar
Levi Leipheimer opened up his defense of his SRAM Tour of the Gila title the same way he took his first red jersey in the race a year - with a solo win on the mountain-top finish Mogollon stage.
Burke Swindlehurst headed back to the SRAM Tour of the Gila for the 16th time this week, but for the rider with the race's greatest number of stage wins (six) to his credit, Gila is a whole new beast this year.
On the day he started the SRAM Tour of the Gila, Lance Armstrong announced he has become a part-owner in the Honey Stinger. Based in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, the company makes honey-based energy gels, bars and organic chews.
Wind gusts of up to 65 mph could batter riders during this week's SRAM Tour of the Gila. Besides the high winds — which are expected from Wednesday's opening stage through Saturday — rank and file pro riders will have to contend with the strongest fields, for men and women, ever assembled for the 24-year-old New Mexican race.
Carmen Small (Colavita-Baci) and Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home) showed New Mexico cycling fans that olive oil and wine go hand in hand as they won the omnium competitions Saturday at the Roadrunner Classic in Albuquerque.
Climbers prep for the Gila at Bisbee and the Roadrunner, while the speedsters are at USA Crits Speedweek.
RadioShack's Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Jason McCartney will race under as Team Mellow Johnny's at the SRAM Tour of the Gila in New Mexico.
Johan Bruyneel says RadioShack will attend New Mexico's stage race, joining a strong field that already includes three Garmin-Transistions riders racing for the DZ Nuts team.
This year's Women's Prestige Cycling Series includes four stage races in four states. The series, which awards points at existing events to determine season-long winners in four categories.
Albuquerque, NM – The 2010 RoadRunner Classic on April 24, 2010 is a one-day Omnium for Pro 1, 2 men and women and a separate Time Trial event for Cat 3, 4, 5 men and Cat 3, 4 women. The Omnium includes a 6.3 mile time trial and 63 mile men’s, 37.8 mile women’s road race. Both Roadrunner time trial and road events will be held on the Snake, a hilly 6.3-mile closed course at an elevation of 5,200 feet. It will be an ideal warm-up and staging event for the SRAM Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico on April 28th.
The SRAM Tour of the Gila in southern New Mexico is a stage race for the climbers, with approximately 25,000 vertical feet in climbing in the mix over the course of the five-day race.
Fly V's Phil Zajicek won Sunday's Gila Monster stage of the SRAM Tour of the Gila, outsprinting Mellow Johnny's teammates Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer in the final, technical meters of the 106-mile stage. Zajicek, who has won several stages at the Gila in prior years, said the win Sunday was the biggest of his career. "Because I beat Lance and Levi," he happily told VeloNews at the finish. Leipheimer secured his overall win, while Armstrong moved up to second and Zajicek moved into third on the final GC standings.
Levi Leipheimer's Tour of the Gila almost went sideways just six corners from the end of Saturday's Downtown Silver City crit, when the race leader rolled a tire while dodging a crash. Leipheimer finished on teammate Chris Horner's bike and retained his lead.
VeloNews, along with two other reporters, sat down with Chris Horner, Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong Saturday morning at the house where they're bunked, up in the hills outside of Silver City, New Mexico.
Levi Leipheimer continued to stamp his authority on the SRAM Tour of the Gila, winning the 16-mile stage-3 time trial in a record time of 32:59. Bissell's Tom Zirbel placed second at 33:52 with Leipheimer's Mellow Johnny's teammate Lance Armstrong rounding out the podium. In the women's race, Kristin Armstrong (Cervélo TestTeam) also broke a course record — Jeannie Longo's — winning her second stage in 37:36 and maintaining her overall lead. Alison Powers (Team Type 1) finished second, with Anne Samplonius (Lip Smacker) third.
Colavita's Lucas Sebastian Haedo won a field sprint to end Thursday's second stage of the SRAM Tour of the Gila in New Mexico, as Levi Leipheimer finished in the lead pack to retain his overall lead heading into Friday's time trial stage. Leipheimer's teammates on the Mellow Johnny's team, Lance Armstrong and Chris Horner, slaved at the front of the pack for much of the day, keeping in check a four-man breakaway containing Floyd Landis (OUCH-Maxxis).
By the time you are reading this, Lance Armstrong and his Astana teammates — sorry, Mellow Johnny’s teammates — Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner have completed the opening stage of the SRAM Tour of the Gila, in New Mexico. To no one’s surprise, Leipheimer won the opening stage, which ended with the 5km Mogollon climb. Things should get interesting watching those three defend the lead against several top-notch domestic teams packing eight-man rosters.
Did they come to race or train? The "Mellow Johnny's" team — AKA Astana's Levi Leipheimer, Lance Armstrong and Chris Horner — just couldn't resist going for the win Wednesday at the SRAM Tour of the Gila. Leipheimer sprang from a disintegrating pack on the finish climb, taking a clear win ahead of young phenom Peter Stetina (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin) and recently-rehired Chris Baldwin (Rock Racing). Leipheimer said he had some doubts about whether the team should go for the win so early in the five-day race.
For a race that came within days of being canceled two months ago, the SRAM Tour of the Gila has rebounded in spectacular fashion, now boasting its largest and most star-studded pro fields in history as it begins Wednesday. The race achieved high stature — and the perhaps inevitable resulting controversy — with the appearance of Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner, three Astana teammates who, under agreement with the UCI, will race the Gila in the Mellow Johnny's kit of Armstrong's Austin, Texas, bike shop.
It seems Lance Armstrong will meet the Gila Monster after all. The seven-time Tour de France winner and two Astana teammates will race the SRAM Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico, after USA Cycling and the UCI negotiated a compromise over the international governing body’s rules regarding UCI Pro riders’ participation in national events.
Any plans for Team Astana to compete in this week's SRAM Tour of the Gila appear to have been quashed by the UCI's decision to enforce a rule barring ProTour teams from competing in lower-tier events. Astana's Chris Horner told VeloNews on Monday that the team's Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong will not compete in the New Mexico race because of the UCI's stance. Armstrong spokesman Mark Higgins told VeloNews over the weekend that Armstrong would not race the Gila. Horner decided earlier this month that he couldn't do the race because of injuries.
What is one to make of a season that has involved multiple crashes while also riding on the best form of a near 20-year professional career? If you’re Chris Horner, you look at the glass half full. The always-smiling Horner, the number-three American on an all-star Astana team that also features Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer, departed the Tour of the Basque Country earlier this month after a crash sent him flying over his handlebar and sliding under a guardrail, injuring his right shoulder.
SRAM has taken over title sponsorship of New Mexico's Tour of the Gila stage race, which begins this April 29 in Silver City. “SRAM has given this race security for the next several years and, with their increasing popularity in the peloton, we can only anticipate growth for our event. And SRAM’s professional neutral race support, along with their great team relationships, make them a perfect long-term partner,” stated Jack Brennan, Tour of the Gila Race Director.
New Mexico's Tour of Gila stage race will hold its 23rd edition this spring, thanks to recent donations that have offset much of an expected budget shortfall. Race director Jack Brennan told VeloNews on Saturday that the event's price list will be reduced 15 percent for all categories and the event is still searching for a title sponsor. The event will remain part of the National Racing Calendar, he said. "Although fundraising goals have not yet been fulfilled we are definitely going ahead with the 2009 event," Brennan said.
New Mexico's Tour of the Gila stage race, scheduled to hold its 23rd annual race this May, is struggling to find enough sponsorship to hold the event, race director Jack Brennan told VeloNews Tuesday. The race organization is about $50,000 shy of reaching its $170,000 annual budget, Brennan said. He is considering down scaling the NRC event or reducing prize lists to continue. "It's a bare bones budget, as it is," Brennan said.
Fausto Esparza Munoz, the Tecos-Trek rider who crashed Sunday at New Mexico's Tour of the Gila, remains in an El Paso hospital paralyzed below his midsection. Doctors say the likelihood of a full recovery of movement is "discouraging," according to a source familiar with Esparza's condition. Esparza is in critical but stable condition in the intensive care unit of El Paso's Thomason Hospital, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday. Esparza told responders at the scene that he could not move or feel his legs, according to responders at the scene and a team staffer.
Team Tecos-Trek's Colombian climber, Gregorio Ladino Vega, used the Tour of the Gila's mountainous final stage on Sunday to regain the race lead he lost in the stage 3 time trial. [nid:75825]Bissell's Burke Swindlehurst, a three-time winner of the Gila overall, won the final stage and vaulted from sixth to second. Bissell's Tom Zirbel started the day in the pink leader's jersey, and stayed with the lead group over the first major climb, but crashed on the descent and abandoned the race. His team said Zirbel broke his collarbone, some ribs and a finger.
The last turn of the Tour of the Gila's criterium is key for daredevil sprinters with the nerve to attack into the narrow left-hander and charge to the finish less than 300 meters away. The riders enter the turn at top speed thanks to a wide-open descent, and a mistake means high-siding it into a raised Old Western-style sidewalk on the outside of the turn. On Saturday, to the glee of the spectators who assemble on the sidewalk, the men's and women's winner each attacked coming into the turn and held their advantage to the line.
On another blustery day in southwestern New Mexico, Bissell's big men Tom Zirbel and Ben Jacques-Maynes hammered on the GC contenders to take the first two spots in the 16.4-mile Tyrone time trial. Zirbel turned a 34:26, beating his teammate by about 17 second and third place rider Chris Wherry (Toyota-United) by 49 seconds.
Tyler Wren (Colavita-Sutter Home) won Thursday's second stage of the Tour of the Gila with a final kilometer solo attack, while overall leader Gregorio Ladino Vega's Team Tecos-Trek put on another powerful show, setting a blistering pace over 80 miles of wind and hills. The Tecos effort kept a small breakaway within two minutes of the pack for most of the stage. It also forced a number of abandons throughout the day.
Team Tecos-Trek continued its domination of Southwestern road cycling Wednesday by taking two of the top three spots on the first stage of the Tour of the Gila, a 94.1-mile stage that ended with a brutal climb to Mogollon, New Mexico. Colombian Gregorio Ladino Vega won the stage after gliding away from a select group at the base of the climb. He quickly gapped the group, which included Toyota-United's Chris Baldwin and Heath Blackgrove and built up a gap of about a half minute by the top of the 2,100-foot climb. Baldwin finished sixth.
Neither Nathan O’Neill nor Mara Abbott will be on hand to defend their crowns on Wednesday when the 2008 Ben D. Altamirano Tour of the Gila kicks off in Silver City, New Mexico. But there will be plenty of horsepower in the elite men’s and women’s fields as the race gets under way with the Silver City-Mogollon Road Race. Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United), runner-up here last year and second at the 2008 Redlands Bicycle Classic, will be in Silver City with an eight-man team that includes Justin England, Chris Wherry and Henk Vogels.
The final stage of the 2007 Ben D. Altamirano Tour of the Gila ended with two pairs of winners — stage winners Scott Moninger (BMC) and Marisa Asplund (Tibco), and overall winners Nathan O'Neill (Health Net-Maxxis) and Mara Abbott (Webcor). The infamous Gila Monster stage began at Gough Park in Silver City and finished in Pinos Altos. The pro men’s field followed a 105.7-mile loop to its turnaround point at the Gila Cliff Dwellings Visitor Center, then went on to the finish in Pinos Altos, climbing 9131 feet. Pro women followed an abbreviated loop of 71.8 miles, bypassing the Gila Cliff
Brice Jones (Jelly Belly) and Jill McLaughlin (Touchtone Climbing) took commanding wins at the Downtown Silver City Criterium, the fourth stage of the 2007 Ben D. Altamirano Tour of the Gila. The stage did little to shake up the general classification, with Nathan O’Neill (Health Net-Maxxis) and Mara Abbott (Webcor) retaining their pink leader’s jerseys. Wind and blowing dust assaulted both the professionals and amateurs who raced around the 1.1-mile downtown circuit, which included two short, punchy climbs. The small ascents created separations in both pro races — but the course’s long,
Tom Peterson (Slipstream-Chipotle) and Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home) survived brutal winds — and in Peterson's case, a softening rear tire — to win the Fort Bayard Inner Loop road race, the third stage of the 2007 Ben D Altamirano Tour of the Gila. Peterson’s victory came after his Slipstream-Chipotle squad shattered the entire men’s field within the first 10 miles of the 80-mile race. With gusting winds bombarding the peloton from the race’s start in Fort Bayard, five miles east of Silver City, New Mexico, Slipstream-Chipotle flexed their muscles on the opening climb to nearby
Mara Abbott (Webcor) rode into the lead of the Ben D. Altamirano Tour of the Gila on Thursday after winning the Silver City-Mogollon Road Race. Nathan O’Neill (Health Net-Maxxis), meanwhile, solidified his grip on the overall by finishing second on the stage, 10 seconds behind winner Colombian Hernan Munoz (P&S Halcones), putting more distance between himself and his primary rivals, defending Gila champ Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) and Scott Moninger (BMC). Women raced 73.1 miles, and men 94.1 miles. But both finished with the grinding, steep Mogollon climb — a switchback-laden stretch of
Nathan O’Neill (Health Net-Maxxis) and Rachel Heal (Webcor) won the opening stage of the 2007 Tour of the Gila on Wednesday. O'Neill covered the hilly, 16.15-mile Tyrone Time Trial in 34 minutes, 13 seconds. Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health) took second at 15 seconds back with Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) third at 1:29. Heal finished in 39:47, 15 seconds ahead of runner-up Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Sutter Home). Mara Abbott (Webcor) took third at 30 seconds back. In its 21st edition, the May 2-6 Tour of the Gila will again send riders racing around the small southwestern New Mexican
Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) knew what he had to do and did it — he stayed glued to the wheel of Scott Moninger (Health Net-Maxxis) during the final stage of the Teleperformance Tour of the Gila — the fabled Gila Monster Road Race — and came away with the overall victory. Meanwhile, overall leader Kristin Armstrong (Team Lipton) extended her margin during the women’s finale, winning the stage and securing her title. The Gila Monster sent pro men off on a 100-mile loop from Silver City to Pinos Altos with 9360 feet of climbing. Women raced an abbreviated loop, covering 66 miles with 5420
Rahsaan Bahati (TIAA-CREF) and Alison Powers (Rio Grande-Sports Garage) won Saturday’s Downtown Silver City Criterium, stage 4 of the Teleperformance Tour of the Gila. The race was run on a 1.08-mile closed course with four 90-degree corners and 60 feet of climbing per lap. Men covered 40 laps, women 25. Bahati outkicked a tough bunch, crossing ahead of Gord Fraser (Health Net-Maxxis) and Ken Hanson (BMC Racing Team). Poweres, meanwhile, stole a march on the women, finishing 16 seconds up on Team Lipton’s Laura Van Gilder and Kristin Armstrong, the race leader. GC remained unaffected, with
Health Net-Maxxis teammates Gord Fraser and Scott Moninger went one-two on Friday during the Teleperformance Tour of the Gila’s Inner Loop Road Race. Michael Dietrich (KodakGallery.com-Sierra Nevada) took third with race leader Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) fourth. The top four were all given the same time, and Baldwin retained his grip on the overall. Dotsie Bausch (Colavita-Cooking Light) outsprinted Rachel Heal (Victory Brewing) and Laura Van Gilder (Team Lipton) to win the women’s race. GC remained unchanged, with Team Lipton’s Kristin Armstrong leading Anne Samplonius (Team Biovail) by
Scott Moninger (Health Net-Maxxis) and Kristin Armstrong (Team Lipton) won the mountainous Stage 2 of the Teleperformance Tour of the Gila on Thursday, with Armstrong moving into the overall lead. Moninger, a two-time Gila champion, finished three seconds ahead of Stage 1 winner Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) and third-placed Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators) on the final 5.5-mile climb to the finish of the 92-mile run from Silver City to Mogollon, which featured more than 5600 feet of climbing. “We’re doing what we can with only three guys here,” Moninger said. “We have to pick and choose
Chris Baldwin (Toyota United) and Anne Samplonius (Team Biovail) won the first stage of the Teleperformance Tour of the Gila on Wednesday. Baldwin, the reigning U.S. national time-trial champion, covered the Tyrone Time Trial – a 15.7-mile out-and-back course with 1070 feet of climbing – in 34:51, 40 seconds up on Scott Moninger (Health Net-Maxxis) and 1:21 on Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators). Samplonius won in 40:33, with Kristin Armstrong (Team Lipton) second at 0:20 and Erinne Willock (Webcor) third at 0:53. Thursday's Stage 2, the Silver City-Mogollon Road Race, sends men off for 92
Reigning NRC champion Scott Moninger (Health Net-Maxxis), a quartet of national champs and two three-time winners are among the athletes slated to race the Teleperformance Tour of the Gila May 3-7 in and around Silver City, New Mexico. Defending titlist Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators) and fellow three-timer Drew Miller (Successful Living.com-ParkPre) will be hunting that elusive fourth victory during the 20th annual NRC race. Swindlehurst is bringing just one teammate with him — but it happens to be Phil Zajicek, fresh off last weekend’s overall victory at La Vuelta de Bisbee in
It was two former champions winning it all on Sunday in the fifth and final stage of the Outside Magazine Tour of the Gila, The Gila Monster Road Race. The pro men’s race offered an exciting finish with Team Seasilver’s Burke Swindlehurst coming from behind to win for the third time. Starting the stage 23 seconds behind overall leader Andrew Bajadali of Vitamin Cottage, Swindlehurst won the 106.4-mile stage in 4:55:38. Tecos’ Ubaldo Mesa followed Swindlehurst 25 seconds later to take second while Aerospace Engineering-VMG’s Ivan Stevic finished third, 33 seconds behind the leader. Bajadali
Silver City, N.M. - Silver City residents handed over the streets of their historic downtown for the fourth stage of The Outside Magazine Tour of the Gila Saturday. In return, they got the chance to see something special, both Todd Wells and Cat Malone winning their first National Race Calendar stage victories. Wells sprinted across the finish line, leading a peloton of 83, to finish the race at 1:34:33 in the men’s pro. A former national mountain bike champion, Wells said this win gave him a little vindication as a road racer. “I do a lot of cyclo-cross racing, which is similar to
Ina Yoko Teutenberg (T-Mobile) and Jose Delarosa (Tecos) claimed victories on Friday in stage 3 of the Outside Magazine Tour of the Gila. The Fort Bayard Inner Loop Road Race added up to 80 miles with 5781 feet of climbing for men, and 77.9 miles with 5854 feet of vertical for women. The men’s stage wound up as a 26-man dash for the line, with Delarosa’s teammate Gregorio Ladino crossing the line first. But when Ladino was relegated for a centerline violation in the final kilometer, the victory went to Delarosa, with Neil Shirley (Team Seasilver) second and David Clinger (Webcor Builders)
Mexico’s Team Tecos crossed one-two in stage 2 of the Outside Magazine Tour of the Gila on Thursday, while T-Mobile’s Kim Baldwin collected both the stage win and the overall leader’s pink jersey. Ubaldo Mesa (Tecos) won the mountainous, 94-mile Silver City-Mogollon Pass Road Race in 4:11:43, 29 seconds ahead of teammate Gregorio Ladino. Ivan Stevic (Aerospace Engineering-VMG), second overall at last week’s La Vuelta de Bisbee stage race in Arizona, finished third. Andrew Bajadali (Vitamin Cottage), sixth on the day at 48 seconds back, moved into the overall lead, three seconds ahead of
Ryan Blickem and Geneviève Jeanson began their respective races at the Outside Magazine Tour of the Gila Stage Race on Wednesday with victories in the Dan Potts Memorial Time Trial. Blickem, racing for Healthmaxx-BOOM Enterprises, turned a time of 36:42 for the 16.15-mile, out-and-back TT, which started and finished in Tyrone, New Mexico, ascending 6394-foot Little Burro Pass in each direction. Andrew Bajadali (Vitamin Cottage) took second at 37 seconds slower, with teammate Jon Tarkington third at 0:52. Jeanson cranked out a 40:25.92 to take the win by 45 seconds over Kimberly Baldwin
In the mountains surrounding Silver City, New Mexico this Sunday, Canadian cycling phenom’ Geneviève Jeanson (Rona Esker) and Flagstaff, Arizonan, full-time father, husband, mechanical engineer, and self-proclaimed ‘old, club rider,’ Drew Miller tucked their third Tour of the Gila overall wins each under their respective belts on Sunday. Showing two different types of cycling dominance -- Jeanson purely overmatching her competition, Miller outworking and outplaying his -- the men’s and women’s races were each decided before they had reached the halfway mark earlier this weak. In a
A gutsy solo move in the final three laps of Saturday’s fourth stage of the Tour of the Gila propelled Tecos’s Florencio Ramos Torres to a win, robbing the field’s prominent sprinters from an opportunity to strut their stuff… and earn their paychecks. Of course the day’s biggest and most unexpected development came during the women's race when Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson did not win. We repeat: Jeanson did not win. At least that’s how the news should probably sound with Jeanson so dominant in U.S. women’s cycling these days, but that story line would take due credit from the strength and
It was just another day at the office for Geneviève Jeanson (Rona-Esker), who soloed off the front of the pack 12 miles into the 76-mile third stage of the Tour of the Gila on Friday morning, tacking an additional 5 1/2 minutes onto her overall lead. But Gord Fraser (Health Net) had to win his race in company, pouncing at the line on Steve Cate (Mathis Brothers) and Todd Wells (Hyundai-Mongoose) like a famished tabby on a pair of field mice, showcasing to whoever is paying attention that he is to be considered a racer of note in domestic cycling and is in top form early in the season. For
Geneviève Jeanson (Rona-Esker) did her solitary thing Thursday, extending her overall lead to nearly four minutes in just the second stage of New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila. Meanwhile, Drew Miller relied upon his Trek-VW All Stars team to keep the race under control and leave him free to do what he does best - climb. With perfect weather (clear, with temperatures in the 70s), the 92-mile men’s race offered up two sprint bonuses for riders with GC aspirations. Early on, a 13-man group that included Mike Sayers, two Health Net teammates and a couple of strong Mexican climbers from Team Tecos
With the nation’s newest and richest stage race — the Dodge Tour de Georgia — just wrapped up, the five-stage Holiday Inn Express Tour of the Gila, held in Silver City, New Mexico, won’t be pulling in the same caliber of road teams as it has in years past. “It’s going to be a mountain bikers’ training ground this year,” noted race director Jack Brennan, regarding the absence of top domestic teams like Saturn, Prime Alliance and Navigators in the men’s NRC event. “With [NORBA National Championship Series #1] Big Bear two weeks away, it’s a perfect chance for them to get in some racing
Genevieve Jeanson continued her sweep through the southwest Wednesday as she dominated a tough 15.7-mile time trial that opened New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila Wednesday. Though renowned as a tough sprinter, Health Net’s Gord Fraser proved he was no slouch in a hilly time trial as he took the men’s event. Kicking off in Silver City, New Mexico Wednesday, Jeanson (Rona-Esker) left few doubters as she cruised to an apparently easy win in the first stage of the 17th running of the Tour of the Gila, a 15.7 mile out-and-back climbing time trial with a time of 40:00:68. Ex-teammate Manon Jutras
Mercury’s Chris Wherry and Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson each capped off their overall wins at the Tour of the Gila by taking their respective stage wins in the Gila Monster Road Race on Sunday. Wherry added the final stage to go along with his stage 1 time trial win, while Jeanson’s was her fourth stage win out of five. As she had done on both of the other road stages, Jeanson attacked early and opened up a big gap. The Canadian was left unchallenged, and would finish 5:47 ahead of Saturn’s Kimberly Bruckner on the stage. On the long finishing climb through the Gila national forest, Bruckner and
While the stage 4 criterium at the Tour of the Gila had little effect on the general classification, it did a lot to reinforce who’s in charge at this year’s race in New Mexico: Mercury on the men’s side, Rona on the women’s. Not only did the teams keep their respective race leaders, Chris Wherry and Genevieve Jeanson, safe and out of trouble, they also delivered two of the supporting players, Gord Fraser and Karen Bockel, to stage wins. For Mercury, it was a return to the hey-days, as the lead-out train delivered its Canadian finisher Fraser to the line after a day of hard work. After
On Friday, Saturn’s Mark McCormack took Team Mercury by surprise as he sprinted away in the final 400 meters for the day’s stage win at the Tour of the Gila in Silver City, New Mexico. Mercury still continues to lead the overall with Chris Wherry and Scott Moninger first and second, but McCormack’s win broke the race stranglehold by the 13-strong Mercury team. In the women’s race, Genevieve Jeanson put on a one-woman show, riding away early and holding off a six-rider chase that included four Saturn riders and Jeannie Longo. On Thursday, Jeanson’s Rona team set her up perfectly for the final
Day 2 of New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila saw the peloton tackle the Mogollon Pass Road Race, 70 miles for the women and 92 miles for the men, with both groups ending on the 5.5-mile Category 1 climb for which the stage is named. In the end, time trial winners Chris Wherry (Mercury) and Genevieve Jeanson (Rona), extended their holds on the overall race leads. Jeanson took a solo win, while Wherry and teammate Scott Moninger rode away together on the final climb, with Moninger taking the stage win. In the men’s race, another windy day, coupled with the presence of more than a dozen Mercury
The 2002 Tour of the Gila got underway in Silver City, New Mexico, on Wednesday amid blustery conditions for the opening 15.7-mile out-and-back time trial. The five-day stage race in the southwest New Mexico is known for its often-blazing heat, but on Wednesday, Mercury’s Chris Wherry and Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson battled fierce winds on their way to the opening-stage victories. The time trial course features a steady uphill on the way out, and finishes with a wide but fast descent on the way back. In the men’s race, Wherry mastered the course and the extreme conditions to top Saturn’s time
The 2001 Tim Schoeny's Tour of the Gila ended on Sunday with the Gila Monster road races, an epic 100-mile test for the men and 66 miles for the women. The final stage gave the overall race winners one last chance to show who was strongest, as Scott Moninger (Mercury-Viatel) and Genevieve Jeanson (Rona) each added to their win totals en route to the overall, with Moninger taking his third and Jeanson her fourth stage win. Jeanson dominated the final day in the same way that she did every other road race stage, ending the day with a 5:56 advantage over Saturn's Kimberly Bruckner and 17
Jelly Belly’s Mariano Friedick earned a long-sought-after win on the fourth day of the Tour of the Gila after outsprinting three breakaway companions at the end of a 43-mile criterium Gila in Silver City, New Mexico on Saturday. In the women’s race, Saturn’s Ina Teutenberg crossed the line ahead of teammate Anna Millward as this season’s top women’s team enjoyed a win in a stage race dominated by the young Canadian phenom’ Genevieve Jeanson. Jeanson maintains a seven-minute lead in the overall standings, while Mercury’s Scott Moninger maintains a grip on the overall lead in the men’s
For Saturn’s Eric Wohlberg and the rest of the men’s field chasing Scott Moninger at the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico, any hopes of overtaking Mercury’s race leader will most likely have to wait until Sunday’s finale. For the women, any slim hopes of catching race leader Genevieve Jeanson pretty much vanished after another solo victory by the Canadian teenager. Friday’s men’s race saw a south-of-the-border sweep, as a trio of Mexicans went 1-2-3 on the day. Jesus Zarate of the Tecos team took the win, outsprinting his breakaway partner Siddharta Camil of Corona. Mostly, though, it was a
On Thursday, the racers at New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila encountered their second test of the five-day stage race, and once again, Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson and Mercury’s Scott Moninger came out on top. Jeanson and Moninger each won their second consecutive stage, increasing their overall leads over chasers from Saturn. In the women’s race, Jeanson had already established a big lead with her day 1 time trial, which meant that the other teams would be on the offensive, trying to wear down the 19-year-old Canadian. Saturn took the initiative early, launching Lyne Bessette at the first bonus
The Tour of the Gila stage race got underway in Silver City, New Mexico, with a 15.7-mile time trial contested under typical windy conditions. On day 1 of the five-day race, Mercury’s Scott Moninger and Rona’s Genevieve Jeanson jumped out to the early race leads. Moninger beat Saturn’s Eric Wohlberg by 36 seconds on the out-and-back course that featured a climb on the way out and the way back. 7UP-Colorado Cyclist’s Doug Ziewacz and Clark Sheehan took third and fourth, respectively. In all, the top eight consisted of three 7UPs, three Saturns and two Mercurys before Landis-Trek-VWs Scott