Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team 2007

Madison Win Earns Lea Another National Title

2007-10-06T18:26:00.001-07:00

Carson, Calif. - Bobby Lea of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team earned the eighth elite national title of his career Saturday by teaming with Colby Pearce to win the Madison at the USA Cycling Elite National Championships.

Lea and Pearce jumped out to a fast start and held off Rahsaan Bahati and Austin Carroll (Rock Racing) in the 40-kilometer race, out-scoring them 22-17. Defending champions Brad Huff and Michael Friedman (Team Slipstream) finished third with 16 points.

Lea’s win makes him an automatic qualifier for USA Cycling’s 2008 men’s endurance Talent Pool team. From this team, USA Cycling will select the athletes who will represent the United States at the Olympic Games in Beijing, the World Championships in England and in four UCI World Track Cup races.

Lea earned two other podium finishes during the championships at the ADT Event Center. The 23-year-old won a bronze medal in Friday night’s 60-lap points race as Friedman successfully defended his title in the event. Thursday night, Lea finished fifth in the scratch race, which was won by David McCook (Kelly Benefit Strategies presented by Medifast).

In the Madison, Lea said he and Pearce wanted to accomplish two things: get off to a good start and not let any of the other teams get a lap up.

“It's such a long race you can have big momentum shifts, so there is no rule to starting it out,” Lea said. “We were hoping to crack the whip early to catch guys in traffic (because) there is always a lot of confusion and we were hoping it would work in our favor.”

Lea’s victory was his fifth of the season. It raised Toyota-United’s win total to 39 for 2007 and to 94 in the team’s two-year history.

Bobby Lea Fifth In Nationals Scratch Race

2007-10-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

Carson, Calif. — Bobby Lea of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team earned a fifth-place finish Thursday in the Scratch Race at the USA Cycling Elite National Championships.

McCook (Kelly Benefit Strategies presented by Medifast) took the stars-and-stripes jersey by winning the field sprint ahead of Cody O’Reilly (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling) and Steve Palaez (Adobe/Schwalbe).

Lea said the 15-kilometer (9.3-mile) race did not play out to his strengths.

“Rock Racing and another combine were riding for a field sprint and they completely neutralized any attempts to get up the road,” Lea said. “I was in good position for the final sprint but just didn't have the horsepower to compete in a finish like that.”

Lea, a seven-time elite national champion, gets another shot at a national title on the velodrome today at the ADT Event Center. He will compete in a 60-lap Points Race qualifying heat this afternoon in the hopes of making tonight’s final. Saturday, he will race in the Madison.

In addition to a victory in the Madison at the KNBT Festival of Speed, Lea had a solid road race campaign in 2007. He was Toyota-United’s best finisher (eighth place) at the USPRO Criterium Championships in Downers Grove, Ill., in August and won three times on the road (McDowell Mountain Regional Park Circuit Race, Leonardtown Criterium and Stage 3 of the Tour of Christiana).

Dominguez's Desert Win Caps Super Season

2007-09-28T06:34:00.000-07:00

There was no doubt Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez was the winner.
Las Vegas — In a season punctuated by flawless teamwork, Ivan Dominguez was ultimately on his own when it came time to deliver a victory for his Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team.

Dominguez dramatically chased down Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefit Strategies presented by Medifast) on the final lap, then outsprinted him to the line after the final turn to win the World Criterium Championship Thursday night under the lights in Las Vegas. The victory was Dominguez’s 15th of the season – a career-best – and the 38th of the season for Toyota-United.

“This feels great,” Dominguez told the estimated crowd of 20,000 that gathered under the lights to watch the inaugural edition of the race. “All the guys are very happy. This has been a great year.”

But before the 60 km (37-mile) race outside the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, Dominguez was downplaying his chances.

“Before today, (I considered) the Tour of Missouri my last ride,” he said. “I was sitting at home, doing nothing. Then I went to the show (Interbike) today and a lot of people were saying they put money on me. I said, ‘Dude, you should ask for your money back because I don’t think I’m going to win.’ This is a very dangerous race.”

The danger of racing 60 laps on a flat and sweeping, six-turn course that was set up in a parking lot was illustrated several times Thursday night. In the Bicycling Magazine Industry Cup race that preceded the pro men’s event, a massive pile-up disrupted the final lap. About a half-hour later, the pro men’s race became a crash-fest, with Toyota-United’s Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia one of the victims on the opening lap. The first turn was particularly treacherous, with more than a half-dozen separate crashes.

Dominguez, though, avoided the mayhem and was in position to follow Gilbert when attacked through the start/finish line with a lap to go. Behind them, an immediate gap opened up when a rider crashed in the first turn.

“I thought I would wait because he (Gilbert) was taking too many chances in the turns and I preferred to keep it safe,” Dominguez said. “Coming into the second-to-last turn, I caught him and he took me to the finish. He was tired.”

Dominguez didn’t even have to get out of the saddle while Gilbert (pictured, left of Dominguez) held on to finish second, just ahead of his teammate, Dave McCook. Besides Dominguez, only two of Toyota-United’s six racers finished the race: Justin England was 41st and Heath Blackgrove was 61st.

“We were fortunate today,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “It was a one-man show tonight, but it was the result of one season of hard work by everyone on the team. We all share in the win.”

It's A Storybook Finish For Jansen, Willett

2007-09-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas – Ivan Dominguez made sure Team Directors Harm Jansen (left) and Kirk Willett each went out a winner.

In early August, Dominguez won the Hanes Park Classic Criterium in Winston-Salem, N.C., in Willett’s final race with Toyota-United. The 37-year-old is now pursuing a career in medicine at the Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.

Jansen announced Monday that Thursday’s race would be his last for Toyota-United. Len Pettyjohn will take over as the team’s director in 2008.

“Going out like this makes it harder – and easier,” Jansen said. “It’s easier because I can’t go out any better. And it’s harder because it is that great. These are the great moments you work for.”

Interbike Autograph Signing

2007-09-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas - More than 25,000 people turned out for the second day of Interbike, North America's largest bicycle trade event.

The show in the Sands Convention Center that draws more than 1,000 suppliers and representatives from 4,000 bicycle retail stores also played host to the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team and its sponsors.

Toyota-United’s six riders who would be racing in Thursday night’s World Criterium Championship took time to sign autographs at the Fuji Booth earlier in the day.
Toyota-United's Heath Blackgrove meets Fuji Bicycles President Pat Cunnane.
Henk Vogels, who has been sidelined since July with a shoulder injury,
is still pretty adept with a Sharpie.
Cycling announcer Dave Towle (right) interviewed Ivan Stevic on Cycling.tv…

Toyota-United Aims For Perfect Ending

2007-09-26T00:58:00.000-07:00

Las Vegas – It all comes down to this.

After more than 100 races in 20 states over the past 40 weeks, the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team goes after one more win in Thursday night’s season finale.

The WCSN USA Crits Final is also the last race in the 2007 USA Crits Championship Series.

WCSN.com will provide live coverage of the 37.2-mile (60 km) race along a fast, five-turn, one-kilometer course at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, situated near Interbike’s home at the Sands Convention Center.

Toyota-United’s sprint specialist Ivan Dominguez and B World Road Race Champion Ivan Stevic are among the 109 starters. Toyota-United is one of seven teams that will field a full complement of the maximum number of six riders.

Race-time temperatures, normally a concern in the desert heat, are expected to be in the mid 80s when the race goes off at 9:15 p.m. PDT.

Only one of Dominguez’s 14 wins of the season has come at a USA Crit Series event (the Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium in Boise, Idaho). He stands a team-best 13th place in the individual series standings while Toyota-United lies eighth in the team standings.

Frank Travieso (AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork) is the individual USA Crit Series leader while his squad leads the team standings over the Abercrombie & Fitch Pro Development Cycling Team.

Before the men’s pro race Thursday, an inaugural “industry cup” race will go off, featuring two sponsors of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team. Bicycling Magazine and Fuji Bicycles are both fielding four-man squads for the 25-mile (40 km) race that will take place on the same course as the professionals.

The Miles Kept Coming For Team's Bus Driver

2007-09-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

Paul Davi estimates he drove about 27,000 miles in 2007.
Along I-70, Outside of Las Vegas — The races may blend together for Toyota-United Bus Driver Paul Davi. But one thing sticks out from driving mile after mile, week after week, from one end of the country to the other.

“I’ll remember all the times I got to listen to the guys while I was driving and I’d be just laughing my head off,” he said. “That was really the rewarding intangible that I will miss.”

In between the time he spent behind the wheel, cleaning the bus and pumping gas, Davi was living out his dream. He grew up watching the Coors Classic in his hometown of Boulder and followed the Tour de France religiously – even to the point of watching videotapes of the race over and over.

“Even before I got this job, I was a bit of a pro cycling junkie,” Davi said.

So it was quite a “rookie moment” when the team’s riders first stepped on board the bus in February, all decked out in their uniforms and headed for a photo shoot during training camp.

“Not long after we got going, Chris Wherry said, ‘I think you’ve got a bit of a problem.’ I was so new to the bus that I didn’t realize our tanks were full. Some of the gray water tank (the non-waste water) had started coming back up through the shower drain. It was a pretty horrible ride.”

Perhaps less memorable was his task of keeping the 48-foot red, white and blue motor coach clean – inside and out.

“Cleaning was the least glamorous part of the job,” Davi said, “Sometimes I’d be detailing the thing at 11 o’clock at night because that was the only time it was not being used.”

But perhaps his most important task was keeping the refrigerator stocked.

“Ivan Dominguez loves mayo but doesn’t like mustard,” Davi said, recanting a list from memory. “Chris Baldwin has to have the right stuff for his oatmeal and his late-night snacks. And you can’t forget our owner, Sean Tucker. He absolutely has to have regular bread. The rest of the guys prefer baguettes and big crusty loafs. But to keep Sean happy, you had to have sliced, white sandwich bread.”

Davi’s routine was like a lot of the team’s support staff – late to bed, early to rise.

“I’m not really a morning person, but the sport of bike racing seems to be,” he said. “I’d set my alarm to wake up and unlock the door and then try to go back to sleep. But every time someone gets on board, the bus tends to lean a little to one side, so I was pretty much up after that.”

Davi will close out the season the same way it began – tooling down the freeway. Only this time, look for him behind the wheel of a rental car and not the Toyota-United bus.

Two Legends Will Lead Toyota-United In 2008

2007-09-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

Len Pettyjohn and Scott Moninger.
Newport Beach, Calif. — Two of the most successful individuals in the history of American bicycle racing will lead the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team in 2008.

Veteran pro cycling team director Len Pettyjohn will be joined by 17-year pro Scott Moninger to work as Toyota-United’s new director and assistant director, respectively.

Pettyjohn, 66, has worked with some of the most successful U.S. cyclists (Greg LeMond, Davis Phinney, Alexi Grewal and Moninger) while directing a number of domestic teams, including the dominant Coors Light squad of the early 1990s.

Moninger, 41, has 275 victories to his credit and was the winningest active U.S. racer until announcing his retirement last week.

Toyota-United Owner Sean P. Tucker said the pair’s hiring came after an intensive, worldwide search.

“These two gentlemen have a 21-year history together,” Tucker said. “No one is more qualified to lead a team than Len while Scott knows the races and the racers having just capped off a spectacular career of his own.”

Pettyjohn has been living in Boulder, Colo., and working in race promotion since retiring from active team directing in 1994. He has managed the CyberBike Indoor Race Program since 2001 and put on the challenging, one-day Saturn Cycling Classic from 2001 to 2003. His experience as a director includes the Coors Light team (1989-94), Crest team (1988-90), the Lowrey’s women’s team (1987-89), the Lowenbrau team (1985-87), the American Savings/Dia-Compe team (1982-84) and the Panasonic team (1980-81).

“I’ve considered a number of team offers over the past decade, but nothing remotely of the caliber that Toyota-United had to offer,” Pettyjohn said. “For Scott and me to join such a high-level organization, with a world-class sponsor and a stellar group of riders that are a force in ProTour caliber races, is just exceptional.”

Moninger is a four-time winner of the Cascade Cycling Classic and the Nevada City Classic, a two-time winner of the Tour of the Gila, the Redlands Bicycle Classic, and the International Tour De ‘Toona. He was twice the individual champion of the National Race Calendar series, in 1992 and 2005. He raced for six different professional teams during his pro career: Coors Light (1991-94), Chevrolet-Los Angeles Sheriff (1995-96), Navigators Insurance (1997-98), Mercury (1999-2002), Health Net presented by Maxxis (2004-06) and BMC (2007). Born in Atlanta, Ga., he grew up in Wichita, Kan., and now lives in Boulder.

“I am confident that Scott and Len will ambitiously take us to the next level in our quest to continue to be the leading domestic team in pro cycling,” Tucker said. “Both have competed and managed athletes at the sport’s highest levels. I can’t wait to see what they can accomplish with the talent we have on our roster for 2008.”

Megan Gillam, engagement marketing manager for the team’s title sponsor, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., echoed Tucker’s enthusiasm for the new hires.

“We are thrilled to welcome Len and Scott to the Toyota-United family,” Gillam said. “Their collective experience and passion for the sport of cycling will be a powerful catalyst in driving this incredible team to an even higher level of success.”

Toyota-United’s 2008 roster will include three powerful new riders – Ben Day and brothers Hilton Clarke and Jonny Clarke.

“In Ben Day, we have a proven stage racer and elite time trialist,” Pettyjohn said. “Hilton Clarke has demonstrated he is one of the fastest sprinters in North America and Jonny is a versatile young rider with a great deal of potential.”

Toyota-United returns the core of its roster that scored 37 victories and 105 podium finishes in 2007. The squad was the only domestic pro cycling team to win races in all three “grand tour” bicycle races in the United States: the Amgen Tour of California, the Tour de Georgia and the Tour of Missouri. In 2008, Americans Chris Wherry (2005 USPRO road champion) and Chris Baldwin (2003 and 2005 national time trial champion) will join Cuban sprint sensation Ivan Dominguez (14 wins) and B World Road Race Champion Ivan Stevic of Serbia, along with veteran Australian strongman and lead-out specialist Henk Vogels.

“The key goals for Scott and me were to add some additional strength and speed to an existing group of champions,” Pettyjohn said. “With Ben, Hilton, and Jonny on board, we are pretty comfortable that Toyota-United will bring some serious horsepower to the peloton next season.”

Jansen Steps Aside; Guided Team To 92 Wins

2007-09-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

Newport Beach, Calif. — The man who helped lead the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team in its first two seasons is saying goodbye.

Harm Jansen, 39, will direct his final race for Toyota-United at the World Criterium Championships in Las Vegas on Thursday, Sept. 27. He has been with the team since its founding in 2005 and served as co-director with Frankie Andreu in 2006 and Kirk Willett in 2007. For the past 18 years, Jansen has been involved in pro cycling as a competitor, coach and team director.

“This has been a very difficult decision because my heart is with cycling, but it is time to move on,” Jansen said. “These are two years I will obviously not forget. I was fortunate to be in a position to build this team to where it is today and I feel fortunate to have several choices of what I will do next.”

Toyota-United Team Owner Sean P. Tucker said Jansen’s contributions to building and growing the team would not soon be forgotten.

“He has been part of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team since the early days of its existence in 2005,” Tucker said. “His commitment to the program made the team an instant success and a force on the domestic circuit.”

Under Jansen’s guidance, Toyota-United won 92 races, including 55 in its inaugural season. The team also captured stage wins at all three of the “grand tours” in the United States in 2007 (the Amgen Tour of California, the Tour de Georgia and the Tour of Missouri), as well as three stage victories in both grand tours in 2006 (Amgen Tour of California and Tour de Georgia).

Jansen said being a team director helped him appreciate what a good staff can do for a cycling team.

“It’s something that is highly underestimated,” he said. “I had seen it from a bit of a distance as a rider, but witnessing it up close as a director made me fully understand their importance. I was fortunate to have been able to choose from so many talented athletes and to be around such a good group of personalities – both staff and riders.”

Jansen is a former Dutch National Champion and the 2001 USPRO Champion who won more than 180 races during his career. He completed his thesis at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), and has a masters degree from the Civil Engineering and Geosciences faculty (graduating cum laude) at the Delft University of Technology (DUT) in The Netherlands. He lives with his wife, Amy, and son, Nico, in Los Angeles.

Read All About It

2007-09-17T07:46:00.001-07:00

A list of links to some of the feature stories specifically written about the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team during the Tour of Missouri...

From Spare Cycles:
Justin England: "Favorite Tour of Missouri RIder"

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Riding With Toyota-United

From the Kansas City Star:
For Cyclist, It's Been A Long Road To A Sweet Life"

From Tour de France Lanterne Rouge:
England is Lanterne Rouge

From the Columbia Daily Tribune:
The View Rarely Changes From The Team Car
A Ringing Endorsement: Dominguez Wins First Stage"

Post-Race Interview With Ivan Dominguez

2007-09-17T06:33:00.000-07:00

Dominguez Wins Final Stage of Tour of Missouri

2007-09-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

Ivan Dominguez easily scores his second stage win of the race.
St. Louis, Mo. - Ivan Dominguez stamped his name on the final stage of the Tour of Missouri by impressively sprinting to victory Sunday on the final stage in St. Louis.

Dominguez, working with the help of only three teammates, scored his second stage win of the race. On Tuesday, he won the opening stage in Kansas City.

Less than a half-hour before the start of the final stage of the Tour of Missouri Sunday afternoon, Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Director Harm Jansen gathered what remained of his original eight-man squad for the six-day, six-stage race.

Seated in the team’s bus just a few blocks from the start line were the three riders who would be charged with helping Ivan Dominguez get to the finish line first in the 74-mile (119 km) race that comprised seven circuits of a loop through the streets of downtown St. Louis.
There was Chris Wherry, the team’s captain whose focus has shifted from being a powerful stage rider and overall contender to that of top lead-out man following season-ending injuries to Henk Vogels, Ivan Stevic and Caleb Manion.

Next to him sat Heath Blackgrove, the tough, quiet super domestique whose season started all the way back on Jan. 1 in his home country of New Zealand. The toll of a long season showed on Blackgrove’s face, as he hardly managed a smile when team bus driver Paul Davi greeted him.

The only other engine on the Toyota-United lead-out train this day would be the most unlikely of suspects. Normally a climbing specialist, Justin England would be asked to drive the pace hard enough to keep the other 98 riders in the race behind him.

“Remember, we’re not equipped to be able to do any work today until the very end,” Team Director Harm Jansen said to the four. “Remain patient. Our time will come.”

Each of the four nodded in agreement as they made last-minute adjustments to their race radios, helmets and sunglasses.
Integral to Jansen’s plan would be for the pack to be together as it neared the finish. Fortunately, that is exactly what happened, thanks to the chasing efforts of several teams – with the 150-pound England helping out in the rotation.

“I tried to take longer pulls since there was only one of me and everyone else helping with the chase had three or four riders,” England said.

The patience that Jansen preached was never more evident than in the final three miles. Despite the frenetic, 36 miles-an-hour pace at the head of the peloton, Wherry, Blackgrove and Dominguez remained calm, riding at the back of the field.

“We knew when our time to go to work would come,” Blackgrove said. “It was just a matter of waiting.”

That time came inside the final mile. Blackgrove helped a fast-fading England marshal Wherry and Dominguez up the side of the pack. With 1,000 meters to go, Wherry took Dominguez toward the front, then sprinted out of the last turn like he was going for the win himself.

From there, Dominguez flew by to finish it off.

“It was just like we drew up,” Blackgrove said afterwards, grinning. “Pretty simple, eh?”

Dominguez Third In Stage 4 Sprint Finish

2007-09-15T06:52:00.001-07:00

Columbia, Mo. — Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team narrowly avoided a potential disaster and still managed a third-place finish in the closing meters of Stage 4’s 133-mile (214 km) road race from Lebanon, Mo., to Columbia Friday afternoon.

Within sight of the finish, Dominguez brushed against a spectator, momentarily sapping his momentum while forcing him to demonstrate his bike-handling skills. Undeterred, the Cuban sprint sensation roared back to nearly catch stage winner Luciano Pagliarini (Prodir-Saunier Duval) and runner-up Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics Cycling Team).

“Coming to the end I was behind (teammate Chris) Wherry,” Dominguez said. “In the last kilometer, he got me in good position and he asked me where I wanted him to jump. I told him to go when he saw the 600-meters-to-go sign and he jumped and I was on his wheel. The field spread across the road and my only option was to take the right side. I was coming fast from 20th place and I think I hit one of the spectators and lost my momentum. When I got to the guys out front it was too late.”

Dominguez’s third-place finish did earn him enough points to tie Pagliarini for the Edward Jones sprint points jersey.

Earlier in the stage, Toyota-United’s Justin England was part of a 10-man breakaway that formed 49 miles (79 km) into the stage. The group remained in the lead until being caught on the fast run-in into Columbia.

“After the time gap got up to three or four minutes, it was my job to sit on because I knew they would be chasing from behind to set up Ivan,” England said.

Wherry Finishes 18th In Time Trial

2007-09-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Branson, Mo. - Chris Wherry’s 18th-place finish led the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Thursday in the individual time trial on Stage 3 of the Tour of Missouri.

Wherry covered the 18-mile (29 km) rolling course in 43 minutes and 49 seconds, a time 4:12 slower than stage winner Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team). Wherry’s performance moved him from 69th to a team-best 27th place in the overall standings.

“The terrain made for a seriously tough time trial,” Wherry said. “The whole course was up and down. There was not a flat section of road the entire 18 miles.”

Riders reached speeds of more than 55 mph on a sweeping descent, only to have to suffer through a nearly two-mile long climb back up to the finish.

Toyota-United’s string of bad luck in the six-stage, six-day event continued Thursday when Sean Sullivan finished outside the time cut and was eliminated. His departure means the team is down to five riders (Ivan Stevic abandon Wednesday and Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia was time cut on Tuesday).

Sullivan said breathing problems that first flared up 10 days ago nearly kept him from finishing Wednesday’s 125.6-mile (202.1 km) stage.

“That was probably the most I’ve ever suffered on a bike,” Sullivan said. “It’s not really in my character to quit something. But in a stage race you’re kind of just filling up space if you’re not well. I want to get home and get rested and come back better and stronger next year.”

Ride Along With Toyota-United

2007-09-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

Springfield, Mo. - Reporter Dave Luecking of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper rode along in the Toyota-United Prius Team Car Wednesday at the Tour of Missouri.

Writes Luecking:

"In cycling, each team’s director sportif – known in traditional ball sports as the manager or head coach – drives the team car. To make another comparison to major sports in the United States, riding shotgun in the team car is akin to sitting next to Tony La Russa in the dugout during a Cardinals game, or roaming the Rams sidelines with Scott Linehan, or standing behind the Blues bench with Andy Murray. You just don’t get that kind of access."

Read his entire behind-the-scenes account of the developments on Stage 2 by clicking here.

Decisive Breakaway Pulls Dominguez Out Of Yellow

2007-09-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ivan Dominguez signed autographs before Wednesday's stage.
Springfield, Mo. — The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team saw its first-day race leadership at the Tour of Missouri evaporate when a 12-man breakaway went up the road early on in the 125-mile stage from Clinton to Springfield, Mo.
Without representation in the break, Toyota-United chased valiantly. But in the end, no other teams contributed to the effort and the team was left to stop its chase and converse energy for the remainder of the day.

“We did a lot of work yesterday with one rider [time] cut because they qualified yesterday’s stage as a flat stage, while it was hillier than today,” said Toyota-United director Harm Jansen in response. “(Sean) Sullivan is sick with asthma problems, (Ivan) Stevic has a bad knee and pulled out of the race, (Chris) Baldwin crashed twice, Dominguez is our leader and two of our riders left, (Justin) England and (Heath) Blackgrove are just spent from yesterday. So the only guy I had left was Chris Wherry and I’m not going to finish off that last piece of bread I have left on my plate."

Wherry said Toyota-United held to its responsibility as race leader to chase the break.

“When the break went up the road, we immediately had five guys on the front,” Wherry said. “Only one other team was helping us and their guys blew up pretty quickly, so we were left to do it. It wasn't a good move for everybody because not every team had its top GC riders in there. We did what we could for a while, but no other teams wanted to help us. So it was basically us against 11 other teams. Eventually we called it quits and hoped some teams would organize after that. It just didn’t happen.”

Dominguez Wins First Tour of Missouri Stage

2007-09-12T05:40:00.000-07:00

Dominguez said he surprised himself with his win in Kansas City.
Kansas City, Mo. – He may have been the favorite to win the first-ever stage of the Tour of Missouri, but Ivan Dominguez wasn’t feeling like a winner with fewer than five miles left in Tuesday’s 85-mile (137 km) road race that started and finished in Kansas City, Mo.

“I was not expecting to see that hill on the back end of the circuit,” Dominguez said. “I was hurting every time we went up.”

So with his legs badly cramping and only two of his seven teammates still in position to help him, Dominguez’s chances didn’t look good on the last of three laps around a circuit through Kansas City’s famous Plaza district.

That all changed, though, when the peloton swung onto the finishing straight in front of thousands of fans on a sun-splashed afternoon.

“Coming out of the last corner I was in 40th wheel and I did not expect to pass so many guys so fast,” Dominguez said. “I realized it was a long way but I said to myself, ‘I’m going to try!’ ”

With 250 meters to go, Dominguez was still 20 riders back, but moving up fast. He went from the right side of the road, across to the center, then attacked on the left to earn his 13th victory of the season, the team’s 35th this year and the 90th win overall for Toyota-United in its second season.

Earlier in the stage, a five-man breakaway gained a nearly six minutes’ lead. But the chasing efforts of several squads, including the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team, Toyota-United and Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle brought the gap down to fewer than two minutes with about 15 miles remaining.

“I buried four guys off the back of the leading group,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “One guy has a knee (problem), the other couldn’t breathe. Two other guys were buried because they had worked so hard helping chase.”

Team's Mechanic Feels Right At Home At Tour

2007-09-11T13:28:00.000-07:00

Shawnee, Kan. – Shane Fedon won’t easily admit to it, but the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Head Mechanic knows a lot more about the Tour of Missouri than most of the riders who will be competing in it.

That’s because the Virginia native has spent the past two years living in Shawnee, Kan., where he and his girlfriend, Cheryl Singleton, treated the team’s riders and staff to a steak dinner Sunday night.

“I’ve lived all over the world, but this is the first place that I really call home,” Fedon said.

Fedon said some riders might be surprised at what the courses in the six-day, 558-mile race have to offer up.

“I think it’s going to be a hard course,” Fedon said. “It’ll be a lot like Univest, with some rolling hills and some good kickers. If a group gets away, you might not see them again.”

Plus, the time trial will be important. But even if you win the TT, there’s still three more days of racing after that and at least two of the days are the same."

Tour of Missouri: Special Coverage

2007-09-10T07:46:00.000-07:00

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team will be providing daily updates and behind-the-scenes information each day of the Tour of Missouri.

Check this site, and the team's official site, for photos, race resports and inside insight into Toyota-United as it competes in the inaugural edition of the six-day, six-stage race

Baldwin Joins Leipheimer in Record Ascent

2007-09-03T10:31:00.000-07:00

Greenville, S.C. - Chris Baldwin didn’t know if he would have the legs to get all the way to the finish of Sunday’s 110-mile (177 km) USA Cycling Professional Road Race.

After all, the day before, the 31-year-old rode a blazing 18.1-mile (30.7 km) time trial, finishing eighth.

So when Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team) attacked on the third of four ascents of Paris Mountain, Baldwin went with him.

“I had talked to (Toyota-United teammate) Chris Wherry before that and he warned me to watch for attacks on that lap,” Baldwin said. “I told him I would cover everything.”

Little did Baldwin know what he had signed up for.

"He (Leipheimer) just put it in the big ring and went,” Baldwin said. “We were racing in our 39-19 and 39-21 the whole way up.”

“Levi went big ring and everybody else went ‘ugh’ except for Chris,” said Toyota-United’s Burke Swindlehurst, who would go on to finish a team-best 10th place.

“Chris was really the only guy who could go with him,” said teammate Justin England. “It was really impressive.”

Not only the duo ride away from the peloton, but they also climbed Paris Mountain faster than anyone ever had before – obliterating the former record of eight minutes and 54 seconds by 25 seconds.

“It was an awesome effort for Baldwin to follow Leipheimer, though I think Leipheimer was unmatchable today,” said Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen.

Baldwin shadowed Leipheimer up the climb and, when the road started going downhill, he tried to catch a breather – without much success.

“Leipheimer is so small that it’s like riding behind a 90-pound motorbike. There’s no draft at all,” Baldwin said.

Wherry initially thought Baldwin and Leipheimer might have made the winning move.

“But I’m sure Chris (Baldwin) was feeling it from the time trial,” Wherry said.

Baldwin and Leipheimer worked together to catch a small breakaway group that had escaped on the first two large laps of the 21-mile (34 km) circuit.

“We didn’t catch them until we came into town,” Baldwin said. “Once we caught ‘em, they were dead. But then Andrew Bajadali (Jelly Belly Cycling Team) and Frank Pipp (Health Net presented by Maxxis) came up. The problem was, those two guys were so strong, the other guys were dead and Levi was 20 percent stronger than all of us.”

The group of leaders stayed together until the final time up Paris Mountain, when Leipheimer attacked and rode the final hour of the race alone. Baldwin lost contact on the climb and eventually withdrew.

“I felt really good today,” he said. “A lot better than I thought I would.”

Burke Swindlehurst 10th In National Road Race

2007-09-02T15:37:00.000-07:00

Swindlehurst was Toyota-United's best finisher in the 110-mile race.
Greenville, S.C. - Burke Swindlehurst’s 10th-place finish Sunday led the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team at the USA Cycling Pro Championship Road Race.

Swindlehurst was one of four Toyota-United riders in the 110-mile (177 km) race, three of whom finished. Chris Wherry was 20th and Justin England was 28th. Chris Baldwin joined eventual race winner Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team) in a record ascent of Paris Mountain (see related story) before withdrawing from the race.

Swindlehurst was with a small group that was chasing Leipheimer entering the first of three 3.76-mile (6.1 km) circuits in downtown Greenville. Swindlehurst attacked repeatedly, only to be chased down each time by Bobby Julich (CSC).

After four unsuccessful attacks, Swindlehurst lost contact with the group when George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) attacked.

"I took a bit of a calculated risk thinking there was no way Julich and the other guys with me were going to let Hincapie go," Swindlehurst said. "Then, when I realized everybody was hurting, it was too late for myself to get across. All I could hope for was some cohesion in the group, but it didn’t happen."

Driving behind in the Toyota Prius Team Car, Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen had already seen the signs that Leipheimer would not be brought back.

“When the gap was one minute and 20 seconds over the last climb and we came down the climb and saw there was no organized chase, I knew Leipheimer was going to stay away,” he said.

Leipheimer won by 71 seconds over Discovery Channel teammate and defending champion George Hincapie. Neil Shirley (Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling Team) was third, 1:14 behind Leipheimer.

Toyota-United’s England said the pace up Paris Mountain was a lot more steady than the fierce attacks that saw the pack whittled in half each time up the climb last year. In an attempt to bring more riders to the finish, race organizers eliminated one 21-mile (34 km) lap. Still, only 30 of 114 starters finished.

“The last time up the climb, we had four guys still in the race,” Jansen said. “Burke had a shot at a great result but in the end, it’s a timing issue of who happens to make the right attack.”

Swindlehurst, who finished fourth in this race a year ago, said his legs were cramping, but he was hanging tough until the final 500-meter riser to the finish, where he conceded a few places.

“I almost felt like I had better legs than last year,” he said. “If there had been one more lap up Paris Mountain, I think the results might have been pretty similar to last year.”

Baldwin Eighth In National Time Trial

2007-09-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

Chris Baldwin rounds the first turn of the time trial Saturday.
Greenville, S.C. — Chris Baldwin said he could not have gone any faster in Saturday’s USA Cycling Championship Time Trial.

“I was riding harder than I was last year,” Baldwin said. “I couldn’t have done any better training or preparation.”

Baldwin finished eighth in the 18.1-mile (30.7 km) time trial through The Cliffs Valley. David Zabriskie (CSC) successfully defended his time trial national championship with a time 59 seconds faster. Zabriskie crossed the finish line after 39 minutes and 34 seconds, averaging 28.3 mph (45.6 kph). Two riders from Team Slipstream presented by Chipotle, Danny Pate and Timmy Duggan, finished second and third, respectively.

On a slightly longer (20.15-mile) course last year, Zabriskie won by 1.4 seconds over Pate with an average speed of 28.8 mph (46.4 kph). Seven riders were within one minute of Zabriskie’s time this year, compared to three last year.

“Guys are just going fast. They’re flying,” Baldwin said. “To have seven guys within a minute of Zabriskie shows that there are a lot of riders at a high level right now."

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said Baldwin can hold his head high despite falling short of his goal of winning a third national time trial title. The 31-year-old won the event in 2003 and 2005.

“He’s done more racing than anyone else on our team this year,” Jansen said. “And he has been consistent in all these different stage races. When you look at how many races he’s done and how well he’s performed, it actually transforms him into a more of an endurance athlete than strictly a strong time trialist.”

Toyota-United had a special guest riding in the Toyota Prius team car Saturday: Toyota-United-sponsored endurance cyclist Daniel Sheret, an amputee who is riding his United bicycle across the world to raise money and awareness for two organizations’ work with landmine survivors. Sheret is getting ready to embark on the second part of his journey, which will take him across the United Kingdom and Europe later this month. For more information about his ride, visit www.abilitytrek.org.

USA Cycling Pro Championship Expects Huge Crowd

2007-09-01T04:26:00.000-07:00

Greenville, S.C. - The executive director of Medalist Sports, one of the organizers of this weekend's USA Cycling Pro Championships, said he expects a larger crowd than the one that turned out for last year's inaugural edition of the event in Greenville, S.C.

"We had 62,000 spectators last year," said Chris Aronhalt, Executive Director of Medalist Sports. "We think everyone who came last year will bring someone with them so we hope to hit six figures."

Aaronhalt made his remarks at Friday afternoon's pre-event press conference. Barry Bennett, Director of Communications for Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder, emceed the event, which took place at the Greenville Community Hospital.

Scott Beville, President of Sales and Marketing for The Cliffs, said the time trial the company is hosting has been changed for the better.

"The start is the same, but we want to create a better experience for the riders and the fans," he said. "It will be not as technical of an approach to the finish line. You’ll be able to see the riders come down for about the last mile. And it will help the riders hit the finish line full speed ahead."

Here are what other participants in the press conference had to say:

Steve Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, USA Cycling, Inc.:
It’s great to be back in Greenville. All of us were overwhelmed by this community and the experience and friendliness that was apparent last year. The word “significant” was used a lot last year. It marked year zero last year for me, when we had a significant, American-only pro peloton in our championships. Right now, we’re probably farther ahead than anyone to be the next major theater for professional cycling than any other country in the world. We’re on track to produce the best events and the best riders. We ended up turning away some of the top level teams for the Tour of California this year, so we know people are interested in racing here in America. Plus, we have some of the top riders in the world right here in our own backyard. We have increased our club membership more than 100 percent in the last four years. Junior membership is up, too. This even will capture the hearts and minds of some of the youngsters here in this community. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of them years from now stand on an international podium because they watched this event as they grew up.

Kevin Dunn, President, Palmetto Peloton Project:
Dunn shared a story one of the riders wrote last year. “All I could think as I was climbing Paris Mountain was what patients have to endure during their chemo treatments,” she wrote. “I didn’t stop going up that mountain because of them.” If you think 125 riders in the peloton is impressive, wait until you see 500.

Michael Riordan, President/CEO, Greenville Hospital System:
He thanked USA Cycling for bringing the championships to Greenville. The Greenville Hospital System is serving as the title sponsor for the event through 2008 and providing all medical services throughout the weekend.

Mayor Knox White, City of Greenville:
White hanked the athletes for being a part of the event, despite having a “hometown favorite” in the race (George Hincapie). Be warned, he said, there is a lot more excitement about this event. “The crowds will be much bigger than they were last year,” he said.

Jim Bourey, Greenville City Manager:
We anticipate a much larger crowd this year and want to ensure everything goes as smoothly as it did last year. There will be only one permanent road closure (Broad and Main) for the events, but there are maps and traffic advisories on the website that detail the route.

USA Cycling Pro Championship Time Trial Start Order

2007-08-31T19:41:00.001-07:00

1. 11.00'00" 35 USA RAISIN SAUL C.A
2. 11.02'00" 32 USA HUFF Brad TSL
3. 11.04'00" 31 USA DUGGAN Timothy TSL
4. 11.06'00" 30 USA NORTON Michael RAP
5. 11.08'00" 29 USA GUNN Curtis SLP
6. 11.10'00" 28 USA HOWARD Graham PHB
7. 11.12'00" 27 USA SWEETING Bobby AEG
8. 11.14'00" 26 USA COZZA Steven TSL
9. 11.16'00" 25 USA ROSENBARGER Jacob BMC
10. 11.18'00" 24 USA MEAD Bryce JBC
11. 11.20'00" 23 USA BARROWS Clayton RAP
12. 11.22'00" 22 USA LANGE Michael TSL
13. 11.24'00" 21 USA GRABINGER Michael SLP
14. 11.26'00" 20 USA WINSTON David AEG
15. 11.28'00" 19 USA CRANE Matthew HNM
16. 11.30'00" 18 USA REISTAD Nick JBC
17. 11.32'00" 17 USA MUMFORD Reid KBM
18. 11.34'00" 16 USA THORNTON Joshua OSN
19. 11.36'00" 15 USA DULIN Thad JIT
20. 11.38'00" 14 USA MCKISSICK Ian BMC
21. 11.40'00" 13 USA JACQUES-MAYNES Ben PHB
22. 11.42'00" 12 USA CREED Michael TSL
23. 11.44'00" 11 USA ZAJICEK Phil NIC
24. 11.47'00" 10 USA CRUZ Tony DCS
25. 11.50'00" 9 USA HAMILTON Tyler TCS
26. 11.53'00" 8 USA JULICH Bobby CSC
27. 11.56'00" 7 USA PATE Danny TSL
28. 11.59'00" 6 USA RAMSAY Daniel SLP
29. 12.02'00" 5 USA ZIRBEL Tom PHB
30. 12.05'00" 4 USA VAN ULDEN Bernard NIC
31. 12.08'00" 3 USA FRIEDMAN Michael TSL
32. 12.11'00" 2 USA BALDWIN Christopher TUP
33. 12.14'00" 1 USA ZABRISKE David CSC

Time Trial Warm-Up

2007-08-31T08:37:00.000-07:00

Team Mechanic Shane Fedon readies Chris Baldwin's Fuji time trial bike.

Greenville, S.C. - Toyota-United's Chris Baldwin used Friday morning to do his final preparations for the USA Cycling Pro Championship Time Trial.

Baldwin pre-rode the course Thursday and again Friday. He finished second a year ago to David Zabriskie (CSC). He is Toyota-United's only entrant in Saturday's time trial.

At the pre-race press conference, Baldwin was asked about the redesigned course, which removed the sharp right-hand turn where he crashed after leading at the last time check.

"I think it’s amusing that I keep hearing they changed the corner for me," he said. "I’ve been running it through my head the way it’s going to be and now I have to figure it all out over again.

"Actually, I don’t think it changes the course that much. It’s a nice course, with just the right amount of technical finesse.”

Race Notes Preview: USA Cycling Pro Championships

2007-08-31T05:58:00.000-07:00

Download Toyota-United's preview of the USA Cycling Pro Championships.

Toyota-United Sends Four To Greenville

2007-08-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

Greenville, S.C. — The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team will put three riders on the start line of Sunday’s USA Cycling Pro Championship road race who finished in the top 12 of last year’s race in Greenville, S.C.

That trio is among a total of four riders from Toyota-United who will compete over the two days of championships: Chris Baldwin will ride the time trial Saturday, then join Justin England, Burke Swindlehurst and Chris Wherry in Sunday’s road race.

Swindlehurst finished fourth in the road race last year, one of only nine racers who actually crossed the finish line. Another 22 were given pro-rated finish times for a total of 31 finishers of more than 100 starters.

At 110 miles (177 km), the road race is slightly shorter than last year’s version. The riders will climb Paris Mountain four times instead of five times. Also new for 2007 will be three starting circuits that will be in addition to the three finishing circuits.

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said the team’s approach will be a little different than other races it has contested this year because Toyota-United will not enjoy strength in numbers.

Wherry, ninth place a year ago and the national road champion in 2005, said he would like nothing more than to don the stars-and-stripes jersey again.

“That was such an awesome year to have that jersey and go through that experience,” Wherry said. “Winning this race is going to be a goal of mine from now until to the end of my career.”

Jansen agrees Wherry is on good form.

“Chris has been looking super strong these last few weeks,” Jansen said. “He knows better than anyone else how to go about preparing to be there in the end.”

In the time trial, Baldwin aims to earn what would be his first win of the year. He has finished second nine times – including three runner-up finishes at National Race Calendar stage races – and has 19 podium finishes overall.

Last year, he was leading at the final time check, only to crash in a tight right-hand corner and lose the race by 32 seconds to David Zabriskie (CSC). The corner is not part of this year’s course.

Stevic Surprised At Form In First Race Back

2007-08-27T14:47:00.000-07:00

Boulder, Colo. - It was 56 days ago that Ivan Stevic put his head down, stomped on the pedals and soloed away from the field to win the UCI B World Road Race Championship in Cape Town, South Africa.

Since then, the two-time Serbian national champion has spent exactly seven days on his bicycle – including Sunday’s 50-mile criterium at the Chris Thater Memorial in Binghamton, N.Y.

Racing against riders who have been training and racing all season, Stevic survived to the final lap, only pulling off after helping Toyota-United reel in a five-man breakaway that at one point had a 45-second lead.

“It wasn’t that bad,” an upbeat Stevic said after the race. “I’m happy to come back and not have any problems with my knees.”

Knee pain that set in after his win at the Worlds and a victory at the Nature Valley Grand Prix stage race threatened to spoil the remainder of a season that has already seen him win a ProTour stage (at the Tour de Georgia) along with five other races. But plenty of rest in his adopted hometown of Boulder, Colo., seems to have done the trick.

“It’s really, really good to be back with the boys,” he said. “I missed a lot.”

Stevic said he is determined to race as much as he can in the final month of the season. But a final determination on whether he will be available for the six-day, six-stage Tour of Missouri will have to be made by his doctor.

“I would like not to take a risk and have to deal with an injury again,” he said. “In two weeks, with good training and a few races, I could be there to be help Ivan (Dominguez) win some stages. On paper, the Tour of Missouri doesn’t look that hard. But the doctor will have the final say.”

Stevic said he enjoyed his first time racing the Chris Thater Memorial – particularly being able to watch Dominguez win the field sprint.

“He won the sprint so easily, it was amazing,” Stevic said. “So it makes you feel bad because without the Navigators guy (Kyle Wamsley) going solo, we would have won the race.”

Stevic also knows winning the National Race Calendar team title will be a long shot, too. But like his Toyota-United teammates, he isn’t about to give up with only one NRC race – the 100K Classic in Atlanta on Sept. 3 – remaining.

“I know we’re still trying to do everything we can,” he said. “Even though we’re not going to win the NRC, we’re still trying to win races. Our goal is to win every race we do.”

Vogels: Injury Will End My Season

2007-08-27T14:45:00.001-07:00

Boulder, Colo. - Henk Vogels will not be competing in any more domestic races in 2007 for the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team.

“My season is over. Completely over,” Vogels said Sunday from his home in Boulder. “I’m just going to have to look forward to next year.”

Vogels saw his successful season end abruptly July 7 at the Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic Circuit Race. As he was bridging up to a breakaway group that included teammate Ivan Dominguez, Vogels struck a metal crowd barrier fence with his shoulder while rounding a tight turn. The violent impact shattered Vogels’ shoulder socket but incredibly, did not knock him off his bicycle.

Doctors told him it would take at least eight weeks of inactivity before they would know whether he would be able to return to racing. But when the sling came off earlier this week, the news wasn’t good. Any return to racing at this point would be jeopardizing his career, they said. So the long road to recovery continues.

“I have started rehabbing,” Vogels said, “but it’s so painful, you can’t believe it. It’s like doing chin-ups with a knife stuck in your shoulder.”

Vogels, a 13-year professional who has ridden the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, turned 34 on July 31. He knows there aren’t too many more seasons left in a body that’s already survived a near life-threatening crash in 2003. Still, he isn’t giving up hope of racing a couple more times outside the U.S. before the end of the calendar year.

“I’m thinking of trying to get a start in the Tour of Southland in New Zealand in November,” he said. “But we’ll just have to see how things turn out.”

Dominguez Second At Chris Thater Memorial

2007-08-26T11:15:00.000-07:00

Binghamton, N.Y. - With one lap to go Sunday at the Chris Thater Memorial, it looked like history was about to be made.

Only once in the race’s 24 editions had the 50-mile (80 km) criterium come down to a field sprint. But with nearly the entire Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team on the front of the 70-rider strong peloton, it appeared the National Race Calendar event was headed for a massive, curb-to-curb sprint to the finish.

But the final time up the only hill on the 1.2-mile (2 km) course, Kyle Wamsley (Navigators Insurance Pro Cycling Team) surprised everyone by jumping out of the pack, opening a small gap and sailing through the final three corners to solo in for the win.

Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez won the field sprint for second while Karl Menzies (Health Net presented by Maxxis) was third. Dominguez came from 10 riders back on the downhill run to the finish line to beat Menzies by nearly two bike lengths.

“That was very impressive,” Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Director Harm Jansen said. “He was boxed in and had to try to find his way out.”

Perhaps even more impressive was the effort Toyota-United threw into bringing back a five-rider breakaway of Wamsley, Marc Walters (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling), Ted King (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) and Rite-Aid Pro Cycling Team teammates Alejandro Borrajo and Bill Elliston. The five built a 45-second lead and enjoyed 17 laps of freedom before Toyota-United reeled them in with two laps to go.

“That was a high-powered break that was up the road,” Jansen said. “The responsibility kind of rested on our shoulders because we had a whole squad here. But it took a little too much out of the guys to bring that back.”

After the all-out chase to bring the race back together, Toyota-United had only Chris Wherry to guide Dominguez through the final lap. When Wamsley attacked, no one else reacted.

“Basically, Dominguez didn’t have support from us anymore and nobody from any other teams wanted to bring him back,” said Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic.

Stevic featured prominently in his first appearance in his first race as the reigning B World Road Race champion. In the heat of the pursuit of the breakaway, he was on the front sharing the workload with teammates Chris Baldwin, Heath Blackgrove, Justin England, Bobby Lea and Sean Sullivan.

“I was pretty surprised because one week of training after one month of being off the bike is usually not enough,” Stevic said. “I’m really happy with my performance today and I’m happy that the guys are happy with the way we did. It’s really, really good to be back.”

Despite Dominguez’s second place, Toyota-United lost ground to Health Net in the NRC team standings. Dominguez picked up 75 points while Menzies scored 60 points for third. But Rory Sutherland placed fifth, scoring 50 points for Health Net. With one race remaining, Health Net owns a 215-point lead (4,336 to 4,121) over Toyota-United.

Stefano Barberi Third At Hotter'N Hell Criterium

2007-08-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

Wichita Falls, Texas - Stefano Barberi of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team finished third in Friday night's Hotter'N Hell Hundred Michelob Ultra Criterium in Wichita Fall, Texas.

The 75-minute criterium was part of three days of events commemorating the 25th anniversary of the race. Alex Welch (Mercy Specialized) won the race.

Barberi and teammate Ryan Miller signed autographs at the Toyota-United expo booth Thursday, then competed in Friday's race. More than 10,000 riders took part in Saturday's non-competitive rides.

Lea Finishes Second In Madison Cup

2007-08-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

Breinigsville, Penn. – Bobby Lea wrapped up the regular season of track racing at the Valley Preferred with a second place in the 31st Annual Madison Cup Friday Night.

This year’s Madison drew more than 15 teams to the Trexlertown velodrome, including the Australian duo of world champion Jeff Hopkins and partner Pete “Fitzy” Fitzpatrick. Lea teamed with Colby Pearce to finish behind Italy’s Angelo Ciccone and Fabio Masotti.

Lea is an automatic qualifier for the USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships Oct. 3-7 at the ADT Event Centre velodrome at the Home Depot Centre in Carson, Calif.

Watch Toyota-United Live On-Line This Sunday

2007-08-24T17:24:00.001-07:00

The World Championship Sports Network will carry the 24th Annual Chris Thater Memorial Criterium – featuring the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team – live in an on-line broadcast Sunday on WCSN.com.

The cost of the broadcast is $4.95, which will allow access to a month’s worth of WCSN broadcasts. Coverage begins at noon EDT from Binghamton, N.Y. Former professional cyclist Todd Gogulski will call the action with veteran WCSN announcer Steve Schlanger. Seven-time Emmy award winner Kent Gordis will produce the coverage, which will feature eight cameras around the 1.2-mile (2 km) course.

Sunday’s race marks the return to racing for Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic. Knee pain has kept him out of competition since he won the B World Road Race Championship in Cape Town, South Africa, on July 1.

The victory earned him an automatic berth to ride for Serbia in the 2008 Olympic road race in Beijing and the right to wear the blue-and-rainbow-striped jersey that denotes the B World Road Race champion.

“I’m happy to finally get back out there and do a race,” Stevic said. “My form is not that great. Still, I want to be there to help the guys.”

This will be Toyota-United’s first appearance in the Chris Thater Memorial, a criterium that is named for a cyclist who was killed by a drunk driver.

“It’s got a bit of a hill in it and the course has a couple tight turns,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “It’s a tough criterium.”

Toyota-United’s roster for the race is Chris Baldwin, Heath Blackgrove, Ivan Dominguez, Justin England, Bobby Lea, Stevic, Sean Sullivan and Chris Wherry. Baldwin, Dominguez, Stevic, England and Wherry are all in the top 12 of the National Race Calendar individual standings while Toyota-United is second in the NRC team standings.

Stevic Scheduled To Race Sunday

2007-08-22T06:22:00.001-07:00

Ivan Stevic is expected to make his return to racing Sunday at the 24th Annual Chris Thater Memorial in Binghamton, N.Y.

Knee pain has kept Stevic from competing since he won the B World Road Race Championship in Cape Town, South Africa, on July 1.

The victory earned him an automatic berth to ride for Serbia in the 2008 Olympic road race in Beijing and the right to wear the blue-and-rainbow-striped jersey that denotes the B World Road Race champion.

This will be Toyota-United’s first appearance in the criterium that is named for a cyclist who was killed by a drunk driver.

“It’s got a bit of a hill in it and the course has a couple tight turns,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “It’s a tough criterium.”

The 50-mile race will be televised live on the Internet on the World Championship Sports Network (WCSN.com). Local radio stations WAAL (99.1 FM) and WNBF (1290 AM) will also provide live coverage.

Toyota-United’s probable roster for the race is Chris Baldwin, Heath Blackgrove, Ivan Dominguez, Justin England, Bobby Lea, Stevic, Sean Sullivan and Chris Wherry.

Toyota-United Closes Gap In NRC Race

2007-08-22T06:17:00.000-07:00

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team is within 155 points of the lead in the team standings of the National Race Calendar series with two events remaining.

With the addition of Chris Wherry’s 11th-place finish overall at the Tour of Elk Grove, Toyota-United picked up an additional 47 points to narrow the gap on three-time defending NRC team champion Health Net presented by Maxxis. Health Net has 4,201 points to Toyota-United’s 4,046.

With only the 24th Annual Chris Thater Memorial and the US 100K Classic criteriums remaining on the NRC schedule, Toyota-United needs to earn as many of the 652 points that are available in each race for the top 20 finishers.

Only a team’s top five riders on the NRC individual standings are eligible to score points. Toyota-United’s top five riders in the NRC standings are: Chris Baldwin (3rd, 1,226 points), Ivan Stevic (6th, 967 points), Ivan Dominguez (8th, 784 points), Wherry (11th, 536 points) and Justin England (12th, 533 points).

Health Net’s top five riders are: Rory Sutherland (2nd, 1,270 points), Karl Menzies (4th, 1,014 points), Nathan O’Neill (5th, 1,008 points), Frank Pipp (13th, 462 points) and Kirk O’Bee (15th, 447 points).

Toyota-United’s Dominguez has won six NRC races – more than any other rider in 2007.

Bobby Lea Eighth In USPRO Criterium

2007-08-19T16:53:00.000-07:00

Rain made racing treacherous Sunday at Downer's Grove.
Downers Grove, Ill. - Bobby Lea’s eighth-place finish led three other Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team riders at a rain-soaked edition of the USPRO Criterium Championship Sunday in Downers Grove, Ill.

In addition to Lea (pictured at left), Sean Sullivan finished 22nd, Chris Wherry was 26th and Heath Blackgrove was 36th. The four were the only Toyota-United riders still in the race at the halfway point of the 62-mile (100 km) event.

Canadian Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast Pro Cycling Team) narrowly won the race in a sprint with Kirk O’Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis) while Shawn Milne (Health Net) finished third. By virtue of being the first American to cross the finish line, O’Bee was crowned the U.S. national criterium champion and will wear the stars-and-stripes jersey in criteriums for the next year.

Steady rain and temperatures in the mid-60s made for less-than-desirable racing conditions. The wet streets led to countless crashes, one of which took down Sullivan less than halfway into the race.

“In the second-to-last corner, I just lost my front wheel,” Sullivan (pictured) said. “I skidded about 15 feet across the pavement and up onto the grass.”

Ivan Dominguez, who had won three criteriums in the past four weekends for Toyota-United, bowed out of the race after about a half-hour of racing.

“On this course, in the rain, it was not worth taking chances,” Dominguez said.

Lea agreed, saying he saw a crash in nearly every corner on the final two laps of the race.

“It was just a race of survival,” Lea said. “Guys were hitting the deck, so I kept moving up and moving up. I think I was one more crash away from being top five.”

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said the team sorely missed its criterium specialists: Caleb Manion, Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels. Manion broke his collarbone last weekend, Stevic is still nursing sore knees and Vogels is rehabilitating a severe shoulder injury.

“Once Dominguez was out of the race, it was a very tall order for these guys to make it happen,” Jansen said. “I told Chris (Wherry) to give it a couple goes and he did. But being an American and being Chris Wherry, it’s hard for him to get away. I think he looked solid today so it’s very promising for the USPRO road championships that are coming up.”

Blackgrove (pictured), who has one criterium victory to his credit this season, called racing in the rain his “worst nightmare.”

“Every time I tried to move up, it was really dangerous. I wanted to try and move up but every time I tried to move up, my wheel would slip or there would be a crash and it would put more fear in me.”

Blackgrove will be one of eight Toyota-United riders who will contest the second-to-last race on the National Race Calendar, the Chris Thater Memorial criterium on Sunday in Binghamton, N.Y.

Toyota-United Cautious In USPRO Warm-Up

2007-08-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

Downers Grove, Ill. — The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team took a cautious approach to Saturday night’s Suzuki Pro-Am Challenge at Downers Grove, Ill.

Rain slickened the one-mile (0.6 km) course, making even the straightaways treacherous. Toyota-United’s Ryan Miller was one of the victims of the numerous crashes. He slid out and bruised his left thigh and left calf late in the 60-minute race.

Only two of Toyota-United’s nine racers finished the race. Chris Wherry (pictured) finished 42nd and Sean Sullivan was 74th. Saturday’s race carried no points for the National Race Calendar standings and has no bearing on Sunday’s USPRO Criterium Championships, which will be run on the same course.

“This was one of the craziest races I have been in,” Wherry said. “There were a lot of crashes and a lot of people taking chances the whole time.”

The rain that was a heavy downpour during the International women’s race stopped minutes before the field took the start line. But the course did not fully dry out, which allowed a group of six riders to break from the field and gain a maximum lead of about 30 seconds.

From the breakaway, Ken Hanson (BMC Professional Cycling Team) won a four-up sprint, ahead of Dominique Rollin (Kodak Gallery.com-Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling) and Darren Lill (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team).

Sunday’s USPRO Criterium National Championship race is 100 km (62 miles) and begins at 3 p.m. The first American to cross the finish line will earn the right to wear the stars-and-stripes jersey in criteriums for the next year.

Dominguez No Stranger To Downers Grove

2007-08-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

The way Ivan Dominguez sees it, there are only two outcomes for the first riders who veer into the final turn at the USPRO Criterium Championships.

“You either crash and injure yourself or you win the race,” the Toyota-United sprint specialist said.

Dominguez makes no secret of his dislike for the final turn on the 1.2-mile (2 km), figure-eight course in Downers Grove, Ill. Riders who safely navigate their way through the sharp left-hander only have 150 meters to go to reach the finish line. Oftentimes that means being one of the top two or three riders into the final corner is key to gaining a spot on the podium.

“If you areally want to win, you really have to take a chance,” Dominguez said. “I know it’s a tradition, but I don’t know why they don’t move the finish line to another part of the course. That would open it up for a finish that involves a lot more good guys. Not just the first ones through the last corner.”

Dominguez heads into Sunday’s USPRO Criterium Championships as one of the favorites to win the 62-mile (100 km) race that has been won by a foreigner in three of the past six years.

Unlike the USPRO Road and Time Trial Championships, which are only open to U.S. citizens, foreign pros are eligible to compete in the USPRO Criterium. The first American to cross the finish line gets the honor of wearing the stars-and-stripes jersey of U.S. Criterium Champion for the next 365 days.

Last year, Toyota-United put its efforts behind the best American sprinter on its roster, Tony Cruz. In fact, in Saturday’s “warm-up” race on the same course, Dominguez won and Cruz was second. The following day, Cruz finished third behind winner Hilton Clarke (Navigators Insurance) and Brad Huff (TIAA-CREF), who earned the title as the first American across the line.

This year, Dominguez (left) will be the team’s protected rider, particularly since Toyota-United is in a tight battle with Health Net presented by Maxxis for the team classification of the National Race Calendar
standings. Of the 10 riders on Toyota-United’s roster for the championship, only Dominguez and teammate Chris Wherry are eligible to score NRC points.

Wherry is no stranger to the race, having helped Toyota-United teammate Henk Vogels win the race in 2002, when both raced for the Mercury Cycling Team. Also familiar to the course is Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen, who won the race in 2001.

“We’ll see what happens,” Dominguez said.

Lea Earns Weekend Wins On The Track And Road

2007-08-14T12:01:00.001-07:00

Bobby Lea scored a pair of impressive wins for the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team over the weekend, one on his Fuji track bike, the other on his Fuji road bike.

And both came after a week of training on neither bicycle.

“Basically, I was off my road bike for two weeks,” Lea explained. “I thought I was having circulation issues in my legs so I went to see my surgeon. But now that I’ve got a clean bill of health, I’m looking forward to training hard and see what I come up with.”

What Lea came up with Friday and Sunday amounted to Toyota-United’s 31st and 32nd wins of the season and upped Lea’s victory total to four for the 2007 season. Earlier this season, he was out for more than eight weeks after undergoing surgery to repair arteries in his legs.

“Sometimes something as simple as throwing your leg over a different top tube will freshen things up a bit,” Lea said.

On Friday night, he teamed with Colby Pearce to win the 25 km Madison during the KNBT Festival of Speed at the newly-christened Valley Preferred Cycling Center in Breinigsville, Penn. Then on Sunday, he soloed to victory in a 25-mile criterium in the final stage of the Tour de Christiana in Lancaster County, Penn.

“I feel like I’m not even close to top form right now,” Lea said. “I came off of June, which was a pretty intense month that finished up with Fitchburg-Longsjo and Westchester. Then I only had a week-and-a-half of training before I started the International Tour de ‘Toona.”

It was during the Tour de ‘Toona that Lea said he started experiencing what he thought were complications from the operation in March that repaired constriction of the external iliac artery in both of his legs.

It was a scary thought considering another pro cyclist, 28-year-old South African cycling champion Ryan Cox, died from complications related to his surgery to treat iliac artery endofibrosis on Aug. 1.

Did that trigger any concern for Lea?

“For me, I’m well past any danger point,” he said. “But I felt really bad for that Kelly Benefit Strategies rider (Nick Waite) who only underwent his operation two weeks ago. But he and I both had the same surgeon – Dr. Kenneth Cherry – who is one of the best in the world.”

Friday night, Lea found himself competing against 13 other teams in a star-studded field in a race that carried nearly as many points as a World Cup event. Lea and Pearce led from the gun, nearly gaining a lap on the field on the way to their first Madison win of the season that stopped a string of three consecutive runner-up finishes.

“It was a hard race,” Lea said, “but by the end, we had things firmly under control.”

Lea now awaits word of how many points he has compiled in his pursuit of a berth in the 2008 Olympic Games.

Saturday, Lea rode the first stage of the Tour de Christiana, a 66-mile road race which Pearce won while Lea was 28th. Sunday’s second stage was a 10.3-mile (16.5 km) time trial that Lea treated as a recovery ride. He finished 63rd, but with the race being scored on points, not time, he was only concerned with conserving energy for the criterium.

A few hours later, riding without the help of any teammates, Lea actually went on the attack before the halfway point of the 25-mile race, soloing for six laps of the 1.25-mile (2 km) course.

“I was hoping a small break would come across to me,” Lea said. “It was going to be an uphill sprint and I wasn’t too keen on that for a field sprint. But when no one bridged, I eventually had to pack it in and reshuffle.”

Once back in the field, though, Lea realized the tough course was taking its toll. So he made plans for a late-race attack that would come far enough from the finish that, hopefully, the field would think was too far to make it to the line.

“I thought if I hit them a little bit far out – maybe with just under two laps to go – it might make people think twice about coming after that me,” Lea said.

The strategy worked to perfection when Lea attacked shortly after a breakaway had been reeled in. He soloed in to move up to seventh overall. Pearce took the overall honors ahead of Anibal Barrajo (Rite Aid Pro Cycling).

Dominguez Wins Final Stage at Tour of Elk Grove

2007-08-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez won his 12th race of the season Sunday.
Elk Grove, Ill. - A modified version of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team lead-out train helped deliver Ivan Dominguez to victory Sunday in the final stage of the Tour of Elk Grove.

Dominguez won a close bunch sprint at the end of the 68-mile (110 km) criterium to score his 12th win of the season and finish fifth overall in the two-day, three-stage National Race Calendar event. Taylor Tolleson (Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle) held on for second in the sprint while Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefits Strategies/Medifast Pro Cycling) was third.

Three of Toyota-United’s lead-out specialists – Ivan Stevic, Henk Vogels and Caleb Manion – are currently sidelined by injury. But capably filling in for them Sunday were Chris Baldwin, Heath Blackgrove and Justin England. The trio set the stage for the two most powerful engines on the lead-out train – Sean Sullivan and Chris Wherry – who piloted Dominguez into position for the final lap around the 1.7-mile (2.7 km) course.

“I told the guys that as long as they kept me safe to the last turn, I would be OK,” Dominguez said.

The victory was Toyota-United’s 33rd of the season and its 13th in an NRC event.

“Today, we got it dialed in perfectly,” England said. “We covered moves early on, we took the front with six laps to go and we got a little help from other teams that had interest in the sprint as well.”

Dominguez said he honed in on the wheel of Fred Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto) with about 20 laps to go. Rodriguez had won Saturday’s 50-mile (80 km) criterium and was eyeing a victory Sunday to overtake Stage 1 time trial winner Nathan O’Neill (Health Net presented by Maxxis) in the overall standings.

“He (Rodriguez) was moving around a lot and with so many good guys all over the place, I tried to get our guys on the front early to be safe,” Dominguez said

Wherry said the job of shepherding the Cuban sprint specialist was made much easier because of the form Dominguez is enjoying. Dominguez won his third race in the past four weekends.

“Ivan is super quick right now,” Wherry said. “He seems like he’s where he was before he crashed. All of these races are a lottery in a sense. But he’s really good about getting himself in position.”

Vogels Counts The Days To Crucial X-Rays

2007-08-06T06:17:00.000-07:00

Boulder, Colo. - He may not be racing – or even riding – his bicycle, but Toyota-United’s Henk Vogels is still very much in tune with what is going on with the team.

Vogels is recovering from an impact with a pole during a race last month that broke the glenoid bone in his shoulder. While he sits out a mini-mum of eight weeks, the Australian veteran pro has stayed in close communication with his teammates. He is also counting the days until a crucial X-ray.

“In two weeks time (Aug. 20), they (doctors) will tell me whether it is healed or not,” Vogels said Sunday from his home in Boulder, Colo.

In the meantime, Vogels hopes to be able to start riding his bike on an indoor trainer to try and regain some of his fitness.

With teammate Caleb Manion lost for the season with a broken collarbone, Vogels’ return could figure prominently into Toyota-United contending for the National Race Calendar series team title.

Pan-Mass Challenge Memorable for Toyota-United

2007-08-06T03:19:00.000-07:00

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team’s commitment to charitable endeavors continued over the weekend with the team’s participation in the 28th annual Pan-Mass Challenge. The two-day recreational ride is a fundraising event to raise money to find a cure for cancer.

Bobby Lea and Stefano Barberi were among 5,000 bicyclists who participated in the event on Saturday and Sunday.

This year’s goal was to raise $27 million. The PMC is the nation’s most successful charity bike ride, with 99 cents of every dollar going directly to The Jimmy Fund for cancer research.

New-Look Stevic Waiting For News On His Return

2007-08-06T03:14:00.000-07:00

Boulder, Colo. - Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic finds out from a doctor later this week whether he will be able to return to racing after more than a month rehabilitating sore knees.

When he does get back on the bike – possibly as soon as this weekend’s Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove in Illinois – he will sport a decidedly different look.

Instead of his all-white Serbian national champion uniform, Stevic has earned the honor of wearing a special blue-and-rainbow-striped jersey by finishing first in the 100-mile (161 km) B World Road Race Championship in Cape Town, South Africa on July 1.

The UCI B World Championships are staged to create an opportunity for those nations where cycling is not considered to be a major sport to qualify riders and teams for the Olympic Games.

By virtue of his 40-second win over Namibia’s Erik Hoffman, Stevic has qualified to ride the road race for Serbia in Beijing in 2008.

The blue-with-rainbow-stripes jersey is one not often seen. It is worn by both the UCI “B” and masters world champions.

The last rider before Stevic to have earned the jersey, Murilo Fischer, did not wear it. He spent the 2004 season with Domina Vacanze – which already had the reigning world road race champion (Mario Cipollini) in its ranks that season. That might explain why Fischer never sported his special jersey.

Dominguez Makes It Look Easy At Hanes Park

2007-08-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez celebrates his 11th win of the season.
Winston-Salem, N.C. — Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team made it look easy Sunday in winning the Hanes Park Criterium Sunday in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Fewer than 24 hours after he said he felt less-than-100 percent in the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium in Charlotte, Dominguez resembled a rocket sled on rails in the final 250 meters. He was third coming out of the final corner, but quickly made up the gap on the slightly uphill finish and had time to freewheel to the line ahead of second-place finisher Jeff Hopkins (Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling Team) and Cleber Ramos de Silva (Flying Horse/Caloi/A.A Metodista/SB do Campo), who was third.

“Two laps into the race, I told the guys to keep things together because I had good legs,” Dominguez said. “Yesterday, I was feeling heavy with no speed.”

Following Dominguez’s instructions to the letter, Toyota-United made sure no one was able to dangle more than a few seconds off the front of the peloton for any extended period of time. The oppressive heat – temperatures were in the mid 90s with high humidity – also helped keep things under control.

“It became a race of attrition,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said. “Someone would get away, but then they would go into the red zone. When you make a big effort in the heat, you basically shut down.”

Toyota-United kept Dominguez cool by having Ryan Miller, Justin England and Heath Blackgrove do the work whenever a rider threatened to break away. With the laps counting down, Chris Wherry and Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia took over, keeping the pace high to ensure a field sprint.

Dominguez said he sat comfortably on the wheel of Karl Menzies (Health Net presented by Maxxis) on the final tours of the 1.3-mile (2.0 km) tree-line circuit around a historic park in Winston-Salem’s West End. Menzies had finished fifth Saturday night in Charlotte while Dominguez failed to crack the top 10.

“Once in a while, I’m going to have a bad day,” Dominguez said. “Unfortunately, it was last night. It wasn’t supposed to be like that because I was feeling good the whole week.”

As the bell sounded to signal the final lap, more than 100 riders remained in contention, spread five-abreast across the front. Shadowing Menzies, Dominguez moved up to third wheel between the second-to-last and final corners, then powered through to score his 11th win of the season and the team’s 12th in an NRC race.

The win was particularly satisfying for Toyota-United, as it marked the final race for Team Director Kirk Willett. The 37-year-old former professional racer is headed to medical school to pursue a career as a physician.

“I told him to take that as a present,” Dominguez said. “I have been really happy to work with him this season. He’s always very easy-going and he doesn’t put pressure on you. He would just tell you what you needed to do.”

Willett said it was good to finish the weekend on a winning note following the loss of Caleb Manion to a broken collarbone in a crash Saturday night.

“It’s always exciting to win and it’s a little extra nice when it is my last race,” Willett said. “I’m happy the guys came out with the win after the loss of Caleb and the lows we had Saturday night.”

From The Peloton: Bill England On 'Toona Stage 6

2007-08-05T18:29:00.000-07:00

Stage 6: Altoona-Blair County Road Race

In Saturday’s decisive Stage 6, Toyota-United strongmen Chris Baldwin, Justin England, and Chris Wherry put amazing heat on the leaders but were unable to crack Karl Menzies’s hold on the top spot.

The stage was a tough 98 miles with three climbs, all of them rating category 1 or 2 in the Tour de France parlance. But the route excluded the most difficult climb to the Blue Knob Ski area, for many years the hallmark climb of the entire stage race, the one that has usually winnowed the pack down to a tiny lead group battling it out for the win. Absence of that climb substantially changed the character of the race in a way that did not favor Toyota-United’s climbing strength.

The team gave it a powerful, courageous shot nevertheless. In the early going the usual flurry of attacks popped off the front, all of them reeled in by a watchful peleton. But as the miles and the strain added up, a group of eight escaped with Toyota-United’s Caleb Manion included. Caleb timed the jump perfectly at a moment when Health Net’s chasers needed a breather.

The gap slowly widened to a minute, dropped back to thirty seconds, then opened up to nearly two minutes. Health Net obviously did not want a big gap with Caleb only 24 seconds back on GC. The break included motivated riders from Navigators, Slipstream, and Colavita. Only six of the eight were working, and no one had a greater stake than Caleb Manion so he had to be the workhorse, driving the pace and encouraging the others to do their part. It was a terrific effort that lasted for more than 30 miles, a distance that kept pressure on the yellow jersey team and off Toyota-United.

At mile 56 the peleton reached the base of Blue Knob and the climbers put the pedal down. Burke Swindlehurst of Toyota-United laid down a torrid pace over the first half of the climb, blowing the peleton apart. The first to crack were several young riders from Equipe de Quebec who had for some reason helped to chase down the breakaway. As the punishing climb took its toll, we were allowed to pass small clutches of riders who had fallen off the pace, sweat dripping from their noses, heads down, concentrating on some inward locus of determination that kept their legs churning on the pedals. On tough climbs the race seems to become a mostly individual enterprise, especially for the non-climbers, each rider’s progress independent of the others.

Up at the head of the pack, the stronger climbers are still able to be tactical, watchful of their teammates and opponents, following attacks, and throwing down attacks of their own. By the summit the lead had split into two groups of about 12 riders each, with Baldwin, England and Wherry in the lead bunch, the yellow jersey in the group behind. It was a small gap, only about 100 meters, and the guys poured it on to try and widen it. But the chasers used the long downhill to shorten and eventually close the gap. On the ensuing smaller climbs and rollers the attacks came fast and furious but nothing was able to stick and it remained largely gruppo compacto to the end. In the sprint it was Taylor Tolleson of Slipstream out-sprinting the rest to take the win.

It was another nail-biter of a day in the team car for this Dad, feeling a jumble of emotions: the suspense of intense competition, desire for victory, white-knuckled terror in high speed descents, and awed admiration for these world class athletes pushing themselves to the limit.

After the race a curious article was being passed around for show and tell: the front half of a Slipstream bicycle. Word was the rider had crashed hard into one of the service vehicles, breaking his bike literally in two; thankfully the rider escaped with minor injuries. Taking a deep breath, I gave Justin a big smile and a thumbs-up as he and his teammates pedaled off to the hotel.

P.S. Many thanks to the Toyota United team for accommodating me in the team car. It was a thrilling and memorable experience for this cycling fan.

From The Peloton: Bill England On 'Toona Stage 5

2007-08-05T18:25:00.000-07:00

Stage 5: Martinsburg Circuit Race

“I love this kind of racing,” Harm said excitedly, “it’s so dynamic and tactical.”

We were halfway through the first of three 20 mile circuits. Attacks were going off the front rapid-fire and just as quickly being chased down by the peloton. “Me too,” I said confidently, “love the dynamic and tactical...” ‘Hmmm, thinking to myself, nobody in the car believes that, better fess up.’ Timidly I said, “Not to appear ignorant, (though that’s just what I am when it comes to high level road racing) but I don’t get what you mean.”

That admission kicked off several days of pretty intense education on the subject, as Harm Jansen, Toyota-United team director, was kind enough to invite me to join him in the team Prius, and extra kind and patient to explain things to me. Repeatedly.

“Today’s race doesn’t totally favor any one kind of racer. It has climbs, but not enough to be a pure climber’s race. It might come down to a sprint but the right break could stay away. So everybody has a shot and sharp tactical riding can make the difference.”

“Okay,” I replied, “I got the part about the climbers, but what do you mean about the ‘right’ break?”

“One that doesn’t have any of the top GC guys in it, that doesn’t threaten Healthnet’s GC position.”

“What about that last one with six guys in it? None of them were high in GC, but it got chased down pretty quickly.”

“That might have been a good break for those teams — the ones in the break—but it wasn’t any good for us. Or Navigators either. Our guys and Navigators brought that one back real quick.”

“But why? If all those guys were low in GC, wouldn’t it be okay with us?”

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt us, but it wouldn’t help us either. We want a break that’ll make Healthnet work. If GC isn’t threatened, they can relax and save their energy for tomorrow. Which doesn’t really help us.”

“So we really don’t care about getting the stage win?”

“Yeah, yeah, we do want the stage win if we can get it, but GC is the real prize. That’s what we’re here for. That and NRC points.”

I got it at that point, sort of, and decided not to question further at the moment, time to watch and listen.

Race radio came through, “We have a group of eight riders with a slight gap. Peloton is not responding. Stand by for numbers.” Moments later we learned the break included Caleb Manion plus two Navigators, no Health Net. “This is a good break for us!” Harm exclaimed. Then into the team radio, Caleb, you have a 30 second gap and they’re not chasing. Full gas!”

Caleb continued to work well with the others in the break and drive the pace for the next two circuits before the other teams got a chase organized. In the final circuit cooperation in the break fell apart and so did the gap.

The break was caught with some 10 kilometers to go and the closing pace was frenetic. The last two kilometers were in town with sharp turns and a sprint finish that left the Toyota-United riders off the podium. Menzies picked up another five-second time bonus to lead GC by 24 seconds with five Toyota-United riders—Baldwin, Wherry, England, Manion, and Swindlehurst—in a tie for third place. The guys are swarming for an attack.

Tomorrow is the big day.

From The Peloton: Bill England On 'Toona Stage 3

2007-08-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

Stage 3: Johnstown to Altoona Road Race

“Passive-aggressive, guys, passive-aggressive,” team director Harm Jansen reminded the team of their strategy for the day from the driver’s seat of the Toyota Prius. “We want to make Health Net work to protect the jersey. It will pay off in the days to come. So no heroics today.”

The weather was fine throughout the day, the threatening rain clouds keeping their distance as the race wound through the lush green hills and farmland of central Pennsylvania. At one point a paddock of big wooly brown bison chewed their cuds and stared disinterestedly at the bikes and cars, like, well, like cows at a passing train. In the early going numerous attacks tried and failed to hold until about twenty miles into the race a group of five escaped, including Toyota-United’s Heath Blackgrove.

“This is good,” Harm said as much to himself as to the others in the car. “This is very good,” he repeated, animatedly, as the gap quickly grew to two minutes. With Heath and two strong Navigators (Van Ulden and Brooks) plus Tolleson from Slipstream and Tim Henry of Jittery Joes (a young rider feeling his oats to be in a break with these top pros), the break was not going to be easy to catch. The race situation continued steadily, the gap remaining between two and three minutes, for nearly two hours. Finally, with 25 miles remaining, Healthnet went to work, and it took 15 miles and several popped riders to close the gap. On the ensuing descent two Navigators—Chadwick and Cooke—jumped and established a quick 10 second gap. “Patient, guys. We’ll attack in the final rollers, England, then Wherry, then Baldwin last.”

The peloton had been whittled down to a final selection of about 25, including Baldwin, Wherry, and England. All three were near the front we could see from the car as the hard-charging bunch leaned into a curve ahead of us. But so was Karl Menzies, currently in the yellow jersey. Somehow he had recovered and made his way to the front after a tough climb.

In the end Menzies attacked the field AND a concrete median at the finish, beating them both with a flying leap and a big toothy grin. The final 90 degree turn into the Logan Valley Mall parking lot included a six-inch-high concrete traffic separation median, the subject of much controversy as to who legally finished first. Some of the riders stayed to the right of the median, as would normal vehicular traffic, and as the race organizers intended. But 50 meters from the finish is a bad place for a right angle tight turn onto a single traffic lane. Cutting the corner and jumping the curb may have prevented an ugly crash, and may also have given Menzies the W. “He went off course and jumped the #&@*%% curb! That gave him the $#%^**ing race!” one rider was hear to exclaim. Bike racing—it’s not for the faint of heart.

The Toyota-United team rode a terrific race, like the seasoned pros they are. Health Net’s work in the break was especially important because it forced them to burn a lot of their energy to close the gap. They won the day, but it remains to be seen what happens to the big prize. Baldwin and Wherry were able to minimize their effort (not to ‘minimize’ their effort...) and not lose any time, except for the finishing time bonuses. So they are still in good position to compete for GC, and England, Swindlehurst, and Manion were able to conserve their energy for the next three days when it may be needed more. And all the riders finished safely well within the time limit.

Several minutes after the lead group, Ivan Dominguez coasted in and flashed a big grin at the knot of teammates who were commiserating about the unfortunate finish, a grin that would lift anyone’s spirits.

Editor's Note: The race officials agreed the finish was not proper, blaming the course setup, and neutralized the stage: no places were awarded, no time bonuses, no prize money, and no NRC points.

Charlotte Criterium Crash Costly For Manion

2007-08-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

Charlotte - A crash that took out Caleb Manion less than 15 miles from the finish of Saturday night's Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium dashed the hopes of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team.

The news for Manion is not good. The 26-year-old Australian suffered a fractured right clavicle (collar bone) and will miss the remainder of the season.

“If we don’t have that crash with Caleb, it’s a different race,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said. “We were pretty deflated after seeing him go down.”

Just before his crash, Manion was riding in a breakaway of about 15 riders that included his Toyota-United teammate, Chris Wherry. With about 12 laps remaining in the 40-lap, 50-mile race National Race Calendar and U.S.A. CRITS Championship series event, Manion crashed out on one of the eight turns on the 1.2-mile course through Charlotte City Center.

“That was a pretty big blow,” Willett said. “We just can’t seem to avoid misfortune.”

At the time of Manion’s crash, Toyota-United was working hard to keep Ivan Dominguez – who won this race in its first running in 2004 – in contention for what was hoped to be a field sprint. But Manion’s crash demoralized his teammates, Willett said, and decimated the horsepower necessary to bring back a late-race attack by eventual winner Frank Pipp (Health Net presented by Maxxis). Jesse Anthony (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling) second and Yosvany Falcon (AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork Professional Cycling Team) was third.

Manion’s injury is the latest in a long list of maladies that have kept Toyota-United from racing at full strength for much of the season. The riders who have missed races, the problem and their time away:

- Mark Scanlon (family matters), 30 weeks
- Heath Blackgrove (leg injury), 11 weeks
- Bobby Lea (leg surgery), eight weeks
- Ivan Dominguez (back, rib injuries), eight weeks
- Chris Wherry (relapse of parasite), six weeks
- Ivan Stevic (knee pain), six weeks
- Sean Sullivan (knee pain), three weeks
- Henk Vogels (broken glenoid), eight weeks
- Caleb Manion (broken clavicle), eight weeks

Toyota-United Hopes To Send Willett Out A Winner

2007-08-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Driving the Toyota-United Prius team car will be only a memory
for Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett after this weekend.
Portland, Ore. — Kirk Willett will trade his responsibilities as Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Director for a backpack full of books following this weekend’s races in North Carolina.

Willett, 37, begins medical school at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland after he directs Toyota-United Saturday at the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium in Charlotte and Sunday at the Hanes Park Criterium in Winston-Salem, N.C.

“It’s always exciting to move on to new things and new challenges,” Willett said. “But at the same time, I’ve spent so much time investing and learning in one aspect of my life that I’m saying goodbye to something that’s been a part of me for 20 years.”

His plan to become a physician dates back to his pursuit of a career in medicine in the late 80s and early 90s. But he put the schooling on hold to start a career in racing that included time with the U.S. National Team (both domestically and abroad), as well as stints with the Nutra Fig, Mercury and Prime Alliance cycling teams.

Willett took a break from cycling after spending three years (2000-2003) as team director for Prime Alliance. After graduating summa cum laude with a degree in general science from the University of Oregon, he accepted Toyota-United Team Owner Sean P. Tucker’s invitation in January to get back into the sport as co-director with another former racer, Harm Jansen.

“The opportunity to bring Kirk on board – with his experience as both a racer and a director – was one that we could not pass up,” Tucker said. “In addition to being a tremendous tactician and motivator, he helped create camaraderie this year that is not one often seen in a sport that tends to focus on individuals. He will definitely be missed.”

Willett said he would like nothing more than for Toyota-United to send him out a winner. The squad is locked in a fierce battle with Health Net presented by Maxxis for the lead in the team category of the National Race Calendar standings.

“Not to sound greedy, but winning this weekend would go a long ways toward winning the NRC,” Willett said. “We have a lot of guys who are motivated to lay it all on the line. Win, lose or draw, I’ll be able to say we gave everything we had to winning.”

As part of his new endeavor, Willett and his wife, Tina, and their two young sons, Liam and Noah, have moved from their longtime home in Bend, Ore., to Portland. Willett said commuting to school by bike means he won’t be saying goodbye to the sport for good.

“Hopefully, I’ll get out to a local race once a year,” he said. “For sure I’m going to be involved in the sport in some way for the rest of my life. But who knows exactly what form that will be. We’ll have to see where my education takes me. I’ve done it for so long, it will always be a part of me.”

Daniel Sheret Says Toyota-United Inspires Him

2007-07-30T17:40:00.000-07:00

TV viewers across the nation were introduced last Friday to Daniel Sheret, an amputee who is riding his United-brand bicycle 16,000 miles across four continents to raise funds for amputees who have lost limbs due to persistent landmines and other mishaps.

Sheret appeared on CNN’s “Larry King Live” to share the story of how his lower right leg was amputated in 2002, two years after it didn’t heal from a jump he made off a three-foot fence while he was living in Oregon.

That was the catalyst for the 45-year-old to leave behind a job of furniture-making and turn to work as a prosthetic technician.

With support from the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team, Sheret began his journey June 1 in Washington, D.C., completing 800 miles in 10 days. He is currently in the midst of Nevada as he winds up the U.S. portion of his long ride. His next stop will be Melbourne, Australia, where he will cycle 3,000 miles across that continent, then go to Southeast Asia, Russia, the Middle East and into Europe.

“In all my travels, there’s never been a day when I haven’t met somebody who has come up to me and said their uncle, their brother or their cousin was an amputee,” Sheret told the award-winning talk show host.

Traveling by himself, Sheret pulls a trailer behind his bicycle carrying 80 pounds of gear.

He told King he looks up to the racers on the Toyota-United team.

“They’re wonderful young professional cyclists who actually inspire me.”

Toyota-United Goes 3-4-5-6 At Tour de 'Toona

2007-07-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

The final podium (left to right): Rory Sutherland, Karl Menzies (both of Health Net presented by Maxxis) and Toyota-United's Chris Baldwin.
Altoona, Penn. - The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team’s season-long goal of winning the team classification in the National Race Calendar standings took another step forward when the boys in red, white and blue put four riders in the top six on the final classification Sunday at the International Tour de ‘Toona in Pennslyvania.

The seven-day, seven-stage race proved to be a daily battle with the team closest to Toyota-United in the team standings: Health Net presented by Maxxis.

Health Net won the race’s opening time trial by 11 seconds over Toyota-United, then held onto the race leader’s yellow jersey by passing it from Nathan O’Neil to Stage 2 winner Karl Menzies, who went on to win Stage 3 (a result which was later nullified), Stage 5 and Stage 7. The Australian also padded his lead with third place on Stage 6.

“I told our guys we can’t be disappointed,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “Of course we are used to winning – and we want to win – but we didn’t make mistakes.

“Things went according to plan. There were no mechanicals or crashes. Everyone did their jobs to the best of their abilities. We just didn’t walk away with the win.”

The precious handful of seconds riders like Chris Baldwin, Chris Wherry, Justin England and Burke Swindlehurst needed to make up to climb up the overall classification were thought to be within their grasp during Saturday’s 98.5-mile (158.5 km) Verizon/Debartolo Altoona Blair County Road Race.

But after England, Baldwin and Wherry made a 13-man break over the top of the first of three King of the Mountain climbs with a 25-second lead, it was apparent Health Net would be able to close the gap and the race finished in a bunch sprint.

“They had 25 seconds over the top but they really need 50 seconds,” Jansen said.

Sunday’s final stage, a 30-mile criterium, was seemingly tailor-made for Ivan Dominguez. But the team’s super sprinter retired from the race following Saturday’s stage.

Jansen said the effects of sitting out eight weeks of the season in parts of May and June have made it hard on Dominguez.

“When you come back from an injury as severe as the one Ivan had (back and ribs), it comes with a couple ups and downs,” Jansen said. “I think the Tour de ‘Toona was one of his downs. After this, I think he’s going to be fine.”

On the flip side, Jansen said it was good to see Wherry riding well after battling illness for part of June and July. He finished 15th in Sunday’s final stage, second only on the team to Baldwin – who was ninth.

“Both of those guys are riding particularly strong,” Jansen said. “That’s very promising for the upcoming races.”

Next up on the schedule for Toyota-United are a pair of NRC criteriums in North Carolina. Saturday is the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational Criterium in Charlotte, followed by Sunday’s Hanes Park Classic – a fixture in Winston-Salem since 1977.

Toyota-United's Baldwin On Podium at 'Toona

2007-07-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

Just call him Mr. Consistency...

When Chris Baldwin climbed up on the final podium Sunday at the International Tour de ‘Toona to receive his third place prize, it marked the sixth time this season that the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team rider had finished on the podium of a National Race Calendar stage race.

That impressive accomplishment makes him the most consistent stage racer on the NRC circuit this season. It also means he will unseat Toyota-United teammate Ivan Stevic in third place in the NRC individual standings.

So far, Baldwin is without a victory this season. But he has one more opportunity to take home the top prize next month at the two-day, three-stage Alexian Brothers Tour of Elk Grove in Elk Grove, Ill. The race is Aug. 11-12.

Chris Baldwin at NRC Stage Races in 2007:
3rd, Central Valley Classic
2nd, Tour of the Gila Stage Race
3rd, Joe Martin Stage Race
2nd, Tri-Peaks Challenge
2nd, Cascade Cycling Classic
3rd, International Tour de ‘Toona

Toyota-United’s Attacks Fail To Unseat Race Leader

2007-07-29T04:08:00.001-07:00

Altoona, Penn. — The expected fireworks went off on Stage 6 at the International Tour de ‘Toona Saturday but the end result was more like a dud than a spectacular show, thanks to a less-than-decisive set of climbs on the “Queen Stage” of the race.

“It was a war zone out there today,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said of the 98.5-mile (158.5 km) Verizon/Debartolo Altoona Blair County Road Race. “Our guys did what they set out to day. They attacked on the climb. But it wasn’t as hard as last year.”

Indeed, three of Toyota-United’s climbing specialists – Justin England, Chris Baldwin and Chris Wherry – were among a 13-man break that got over the top of the first of three King of the Mountain climbs with a 25-second lead. But with a significant portion of the stage still to come, the front-runners were reeled back in by the chasing efforts of race leader Karl Menzies’ Health Net presented by Maxxis team.

“They had 25 seconds over the top but they really need 50 seconds,” Jansen said.

In the end, 43 riders sprinted to the finish together with Menzies taking third place on the day to pick up a two-second bonus and pad his lead to 26 seconds over Baldwin, Wherry, England and teammate Burke Swindlehurst. The four lie third, fourth, five and sixth, respectively, in the overall standings.

Taylor Tolleson gave Team Slipstream powered by Chipotle its second stage win of the seven-day, seven-stage race as Charles Dionne (Colavita/Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) finished second.

With only Sunday’s 30-lap, 30-mile Atlantic Broadband Altoona Criterium remaining, Jansen said the lone disappointment of the final stage will be that Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez will not be participating. The Cuban sprint sensation retired from the race Saturday.

‘Queen Stage’ of Tour de ‘Toona Awaits

2007-07-27T16:20:00.000-07:00

Altoona, Penn. — International Tour de ‘Toona race leader Karl Menzies (Health Net presented by Maxxis) padded his lead Friday but the seconds he gained are not expected to be a factor in Saturday’s “Queen Stage” of the seven-day, seven-stage National Race Calendar event.

Menzies won Friday’s 76.8-mile (123.6 km) Hoss’s/Parson’s/White Deer Run Martinsburg Circuit Race in a bunch sprint to earn a five-second bonus. But his team had to work hard in the closing miles to bring back a breakaway that gained more than a minute’s lead and included Toyota-United’s Caleb Manion. The advantage made Manion the virtual race leader on the road for a time.

“That move looked promising,” Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Director Harm Jansen said. “But then they started playing a tactical game thinking about the stage win.”

The escapees were reeled in with 3.1 miles (5 km) to go, which set up the finish for a field sprint.

“Ivan (Dominguez) was up there to make sure Menzies didn’t get the bonus seconds, but a bit of a scramble put him out of contention,” Jansen said. “Still, Health Net was under some serious pressure today. That was the goal – to wear them out for tomorrow’s stage.”

Saturday’s Stage 6 Verizon/DeBartolo Companies Altoona to Blair County Road Race is 98.5 miles (158.5 km) long and features two climbs that are expected to produce a finish that considerably shakes up the overall standings.

“The way we hope to play it out tomorrow is on the (first) climb to get a large motivated group separated from Menzies and really isolate him after that,” Jansen said.

With riders in third through seventh place overall, Toyota-United remains atop the team standings.

Ivan Dominguez Wins Field Sprint; Breakaway Succeeds

2007-07-26T20:42:00.000-07:00

Altoona, Penn. — Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota United Pro Cycling Team won the field sprint for eighth place Thursday at the end of an aggressive Stage 4 that saw a breakaway group of seven threaten the stronghold Health Net by Maxxis has had on the overall race lead since the beginning of the International Tour de ‘Toona.

“When the break went up the road and got a sizeable lead, it became apparent Health Net wanted to give the lead away to a smaller team that wasn’t a threat to win the race overall,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “That’s something we wanted to prevent in order to keep the pressure on them.”

The result was a series of attacks by Toyota-United which ultimately whittled the breakaway’s lead from four minutes with one 20-mile (32.1 km) circuit remaining down to two minutes and 12 seconds by the finish of the 60-mile (96.6 km) Exelon/Peceo/GMC Hollidaysburg Circuit Race. Michael Friedman (Team Slipstream Powered by Chipotle) won the stage ahead of Mark Walters (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling) and Scott Nydam (BMC Racing Team).

Chris Wherry, one of five Toyota-United riders who is just 19 seconds off the overall lead of Health Net’s Karl Menzies, said the breakaway played to Health Net’s tactics because it contained no one who was a threat to win the race overall.

“And since it didn’t have any Toyota-United or Navigators Insurance riders, they decided to let it go,” Wherry said. “We started attacking them because we have guys who can threaten them on the overall. Eventually, they decided to get back on the front.”

On paper, Friday’s stage would appear to not be decisive. The 76.8-mile (123.6 km) Hoss’s/Parson’s/White Deer Run Martinsburg Circuit Race consists of four laps of a 19.2-mile (30.9 km) circuit that starts and finishes in Memorial Park in Martinsburg. But with eight different teams (besides Health Net) having a total of 25 riders within 71 seconds of the overall lead, Jansen said Health Net will likely be on the defensive again.

“There are a lot of people out there who only need a handful of seconds to win this stage race,” he said. “They’ll be going on the offensive and that that will make it harder for Health Net to control. They’re going to have their hands full.”

Toyota-United did lose one of its eight riders Thursday when Bobby Lea retired from the race. The Topton, Pa., resident had been sitting 127th overall, 23:04 off the lead.

Finish Line Confusion Reigns At Tour de ‘Toona

2007-07-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

Altoona, Penn. — The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team moved into the lead in the team competition Wednesday at the International Tour de ‘Toona but little else about Stage 3 was official.

Confusion reigned at the end of the 95.9-mile (154.3 km) road race from Johnstown to Altoona’s Logan Valley Mall when race leader Karl Menzies (Health Net presented by Maxxis) won the race by cutting the course in the final 150 meters by riding down the caravan diversion lane.

Following a protest by the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team and several other squads, the jury of race commissaries ruled that the top 47 riders on the stage would receive the same finish time and place and that no stage prizes would be awarded.

“He (Menzies) was in 10th or 15th position and just thought it would be shorter to go inside a traffic island,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “That move put him in front of everybody.”

The official communiqué for the stage read: “There was confusion and resultant course cutting by some riders in the lead group … This problem was a function of inappropriate course setup.”

Up to that point, Jansen said the stage had been decisive, with the tough climb to Blue Knob State Park decimating the field. Of the final 47 riders who came to the finish together, Toyota-United had five riders, Navigators Insurance Cycling Team had six riders, Slipstream Sports powered by Chipotle had five, BMC Professional Cycling Team had five and Health Net had only Menzies and Rory Sutherland.

“It was the dynamics of the race that saved the day for Health Net,” Jansen said. “Our guys rode a really aggressive race. They stayed very patient, as I said they had to be, and late in the race (Chris) Baldwin and (Caleb) Manion were in a breakaway. But due to the high activity in the race, they were swallowed up with two kilometers to go.”

Because Toyota-United’s Heath Blackgrove (who was also in an earlier breakaway) and Ivan Dominguez did not make the decisive split, Baldwin became the team’s best-placed rider on the overall classification. He sits in third place, 19 seconds behind, along with Manion, Chris Wherry, Justin England and Burke Swindlehurst, who are fourth through seventh overall, respectively.

Menzies retains the leader’s yellow jersey with an eight-second lead over his teammate, Sutherland.

Thursday’s stage is the 60-mile (96.6 km) Exelon/Peceo/GMC Hollidaysburg Circuit Race. The riders will complete three laps of a rolling 20-mile circuit

“It’s a shorter stage, but it’s still pretty hard,” Jansen said.

Dominguez Fourth In Sprint On Stage 2

2007-07-25T06:36:00.000-07:00

Altoona, Penn. — Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team sprinted to a fourth-place finish on Stage 2 of the International Tour de ‘Toona on a day when only 58 of the 164 riders in the race finished in the lead group.

Karl Menzies (Health Net presented by Maxxis) won the Stage 2, 48.6-mile (78.2 km) Waste Management Vitondale to Cairnbrook Road Race ahead of Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) and Charles Dionne (Colavita/Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light).

Toyota-United’s Chris Baldwin was part of a small group that made a bid to escape the peloton late in the race, but the breakaway was reeled in.

“As soon as they caught, the guys tried to set up Ivan (Dominguez) for the sprint,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “Unfortunately, it had been a pretty hilly race with three good climbs in there and crosswinds at the end, so his legs weren’t quite as fresh.”

Seven of Toyota-United’s eight riders were among the 58 in the lead group. Dominguez moves up to fifth overall, while Chris Baldwin, Caleb Manion, Chris Wherry, Justin England, Burke Swindlehurst and Heath Blackgrove slot in spots six through 11th, respectively. All seven are 19 seconds behind Menzies, who takes the overall lead from his teammate, Nathan O’Neil, thanks to an eight-second time bonus for winning the stage.

Tuesday’s stage was filled with steep climbs and twisting descents made even trickier by some afternoon rain showers. Wednesday’s Stage 3, a 95.9-mile (154.3 km) road race from Johnstown to Altoona’s Logan Valley Mall, will be even more of a challenge, Jansen said, due to a long climb at the end.

“We have to be patient,” he said. “Tomorrow’s stage has a hard finish. There are two teams with some serious contenders for the overall and we have to race smart – very smart.”

Toyota-United Second In Team Time Trial

2007-07-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team in full flight during Monday's team time trial.
Altoona, Penn. - The preparation the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team put in for Monday night’s unique team time trial that opened the International Tour de ‘Toona paid off in the form of a second place finish.

Only the Health Net presented by Maxxis squad was faster over the 10.6-mile (17.1 km) course that traveled along a soon-to-be-opened stretch of the I-99 Port Matilda Interchange in Altoona, Penn. Health Net averaged 29.7 mph to finish in 21 minutes and 25 seconds. Toyota-United was 11 seconds slower while the Navigators Insurance Cycling Team finished third, 18 seconds behind the winner.

Of the top 10 teams, only Toyota-United and the BMC Professional Cycling Team came to the finish line with their entire squads intact.

“The boys were so smooth,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “They pretty much rode a flawless team time trial. The only way we could have gone faster was to have come out here a day earlier.”

The team reconnoitered the course Monday morning, as well as talked over strategy of sharing the workload over a course that was not flat, but never steeper than three or four percent gradient.

“We’re very happy because Health Net literally has some heavyweights out here,” Jansen said. “We missed Henk (Vogels) of course, but I think we did really well. We have a lot of climbers and this is a perfect position for us to be in.”

Nathan O’Neil (Health Net) holds down the overall lead, followed by four of his teammates. Toyota-United was led across the line by Chris Baldwin, who sits in sixth place overall. Teammates Heath Blackgrove, Bobby Lea, Justin England, Chris Wherry, Burke Swindlehurst, Ivan Dominguez and Caleb Manion hold down seventh through 13th place overall, respectively.

Tuesday’s second stage is the Waste Management Vitondale to Cairnbrook Road Race. Beginning at 2 p.m., the 48.6-mile (78.2 km) race features two king of the mountain climbs.

“There’s a lot of climbing, especially toward the end,” Jansen said. “We’re in a great position heading into the next two days.”

Team Time Trial Might Be Key To Tour de Toona

2007-07-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team has plenty of experience riding as a team.
If you ask Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Director Harm Jansen, the 420.4-mile (676.6 km) International Tour de Toona might well be decided in the first 10 miles.

That’s because an unusual team time trial gets the seven-day, seven-stage race underway tonight. Normally reserved for larger, ProTour events, the team time trial demands that three riders must finish together, while any rider not finishing with his team will receive his actual finish time up to one-and-a-half minutes slower than the team’s time.

“The team time trial will be a very technical and tough event,” Jansen said. “I think it could be pivotal in the tour.”

The coordination to keep all eight members of the team together for much of the distance – while riding at close to 35 miles an hour – will be critical to performing well, Jansen said.

“We’re going to take some time to sit down and make sure we are on the same page. If you don’t have the right approach, you can lose a bunch of time.”

At least four riders on Toyota-United’s roster have the experience of riding in a team time trial or the team pursuit, which is a similar event run on the track. Jansen himself has ridden several team time trials in his home country of The Netherlands.

“We have done a lot of pace setting this year, so hopefully that will help us a lot as well.”

Toyota-United’s contenders for the overall title include Chris Baldwin, Chris Wherry and Justin England – all of whom finished in the top 10 in last year’s race.

Baldwin has been a consistent force in stage races this season, finishing second three times (Cascade Cycling Classic, Tour of the Gila and the Tri-Peaks Challenge) and third twice (Central Valley Classic and the Joe Martin Stage Race). He finished second to Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) last year.

Sprinter Ivan Dominguez, who is coming off back-to-back weekend criterium wins, will have his eye on the final stage, a 30-mile criterium through the streets of downtown Altoona.

Dominguez Wins Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium

2007-07-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

Boise, Idaho — Ivan Dominguez of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team scored his 10th victory of the season Saturday night by easily sprinting to victory at the end of a blazingly fast edition of the Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium in Boise, Idaho.

In front of a crowd estimated at more than 20,000, Dominguez used a perfect lead-out to take the lead before the final corner and hold off second-place finisher Ricardo Escuela (Successful Living Presented by Parkpre) and Jeffery Hopkins (Jittery Joe’s Professional Cycling Team). The 80-lap race was completed at an average speed of 30 miles an hour.

“There were so many primes that guys never got a break,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said. “Once in a while someone would go off the front, but they never got more than a few seconds ahead before they were reeled back in.”

With Toyota-United’s usual lead-out specialist, Henk Vogels, sitting out due to injury, it was left up to another Australian, Caleb Manion, to get Dominguez into position for the final sprint. Manion was the caboose on the Toyota-United lead-out train of Bobby Lea, Ryan Miller, Burke Swindlehurst, Heath Blackgrove and Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia.

“Those guys got Caleb all the way through to the halfway point of the last lap,” Willett said. “From there, Caleb took Ivan pretty close to the last corner and Ivan took it from there.”

Willett said he was confident Manion could deliver.

“It’s a little bit different role for him, but he’s always been one of the strongest guys and he is just as strong as a true sprinter,” Willett said. “All of our guys stepped up tonight. For instance, Burke (Swindlehurst) is not a criterium guy, but he was on the front from the first lap.”

The victory is the 28th of the season for Toyota-United and Dominguez’s sixth at a National Race Calendar event. It also provides valuable points in the battle with Health Net presented by Maxxis for the NRC team title.

Dominguez, Blackgrove, Lea and Swindlehurst now head to Pennsylvania to compete in the International Tour de Toona, a race that runs Monday through July 29.

Toyota-United Wins Cascade Team Competition

2007-07-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

The final Cascade Cycling Classic podium (from left): Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United), Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team), Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell).
Photo by Cascade Events Photography.
Bend, Ore. - Chris Baldwin of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team saw his quest to overtake Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) on the final day of the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic end with a sprint for a time bonus that looked like more like a frenzied dash to the line in a European classic.

“We thought it would be us against Phil – which is good for a guy like me,” Baldwin said. “It’s simpler and safer and cleaner. Instead, it seemed like everyone in the race wanted a piece of that first time bonus sprint. Health Net was lining it up, along with every other team. We got swarmed and I was never in front of anyone.”

Baldwin needed to win at least one of the four 15-second time bonus sprints in Sunday’s 80-mile Deschutes Brewery-Awbrey Butte Circuit Race to overcome a 13-second deficit heading into the final stage. Instead, Zajicek powered his way through to take the sprint himself and increase his lead from 13 to 28 seconds on the way to capturing the overall title. Meanwhile, Baldwin logged his third runner-up finish in a stage race this season.

With the way the first sprint played out, Baldwin knew it would be hard to be successful on any of the other three remaining. Said his teammate, Chris Wherry, who won the race overall last year on the exact type of time bonus sprint:

“We had a shot and we took it and it didn’t work out, but that’s kind of how life is sometimes,” Wherry said.

Despite coming up short for the overall title, Toyota-United did have a lot to celebrate after the five-day, six-stage race. The squad won the team classification, Baldwin finished in the top three on four stages, Ivan Dominguez won the downtown criterium Friday night and, in unofficial figuring, Toyota-United is back atop the National Race Calendar team standings (see sidebar).

“We tried to get the overall lead, but coming out with second, fifth and 10th on the GC and the team win was great,” Willett said. “The guys delivered.”

Another stage win for Dominguez was almost in the cards on the final stage, too. The Cuban sprint specialist – racing for only the eighth time since a crash in mid-May – nearly made it over the final climb with the leaders.

“If we get him over that climb, he probably wins the race,” Wherry said. “It’s a big sign of him coming back from his injury that he is coming onto form.”

In addition to Baldwin’s second place overall, Toyota-United placed four riders in the top 15 to win the team classification: Wherry was fifth (1:42 behind Zajicek); Burke Swindlehurst was 10th (3:07 behind) and Justin England was 13th (4:09 behind).

Swindlehurst jumped across a gap that opened after the first time bonus sprint to infiltrate a five-man breakaway that never gained more than a minutes’ lead. However, Swindlehurst made the most of his time on the front by going for the bonus sprints himself.

“I was just doing it (sprinting for the bonuses) to protect Wherry’s position because one of the riders in the group was fairly close to him. It was more to take the time sprints away from that guy than move myself up the standings.”

Swindlehurst picked up a total of 25 seconds in bonus time but it did not move him up on the general classification because he conceded time to the leaders at the finish.

Toyota-United’s other finishers were Heath Blackgrove (26th, 10:51 behind), Stefano Barberi (31st, 12:47 behind) and Dominguez (42nd, 28:04 behind). Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia felt the effects of working hard on Stages 4 and 5 and did not finish Sunday’s race.

Kirk O’Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis) won the final stage in a sprint over Ricardo Escuela (Successful Living.com presented by Parkpre) and Benjamin Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health presented by Bissell.)

Baldwin Third On Stage 5; Retains Hold On Second

2007-07-14T15:39:00.001-07:00

Toyota-United Team Owner Sean Tucker (right) holds Baldwin's bike
as Head Mechanic Shane Fedon makes repairs.
Team Director Kirk Willett (partially shown on lower left) also chipped in to help.
Bend, Ore. - Despite a formidable performance by his Toyota-United Pro Cycling teammates on the Stage 5 Pacific Power-Cascade Lakes Road Race, Chris Baldwin was unable to steal any seconds back from race leader Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic.

Baldwin remains 13 seconds behind Zajicek heading into Sunday’s final stage, the 81-mile (130.3 km) Deschutes Brewery-Awbrey Butte Circuit Race. Four time bonus sprints, each with bonuses of 15, 10 and five seconds to the top three riders, are up for grabs on four of the five laps of a 17-mile (27.3 km) circuit.

Baldwin wasn’t conceding the race to Zajicek, who took the race leader’s yellow jersey from him after the Stage 3 time trial Friday morning. But the winner of the King of the Mountain competition at this race in 2005 admits it will be a tall order to pull back the time needed to help Toyota-United duplicate Chris Wherry’s victory on the final day last year.

“Our race is against Phil and so far he’s showing he’s the strongest guy in the race,” Baldwin said.

Photo by Cascade Events Photography.

Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said the time bonus sprints on the final stage necessitate a change in tactics. Don’t be surprised, he said, to see Toyota-United on the front on the first lap, setting up Baldwin for the first bonus sprint, which comes approximately 13 miles into the race.

“Basically, if Chris wins the first sprint and Zajicek is no better than fourth in it, Chris has the race lead,” Willett said. “So you know Navigators are going to want a breakaway to go away as soon as possible and we don’t want the breakaway to go away.”

In last year’s race, Toyota-United successfully helped Wherry win the race on the final day on the strength of a time bonus sprint and higher placings throughout the five-day, six-stage race. Wherry and Baldwin are two of four Toyota-United riders in the top 15 overall. Wherry is fourth, 1:27 back, Swindlehurst is 10th, 2:48 back, and Justin England is 13th, 3:39 behind.

Saturday’s race included a few tense moments for Baldwin. After he was nearly brought down by another rider about 10 miles into the stage, Baldwin discovered his rear derailleur was damaged. He switched bikes on the first climb but was able to quickly rejoin the pack. After Toyota-United Head Mechanic Shane Fedon performed a roadside repair – which included replacing the entire derailleur cable and a broken derailleur hanger – Baldwin got back onto his repaired Fuji bicycle about a mile from the summit of the first climb up Mount Bachelor.

“Shane is an incredible mechanic,” Baldwin said. “Thanks to him I was able to get right back in the race as if nothing happened.”

Saturday’s race was marked by two separate breakaways. The first – a group of eight – was chased down by Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell), who stands in third place overall, 49 seconds behind Zajicek

The second break of three riders stayed away for nearly 60 miles and, with the Navigators Insurance team doing all the work, was finally chased down six miles from the finish.

From there, Toyota-United’s impressive lineup of climbers: Baldwin, Wherry, Swindlehurst and England all made the final selection of 13 riders as the rapidly dwindling pack splintered. Baldwin was out-sprinted to the line by Jeff Louder (Health Net presented by Maxxis) and Zajicek, but finished third, ahead of Scott Moninger (BMC Pro Cycling Team). All four riders were given the same time.

England and Swindlehurst finished seventh and eighth, respectively, five seconds later, while Wherry was 10th, 15 seconds behind the winning time of three hours, 39 minutes and 37 seconds.

Swindlehurst seemed headed for a possible stage win when he covered an attack by David Vitoria (BMC) in the final kilometer. But Vitoria – confused by marshaling vehicles – did not make the final turn into the Sunrise Lodge parking lot at about 250 meters and went off course.

“I was just hanging on his wheel and thinking as soon as we make the turn, I’m going by him,” Swindlehurst said. “But at the last second, I realized he wasn’t going to make the turn. Luckily, I knew the course.”

Dominguez Storms To Cascade Criterium Win

2007-07-14T03:10:00.000-07:00

Dominguez (right) edges out Kirk O'Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis) at the line.
Photo by Cascade Events Photography.

Bend, Ore. – A perfectly executed lead-out by the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team delivered Ivan Dominguez to victory Friday night at the Stage 4 Desert Orthopedics/Rebound Physical Therapy Downtown Criterium at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic.

In front of a huge crowd stacked two- and three-people deep around the course, Dominguez held off Kirk O’Bee (HealthNet presented by Maxxis) while Dan Schmatz (BMC Pro Cycling Team) was third in the 90-minute race that had no effect on the overall standings.

The victory was Dominguez’s ninth win of the season, his fifth in a National Race Calendar event and his first since a crash May 17 sidelined him for eight weeks. It was also Toyota-United’s 27th win of the season and marked the second consecutive year the team has won the Friday night downtown criterium stage at the five-day, six-stage National Race Calendar event (Juan Jose Haedo won in 2006).

“It feels good to be winning again,” Dominguez said. “There were so many people here tonight that you can see a lot of people love cycling here. It was cool.”

Heading into Saturday’s 92.4-mile (148.7 km) Pacific Power Cascade Lakes Road Race, Toyota-United remains first in the team classification on the strength of three riders in the top 10 in the individual standings. Chris Baldwin is second, 13 seconds behind race leader Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team), defending champion Chris Wherry is fourth (1:12 behind) and three-time former Cascade Classic stage winner Burke Swindlehurst is 10th, 2:43 behind.

“I think our strength is definitely our depth,” Baldwin said. “We have a 1-2 punch with Wherry and every other team it’s a one-man show. So we’re going to have to use each other to put them in trouble. It’s going to be a real tall order, though, because they have the perfect team to defend his lead. Ben Day, Glen Chadwick and Darren Lill are all very strong and very good climbers and these last two races are not hard to control.”

Baldwin briefly held the race lead after finishing second in the race’s first two stages. But in Friday morning’s 15-mile (24.1 km) Bend Research, Inc.-Skyliners Time Trial, he conceded 30 seconds to Zajicek, who beat his Navigators teammate, Ben Day, by one second. Baldwin’s third place on the stage dropped him to second overall behind Zajicek. In third place overall is Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell), 44 seconds behind Zajicek.

“My position on the bike was probably the best I’ve felt in a time trial all year,” Baldwin said. “So that’s a positive. But I’m used to winning time trials and I haven’t been winning in a long time so that’s frustrating. But I honestly think these guys are going faster. I’m not going slower.”

The overall team strength of Toyota-United was showcased in Friday night’s criterium. A nearly race-long breakaway of Oregon residents Ryan Trebon (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling) and Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net presented by Maxxis) that threatened to spoil the night for the sprinters never gained more than a 35-second lead, but it was not reeled in until the final laps. Zajicek’s Navigators squad kept the margin in check, but it was ultimately left to Toyota-United to help pull the escapees back.

Doing the lion’s share of the work on the front was Toyota-United’s Jose Manual “Chepe” Garcia, who recovered from a mid-race crash. Working with teammate Stefano Barberi, Garcia helped bring the gap to the break down to single-digits. From there, 12-time New Zealand national champion Heath Blackgrove took over, burying himself on the front and stringing the entire peloton into a single-file line as the final two escapees were absorbed with about four laps to go.

Justin England and Chris Baldwin each took turns on the front to keep the pace high, with Baldwin leading out Wherry three-quarters of the way around the course on the bell lap. From there, Wherry raised the tempo to its maximum, delivering Dominguez safely to the final corner for the block-and-a-half long sprint to the finish.

“You never know until you cross the finish line, but the way I was riding today, I knew it was mine to lose,” Dominguez said. “We had the last corner and I started giving chase. I passed him (O'Bee) very quickly.”

Baldwin’s last-lap turn at the front turned more than a few heads, who were startled at the sight of the rider in second place on general classification figuring so prominently into a stage where he was not destined to pull any time back.

“Usually how it works out is that guys who are going good are the guys who go to the front at the end who can turn up the heat the most,” Willett said. “The real only plan we had was that Wherry was going to be the last guy.”

Baldwin chuckled when asked about his turn at the front that caused huge gaps to open in the peloton as speeds reached more than 35 miles an hour.

“I used to win criteriums,” he said, smiling.

Leader's Jersey Switches Hands On Cascade Stage 3

2007-07-13T14:14:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United's Chris Wherry gets ready to begin his race against the clock.
Bend, Ore. - Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team's Chris Baldwin didn't even
get to enjoy his time in the yellow jersey Friday at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Clasic.

The race's overall leader after Stage 2, Baldwin lost the jersey by finishing second to Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Pro Cycling) in the first of two stages on the day, a 15-mile (24.1 km) time trial.

Because the yellow leader's jersey is not a skinsuit, Baldwin wore his conventional Toyota-United team "kit" for the race against the clock. Zajicek will be presented with his yellow jersey prior to Friday night's criterium in Downtown Bend.

Toyota-United’s Baldwin Leads Cascade Cycling Classic

2007-07-12T22:39:00.000-07:00

Bend, Ore. - Chris Baldwin of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team rode into the overall lead at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic Thursday by finishing second on Stage 2’s 79.5-mile (127.9 km) Meridian Realty McKenzie Pass Road Race.

Stage winner Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) out-sprinted Baldwin to the summit of McKenzie Pass. The previous race leader, Ricardo Escuela (Successfulliving.com presented by ParkPre), was third, 11 seconds behind Jacques-Maynes and eight seconds behind Baldwin.

Photo by Cascade Events Photography.

Baldwin heads into Friday’s double-stage day with a five-second lead over Escuela and a nine-second advantage over Jacques-Maynes. In all, nine riders are within a minute of Baldwin, including a pair of his Toyota-United teammates – Chris Wherry (sixth, 31 seconds behind) and Justin England (seventh, 51 seconds behind).

“I’m feeling pretty good,” Baldwin said following his second straight runner-up placing at the five-day, six-stage National Race Calendar event. “I kind of always find my form at this race. It’s nice to be up here in Bend.”

Friday morning is the Stage 3 Bend Research, Inc.-Skyliners Time Trial. At 15 miles (24.1 km), it is double the distance it was last year when Wherry won the race overall on tie-breaker criteria. Stage 4 is the 90-minute Desert Orthopedics/Rebound Physical Therapy Criterium through the streets of Downtown Bend.

Baldwin said he rode the time trial course Tuesday and found it to be “pretty straightforward” – uphill going out and downhill coming back.

“It’s about 7.5 miles out on a two- to three-percent grade, which makes it real fast on the way back,” the two-time former U.S. National Time Trial champion said. “I would say this has been the kind of time trial that has suited me in the past.”

Baldwin credited his Toyota-United teammates for riding another textbook race Thursday. After a two-man breakaway of Glenn Chadwick (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) and Scott Zwizanski (Priority Health) gained six minutes, Toyota-United let Escuela’s Successful Living team do the chasing. When the gap came down to two minutes, Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia and Stefano Barberi of Toyota-United contributed to the pursuit of the pair.

“With Successful Living having to ride today it was phenomenal for saving our energy,” Baldwin said.

Three more racers – Matt Cooke (Navigators), Ryan Trebon (Kodakgallery.com-Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling) and David Vitoria (BMC Professional Cycling Team) – bridged to the pair as the final 35-mile (56 km) climb began but Zwizanski flatted and was dropped. The two Navigators riders increased the lead, but Toyota-United contributed again to the chase, adding Heath Blackgrove into the mix.

With five kilometers remaining, the four escapees had been reeled in and the attacks among a final leading group of 18 riders began.

“Burke (Swindlehurst) did a great job of containing things for us after Stefano and Heath were finished on the front,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said.

As the leading group dwindled, Baldwin sprinted away with a few hundred meters remaining, but Jacques-Maynes came around him for the stage win.

Toyota-United has high hopes of picking up a stage win of its own in Friday night’s criterium. The squad – which leads the team general classification – won the stage last year with sprinter J.J. Haedo. This year, Willett said Ivan Dominguez will be the man behind the lead-out train.

“We’re definitely going to ride for Dominguez,” Willett said. “This is one of those courses where you don’t save a lot of energy sitting 40 or 50 guys back. So the field is really going to be funneled out.”

Although he has not won a race in 2007, Baldwin has finished second overall at two stage races (Tour of the Gila and Tri-Peaks Challenge) and third overall at two others (Central Valley Classic and the Joe Martin Stage Race). This is the first time this season that he has worn a race leader’s jersey.

Before Thursday’s stage, race officials adjusted several riders’ finishing times from Wednesday’s Stage 1 road race, narrowing the margin between stage winner Escuela and Baldwin from 21 to three seconds. A transcription error was to blame, Willett said, after speaking with the officials.

Baldwin Second On Opening Stage Of Cascade

2007-07-11T22:04:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United's Heath Blackgrove spent more than 120 km in a seven-man breakaway.
Photos by Cascade Events Photography.
Bend, Ore. - Chris Baldwin’s second-place finish led four Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team riders in the top 12 on the Ironhorse-Brooks Resources Prineville Road Race on Stage 1 Wednesday at the Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic.

Baldwin was out-sprinted to the summit of Pilot Butte by Ricardo Escuela (Successfulliving.com presented by ParkPre), who won the stage in three hours, 38 minutes and 13 seconds. Baldwin finished 21 seconds behind, followed by Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance Cycling), 27 seconds behind Escuela.

Joining Baldwin in the top 12 was Toyota-United’s Chris Wherry (sixth, at 41 seconds), Justin England (seventh, at 45 seconds) and Burke Swindlehurst (11th, at 53 seconds). Only 15 riders finished within a minute of the leader.

“The plan for today’s stage was to do whatever we could to make sure those four guys didn’t have to do anything,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said. “We were going to be happy if it was an 80-rider bunch starting at the base of the final climb. With Heath (Blackgrove) covering the long break, it was sort of a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

By placing Blackgrove in a break of seven riders early on in the race, Toyota-United was afforded the luxury of sitting in the pack for much of the 91.2-mile (146.7 km) stage. Joining him in the escape were two riders from Successfulliving.com, plus Doug Ollerenshaw (Health Net presented by Maxxis), Ben Day (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team), Scott Zwizanski (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) and Scott Nydam (BMC Professional Cycling Team).

Their lead reached a maximum gap of seven minutes and 45 seconds before the pack began chasing on the way up the stage’s other climb, which came about 30 miles (48 km) from the finish. Because not everyone in the break was fully committed to making it stick, Willett said Toyota-United chipped in to help bring it back.

“We put Chepe Garcia and Stefano Barberi on the front and Priority Health had two guys working and BMC put some guys in,” he said.

Navigator’s Day, who had been the primary driver of the break, began to fade with about 10 kilometers remaining – including the final ascent to Pilot Butte (elevation: 4,138 feet). Immediately, his Navigators team massed at the front to finally reel in the escapees about a third of the way up the final climb.

“Baldwin didn’t have the best position when he started the climb but he’s riding well and caught up to the leaders about halfway up the climb,” Willett said. “With about a kilometer or so, he started driving it to the line and only Zajicek and Escuela were there. Escuela came around him in the last 150 meters or so.”

Baldwin is looking for his first victory of the season while Wherry is the race’s defending champion. With Wednesday’s balanced placings, Toyota-United leads the team classification.

Thursday’s stage is the 79.5-mile (127.9 km) Meridian Realty McKenzie Pass Road Race, which travels through the Dechutes National Forest past jagged lava fields featuring spectacular mountain views. It finishes with a gradual, 35-mile ascent of McKenzie pass to one of Central Oregon's favorite attractions, the Dee Wright Observatory, which sits at an elevation of 5,187 feet.

Willett said without any time bonuses up for grabs, he expects Successfulliving.com will be motivated to keep the leader’s yellow jersey on the back of Escuela. That should help Toyota-United conserve its energy for Friday morning’s all-important 15-mile (24.1 km) Bend Research, Inc.–Skyliners Time Trial, he said.

“The last climb Thursday is never steeper than five percent but it’s hard enough that the non-climbers will be eliminated,” Willett said. “Still, for the top 10 to 15 riders, it is unlikely to be a decisive stage.”

Toyota-United Roster Packed With Potential Winners

2007-07-10T09:05:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United will put no fewer than four riders on the start line of this week's Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Classic stage race who have the ability to win the overall title.

The powerful lineup features:

■ Two-time (2002 and 2006) Cascade winner Chris Wherry (second from left), who won last year’s race on the final stage.

■ Chris Baldwin (right), who has a pair of runner-up finishes in National Race Calendar stage races (Tour of the Gila, Tri-Peaks Challenge) to his credit this season.

■ Burke Swindlehurst (second from right), a three-time stage winner (1998, 2002 and last year) at Cascade who won the mountainous High Uintas Classic stage race last month.

■ Justin England (far left), a climbing specialist who finished second on the difficult Oak Glenn stage earlier this year at the Redlands Classic.

So much talent on one team for one race is a nice problem to have, said Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett.

“Baldwin, Wherry and England are all riding to maintain their pos-itions on the National Race Calendar standings,” Willett. “So those guys will be protected. Burke is in a role where he’s had such incredible results at this race before that with the right strategy or breakaway, he’ll be right in there, too.”

Wherry (pictured winning a time bonus sprint that won him the race last year) has had a quiet season, though he has played an integral role in many of the team’s victories by powering its lead-out train.

“We’re hopeful this is the event where he comes out and is on form,” Willett said.

Baldwin is searching for his first victory of 2007 after compiling five second-place and five third-place finishes.

“With the time trial being twice as long as it was last year, he’s a big favorite,” Willett said.

Also in the lineup for Toyota-United will be Ivan Dominguez, who has his eyes on Friday night’s Stage 4 Desert Orthopedics/Rebound Physical Therapy Downtown Criterium. Dominguez will race Cascade for the first time and see his first action in a stage race since crashing out of the Tri-Peaks Challenge in mid-May.

“I really want to do this race,” Dominguez said. “I cannot keep training and training and training. I need to race to get faster.”

In addition to those five, the remainder of Toyota-United’s roster will be Stefano Barberi, Heath Blackgrove and either Sean Sullivan or Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia. Sullivan experienced some knee pain over the weekend, Willett said, keeping him out of the team’s lineup for the Cougar Mountain Classic.

Toyota-United lead-out specialist Henk Vogels is out for six to eight weeks with a broken collarbone suffered on the first day at Cougar Mountain while newly crowned “B” World Champion Ivan Stevic remains in Europe after racing in his country’s national championship.

Cascade Classic Stage-By-Stage Preview

2007-07-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett has either raced in, or served as a team director, at the Cascade Classic all but one year since 1990. (He even competed in the Masters 35+ division last year.) With that in mind, here is his stage-by-stage assessment of this year’s five-day, six-stage National Race Calendar event that runs in and around Bend, Ore.

Wednesday, July 11
Stage 1: Ironhorse-Brooks Resources Prineville Road Race
91.2 miles (146.7 km)
“This is actually a deceptively hard stage. Two things have traditionally happened: either a breakaway has gotten away and held off the rest of the field or a good-sized group has come to the foot of the mile-long climb up Pilot Butte and it becomes a sprint from there. It is supposed to be close to 100 degrees, too, so that will make this race even more difficult. There is also one good climb about two-thirds of the way through the race and if the wind is just right – a crosswind – that climb never ends because you’re in echelons all the way into town, then it’s up Pilot Butte at the end.”

Thursday, July 12
Stage 2: Meridian Realty McKenzie Pass Road Race
79.5 miles (127.9 km)
“This is a rolling stage until about the last 10 kilometers when it climbs up McKenzie Pass. It is never steeper than five percent but it’s hard enough that the non-climbers will be eliminated. Still, for the top 10 to 15 riders, it is unlikely to be a decisive stage.”

Friday, July 13
Stage 3: Bend Research, Inc. – Skyliners Time Trial
15 miles (24.1 km)
“This stage – and Saturday’s race – are the really important ones. It’s uphill all the way out and downhill all the way back. That’s where the top 15 guys in the race are going to be separated by big chunks of time. You’re going to have to ride a great time trial in order to win the race overall.”

Friday, July 13
Stage 4: Desert Orthopedics/Rebound Physical Therapy Criterium
90 minutes
“We’re the defending champions on this course so hopefully we’ll be able to set up Ivan Dominguez to have a good sprint. This is a really special race with it being at twilight and always in front of a large crowd. If a team can control the front, it takes a pretty special rider to come around a lead-out train on this course.”

Saturday, July 14
Stage 5: Pacific Power Cascade Lakes Road Race
92.4 miles (148.7 km)
“This stage has the most difficult uphill finish of this year’s race. It’s not quite as steep as Pilot Butte, but on the fourth day of racing and at a higher elevation (almost 6,500 feet), it’s about a 5 km climb that really separates the top riders. You won’t see 10 guys coming into the finish together. There will likely be groups of two or three. And thought the time gaps between them won’t be huge, there will be solid separation.”

Sunday, July 15
Stage 6: Deschutes Brewery Awbrey Butte Circuit Race
80 miles (128.7 km)
“This circuit race is hard. A lot of times if a strong team has the general classification lead, it can be controlled fairly well. But if a strong team does not have the lead, this course is hard enough that you’ll see a lot of splits. There are also multiple time bonus sprints on this stage so that adds a little extra tactical twist to the entire week. If there are four or five guys within 20 seconds and a team has a guy who can sprint well, he can come from behind and win.”

Vogels Hopes To Be Back In Six Weeks

2007-07-10T08:54:00.000-07:00

This is how Henk Vogels' day ended Saturday: with a trip to the hospital.
When Henk Vogels crashed out of Saturday’s Cougar Mountain Classic Criterium, some of his Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team teammates did not even know it.

Vogels was attempting to solo bridge to a 10-man breakaway that included teammate Ivan Dominguez when he struck a crowd control fence post in a tight corner on the Infineon Raceway.

“My shoulder hit it and I heard it snap,” Vogels said.

The violent impact didn’t knock the 6-foot, 175-pounder off his bicycle and he was able to make his way to the finish line where medical personnel rushed him to an ambulance.

When Dominguez’s breakaway lapped the field, the Cuban sprinter started searching for his leadout man.

“It never crossed my mind that he was no longer in the race,” Dominguez said.

Ryan Miller said he didn’t know what happened, but it didn’t look good.

“You deflate when you’re rolling through the finish and see your teammate lying on the ground,” Miller said.

A few hours later, Vogels received confirmation of what he already suspected: his collarbone was broken. The injury is expected to sideline him for six to eight weeks.

“Hopefully, it’s more on the six weeks side,” Vogels said Sunday. “Fortunately, it was a clean break so I didn’t have to have an operation.”

Vogels’ injury is a “huge blow” to the team, said Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett.

“He will be sorely missed, as he is one of the best in the world at what he does,” Willett said. “The fact that he has played a pivotal role all year in delivering Stevic and Dominguez to so many top placings makes our pursuit of the Team NRC (National Race Calendar) title an even greater challenge. We are going to have to fill a big horsepower and leadership hole as a team.”

Indeed, the 13-year pro has played a key role in several victories – none bigger than Dominguez’s win on Stage 7 in Long Beach in the Amgen Tour of California

“I'm optimistic that with any luck, a speedy recovery will see Henk able to start training within a month and racing in late August or early September,” Willett said.

That timetable puts Vogels back in action in time for the final NRC races, as well as the inaugural Tour of Missouri, Sept. 11-16.

Garcia's Sixth Place Lone Highlight Of Lost Weekend

2007-07-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

Sonoma, Calif. – Any hopes that the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team had of earning some valuable National Race Calendar points at the Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic were dashed during Saturday afternoon’s criterium at the Infineon Raceway.

A mid-race crash knocked out Toyota-United’s Australian strongman, Henk Vogels (see story below), Ivan Dominguez saw his chance to win dashed by a crash and Sean Sullivan didn’t even start the race after complaining of knee pain.

“This was not a good race for us,” Dominguez said.

The team’s first-day misfortunes left only Ryan Miller (right) and Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia to compete in Sunday’s circuit race. Miller made it to the halfway point of the 120-minute event before withdrawing with knee pain. Garcia spent an hour in a six-man breakaway but succumbed to cramps on the final lap and finished alone in sixth place.

Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said it was disappointing the team ran into a string of bad luck at a time when it hoped to make up ground in the NRC team standings. Heading into the weekend, Toyota-United stood 157 points behind three-time defending NRC team champion Health Net presented by Maxxis.

“Unfortunately, this is kind of the way it is in bike racing,” Willett said. “You never know when accidents are going to happen. But to have two of them in one day is really bad luck.”

Dominguez’s crash Saturday came at a time when it appeared the Cuban sprint specialist was in perfect position to win his ninth race of the year. He had been part of a group of 10 riders who lapped the field halfway through the 90-minute criterium.

With two turns to go, Dominguez was sitting in third place, following the wheel of Alessandro Bazzana (Successfulliving.com presented by ParkPre), who was being led out for the sprint by a teammate.

“The first guy didn’t make it through the turn and went straight,” Dominguez said. “Bazzana braked so I had to brake too. I was going to be OK, but when you’re going 60 kilometers an hour the people behind you can’t get stopped and someone hit me.”

Dominguez was one of several riders who went down. Bazzana was not hit and won the sprint unchallenged. Because he had been part of the breakaway that was a lap up on the field, Dominguez was placed 10th.

Sunday, as Dominguez sat out the circuit race, Garcia (right) and Miller did their best to hang tough around the 2.5-mile circuit that featured a short – but steep – climb.

“There were a lot of attacks,” Garcia said. “I was in almost every break because I didn’t know which one was going to go.”
Halfway through the two-hour race, a break of six – which included Garcia – escaped the field. Suddenly, Garcia was a marked man.

“Everybody was waiting for me to attack because I ride for Toyota-United,” he said. “I felt good but on the last lap, I was a little tired.”

The final trip up the climb proved to be his undoing and Garcia was left behind. He finished 30 seconds behind Bazzana, who won by two seconds over Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health presented by Bissell).

Download This Week's Toyota-United Race Notes

2007-07-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Click here to read this week's edition of the Toyota-United race notes.

Crashes Mar Toyota-United's Day At Cougar Mountain

2007-07-07T22:12:00.000-07:00

Henk Vogels (right) holds his arm after crashing out of the criterium Saturday.
Sonoma, Calif. - Toyota-United's Ivan Dominguez and Henk Vogels were injured in separate crashes Saturday at the Cougar Mountain Classic at Infineon Raceway.

Dominguez was taken out of contention on the final turn to the finish when he crashed with two other riders. The Cuban sprinter, who only returned to racing last weekend after a crash put him out of action for eight weeks, suffered minor road rash and is expected to be OK.

Vogels was not as fortunate. The Australian lead-out specialist struck a pole with his shoulder. X-Rays and a CAT scan revealed a crack in his scapula that is expected to keep him out of action for six to eight weeks.

Dominguez appeared to be on his way to the win after being part of a small group that lapped the field midway through the 90-minute race.

Toyota-United Owner Quoted In USA Today

2007-07-05T09:50:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Owner Sean P. Tucker was quoted several times in USA Today's preview story about the Tour de France.

Tour de France's downhill slide caused by scandals
By Sal Ruibal, USA TODAY

What if the Tour de France was held and nobody cared?

The world's biggest bike race will begin in London on Saturday and wind around France for three weeks. But a steady drip-drip-drip of doping scandals and organizational dysfunction has turned off once-rabid U.S. cycling fans who latched on during Lance Armstrong's seven wins in a row.

"I'm disgusted with what's been going on over there," says Sean P. Tucker, a former pro racer on the European circuit. He is principal owner of the Toyota-United cycling team, a unique venture that has more than 20,000 "fan members" with a financial stake in the squad that races only in the USA.

"It is disheartening to see this sport unraveling. My team and our fan members aren't going to Europe until they come up with real penalties and real doping controls. The fans follow their sports heroes, then you find out about this stuff that's going on. It's criminal."

Every day brings news of current and former cycling heroes involved in doping.

When 1996 Tour winner Bjarne Riis admitted May 25 that he used the blood-booster EPO to win his title, he extended another, more ignominious consecutive string: All the Tour winners since 1996 have been accused of, charged with or admitted using illegal performance-enhancing drugs or techniques:

•1997 winner Jan Ullrich of Germany was charged this year with blood-doping offenses stemming from the Spanish Operation Puerto scandal that disrupted the 2006 race. He retired in February, saying, "I never cheated." But former Telekom (now T-Mobile) team assistants have said they injected him and others with EPO.

•1998 champion Marco Pantani of Italy was kicked out of the '99 Tour of Italy because of a high red-blood-cell level and was charged, then cleared, of using insulin. He died of a cocaine overdose in 2004.

•Armstrong's 1999-2005 streak was attacked many times by doping allegations. He was investigated by French authorities twice and sued by insurers unwilling to pay bonus money, but he has never had a positive drug test or been charged with a doping offense.

"I raced clean," he said in a recent statement. "I won clean. I am the most tested athlete in the history of sports. I have defended myself and my reputation and won every court case to prove I was clean."

•2006 winner Floyd Landis was charged with an illegal testosterone ratio during the race. He has vigorously defended himself against the charge and is awaiting a decision from a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency arbitration panel.

The Tour de France has been aggressive about doping. A day before last year's race, it forced out nine riders who were under suspicion in the Operation Puerto case. Those included favorites Ullrich and Ivan Basso, the 2006 Tour of Italy winner and 2005 Tour de France runner-up. Basso admitted his involvement this year and recently received a two-year suspension from the sport.

Race officials say they'll keep accused riders out of this year's race, too.

"In 2007, the Tour de France will be long awaited, closely watched, observed," Tour race director Christian Prudhomme acknowledged in a statement introducing this year's event. "The events of the summer (of 2006) have left their mark. Indeed, not all of them have been resolved.

"But if the spirit is indeed the expression of a staunch and shared commitment to fight against doping, then not only do we have nothing to fear in the future but everything to hope for."

What's the problem?

Charles Pelkey, the news editor of Boulder, Colo.-based VeloNews.com, says, "The problem is that riders and teams in cycling seem to have only very slowly come to grasp just how serious the management of the sport is about doping now."

Yet Landis asserts, "There is no culture of doping in cycling. Yes, there are riders who dope, but if you look at the pool of 5,000 or so pro riders in the world, the percentage is small. There are stock traders who cheat, but you don't hear people say there's a culture of cheating on Wall Street."

Johan Bruyneel, the team director and part-owner of the Discovery Channel pro team, agrees the problem has been overstated but lays the blame for the public reaction on the sport's official leadership.

"There are always doping scandals in sport. It is just that cycling always gets more attention," says Bruyneel, a Tour stage winner in the 1995 race and architect of Armstrong's seven wins. "There are too many unsubstantiated leaks coming out, officials leaking information for whatever interests. That's crazy, and I don't understand why it is tolerated. The problem starts at the top. The current leadership of cycling has no new ideas."

Bruyneel believes the answer is not more testing but more leadership.

"The sport is miles ahead of any other sport in the quantity and quality of testing, both at races and out of competition," he says. "What the sport needs now is one big personality, someone who is respected. This has to be done like a business, bringing in outside experts with a neutral view.

"We need someone like a Donald Trump or (billionaire sports magnate) Phillip Anschutz, someone who has a big reputation and can put all of the parties in the same room and start solving some problems."

Pat McQuaid, the president of the Union Cycliste International (UCI), says the sport's governing body has instituted changes that will help the sport clean up. That includes a mandatory pledge from riders they have not been involved in doping and the submission of DNA samples to verify positive tests. Riders who are caught doping will have to forfeit a year's salary and receive suspensions of up to four years.

"I am not that concerned by the past," McQuaid says. "My concern is the present and future, and I am striving that this will be credible. One cannot change culture overnight, but it will happen. In cycling today, the forces of good are much stronger than the forces of evil, and the pressure is increasing daily."

Cash flow

Unlike the U.S. professional sports leagues that depend heavily on television contracts, cycling has anemic ratings — the Versus cable network's five daily Tourcasts collectively drew an average of about 700,000 viewers last year — and is funded through corporate sponsorships.

The Discovery Channel team, known as U.S. Postal Service for six of Armstrong's wins, is looking for a title sponsor after new Discovery corporate managers decided not to extend the $12 million deal.

The search for a sponsor "has not been easy, but at the same time I feel optimistic," Bruyneel says. "We can prove that as a team, we have the best sports franchise in the history of cycling. Sure, the market for sponsorships is tough, but this is about investing. … It is all a matter of reaching the right guy at the right moment."

The team that made Americans notice pro cycling is looking to Asia for sponsorships. In the last year it signed Chinese star Fu Yu Li and Japanese national champion Fumiyuki Beppo.

"Talks are going on with some Asian companies," Bruyneel says.

At Specialized Bicycle Components in Morgan Hill, Calif., founder and President Mike Sinyard is still bullish on the sport and has bicycle and equipment sponsorships with the Belgian Quick Step-Innergetic and German Gerolsteiner pro teams.

"We're involved in cycling because we love the sport and, as a company, we revel in the competitive aspect of cycling," he says. "So we have absolutely no regrets regarding our sponsorships."

Team CSC, based in Denmark but sponsored by El Segundo, Calif.-based Computer Sciences Corp., is sticking with the squad despite the admission from owner and team director Riis that he used EPO to win the 1996 Tour. Riis can't be charged because of pro cycling's eight-year statute of limitations.

"Our experience with Bjarne Riis shows an honest effort to admit past mistakes and accept responsibility is an important step in repairing the damage caused by doping," CSC spokeswoman Theresa McDermit says. "We continue to support his efforts to make things right and to help move the sport to a new level of transparency and responsibility. … It's not too late to secure a better future for the sport we all love."

Toyota-United's Tucker doesn't buy it. "If they really had character and integrity, they would never have crossed the line," he says. "Did any of these guys apologize to their clean competitors for taking money from their families?"

Dominguez Finishes Second In Return From Injury

2007-07-01T16:12:00.000-07:00

Manhattan Beach, Calif. — Ivan Dominguez’s will to win was strong Sunday at the 46th edition of the Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix. But after a month-and-a-half of rehabilitating a back injury, his legs were not quite fast enough to deliver him first to the finish line at the end of the 90-minute race.

“I wanted to win badly because so many people came out to see me,” Dominguez said after finishing second to Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing). “But I just didn’t feel fast enough today. I only had two weeks of real riding.”

Dominguez was quick to add that Bahati – a former junior national criterium and road champion – won the field sprint impressively. Bahati’s teammate, Kayle Leo Grande, also made the podium with his third-place finish.

“Bahati was 10 kilometers faster than me,” Dominguez said. “He’s riding good and this was good for him because his team owner put a lot of resources and backing into the race.”

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said Dominguez’s result should instill some confidence in the Cuban super sprinter. Dominguez won eight races in the first three-and-a-half months of the season before being sidelined following a crash after the finish of Stage 1 at the Tri-Peaks Challenge on May 17.

“Of course you always want to win, but second place isn’t bad,” Jansen said.

With five other teammates in the race Sunday, Dominguez was able to sit in the back of the peloton and periodically test his legs for what would ultimately be a dash to a 180-degree corner that sets the riders up for a final 300-meter sprint to the finish.

“I did a few sprints in the back to see how my legs were going and I knew then that I was not 100 percent,” Dominguez said.

Sunday’s race, in front of an estimated crowd of more than 7,500 spectators, was also streamed live over the Internet by iBN Sports. On-line viewers saw Dominguez’s Toyota-United teammates Ryan Miller, Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia (shown at left), Chris Wherry, Sean Sullivan, Caleb Manion and Henk Vogels massed at the front with three 1.4-mile laps remaining.

Sullivan said what viewers at home could not see in the closing laps was a “messy and dangerous” battle as dozens of riders fought their way to be in the front.

“The way the wind was blowing today, it was a pretty easy ride so at the finish, everyone was really fresh,” he said.

The aggressive racing came to a head with half-a-lap to go when Wherry nearly crashed.

“Chris basically got pinched out and it nearly took out all the spokes in his front wheel,” Jansen said. “Until that point, we had everything set up perfectly with Chris on Sullivan’s wheel and Henk and Ivan right behind him. They had to come back from 20 guys so it really disrupted their whole rhythm.”

Still, Vogels was able to tow Dominguez up to the front and he was first to dive into the final 180-degree turn.

“As soon as you make the U-turn, you have to go,” Dominguez said. “I went but Bahati made it seem like I was standing still when he went by me.”

Next up for Dominguez and Toyota-United is the Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic at the Infineon, Calif., Raceway July 7-8. Both the criterium on Saturday and circuit race on Sunday will utilize the 12-turn, 2.52-mile twisting and turning course.

“It’s all about Ivan next weekend,” Jansen said. “With the guys’ help, he has to go out there and make it happen.”

Stevic Wins World 'B' Championship Road Race

2007-07-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic (center) celebrates on the podium Sunday in Cape Town, South Africa, with second place finisher Erik Hoffmann of Namibia (left) and bronze medalist Alexandr Pliuschin of Moldova.
Cape Town, South Africa — Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team won the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) B World Championship road race Sunday in Cape Town, South Africa.

Stevic completed the challenging 100-mile (161 km) race in four hours, one minute and 47 seconds. Namibia’s Erik Hoffman finished second and Alexandr Pliuschin of Moldova was third.

Stevic’s victory is his sixth of the season and earns him an automatic entry into the Beijing Olympic Games next year.

“On behalf of everyone associated with the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team, I congratulate Ivan on a great win,” Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Owner Sean Tucker said. “We are proud that he will be representing his home country of Serbia and the Toyota-United team in Beijing next summer.”

The UCI B World Championships are an opportunity for countries where cycling is not necessarily a major sport to qualify cyclists for the Olympics.

Stevic now heads back to Serbia to defend his national road race title. He will return to the U.S. for the International Tour de Toona in Central Pennsylvania, July 23-29.

On The Record With Toyota-United Owner Sean Tucker

2007-06-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Owner Sean P. Tucker has a few ideas on how the sport of cycling can discourage riders from cheating through the use of performance enhancers.

"The dynamics in European bicycle racing are structured to open the door to doping for two main reasons: First, the riders are doing these long, two- and three-week stage races and they are doing a lot of racing throughout the season," Tucker says in the article. "Second, if they do well in these big races, they can make a million or more dollars in salary and endorsements per year for years after that. So the way cycling in Europe is structured, with the length of the tours and the number of races throughout the season, if you do well, you can set yourself up pretty well for retirement."

Read the rest of his interview with René Schuijlenburg of cyclingheroes.info by clicking here.

Toyota-United On Pace To Top 2006 Win Total

2007-06-29T06:38:00.001-07:00

Toyota-United swept the podium at the Quad Knopf Sequoia Cycling Classic criterium.
With more than half of the 2007 race schedule in the books, the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team is on pace to exceed its 2006 win total.

During its inaugural season, Toyota-United scored 55 victories and garnered 112 podium finishes.

Team Owner Sean Tucker sees a lot to be proud of with three months of racing to go.

“We are the only domestic team to win stages at the Tour de Georgia and the Amgen Tour of California,” Tucker said. “Our fan club membership numbers more than 20,000 and we are on track for our goal of winning the National Race Calendar team classification.”

Through June 28, Toyota-United has won 26 races and gained 76 podium placings. That amounts to reaching the podium in 94 percent of all races competed in during 2007.

At this time last year, the team had 25 victories on its way to a second place finish in the NRC team classification.

With 13 events left on the NRC calendar, Toyota-United trails only three-time defending team champion Health Net presented by Maxxis in the team standings.

Ivan Dominguez Says He's Ready To Race

2007-06-28T22:36:00.000-07:00

You wouldn’t know it by the sound of his voice, but it has been a frustrating six weeks for Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team’s Ivan Dominguez.

The Cuban super sprinter has been sidelined since a bizarre crash May 17 during Stage 1 of the Tri-Peaks Challenge in Arkansas. Dominguez had already crossed the finish line that day when his front wheel suddenly twisted sideways, tossing him headfirst over the handlebars.

The 5-foot-9, 160-pounder landed squarely on his back, bruising his ribs. He was off the bike for more than two weeks and still has trouble sleeping at night.

“If I am riding real hard, I feel the pain in my back,” Dominguez said.

So what are his expectations for his return to racing this Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Chevron Manhattan Beach Grand Prix?

“It’s hard to say,” he said Thursday. “I stopped for a month and although I feel good training, racing is a lot different.”

The crash at Tri-Peaks forced Dominguez to miss the “Philly Week” races earlier this month. The series of single-day races have previously showcased his sprinting ability, including the second place he scored at the International Championship last year in Philadelphia.

But while Dominguez has won eight races this season (his last victory was May 11 at the Joe Martin Stage Race), Toyota-United has continued its winning ways without him, racking up 11 first place finishes.

“Some teams only have one guy who can win. Our team has many,” Dominguez said. “It’s made me feel more relaxed seeing them win.”

Dominguez will be joined by a host of talented teammates when he takes the start line for the 46th edition of the race that has seen its spot on the National Race Calendar moved up from its mid-August date of a year ago.

Last year’s race was won by Toyota-United’s J.J. Haedo while Dominguez finished fourth. In addition to Dominguez, Toyota-United riders Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia, Caleb Manion, Ryan Miller, Sean Sullivan, Henk Vogels and Chris Wherry will be racing in front of a crowd that traditionally numbers more than 10,000.

The 90-minute race will be broadcast live on the Internet by iBN Sports (www.ibnsports.com) and archived for later viewing.

The hot dog-shaped course for the expected field of more than 150 riders features a pair of long straightaways, two sweeping 180 degree turns and 50-feet of climbing per lap.

Making each 1.4-mile (2.2 km) lap most challenging is the 180-degree turn that comes 300 meters from the finish line.

“If you’re not in the top two or three places coming around that turn on the last lap, it’s going to be hard for you to win the race,” Dominguez said. “Every year, you have people crashing and getting all crazy.”

Barberi Best-Placed After Stage 1 In Fitchburg

2007-06-28T20:40:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United’s Stefano Barberi and Bobby Lea finished 25th and 51st, respectively, in Thursday’s opening time trial of the 48th annual Fitchburg Longsjo Classic in Fitchburg, Mass.

Barberi completed the 6.55-mile (10.5 km) point-to-point race against the clock in 17 minutes and 35 seconds. Russell Langley (Battley Harley-David) won in a time of 16:17.6. Lea clocked a time of 18:13.3.

Friday’s stage is the 78-mile Fitchburg State College Circuit Race, followed by Saturday’s 104-mile Wachusett Mountain Road Race. The race concludes Sunday with the 50-mile Workers Credit Union Downtown Criterium.

“Hopefully these guys can seize the opportunity in the road race,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “There’s a nice uphill finish which will suit Stefano.”

Fantastevic!Ivan Stevic Wins Nature Valley Grand Prix

2007-06-24T16:44:00.001-07:00

Ivan Stevic's victory was his first stage race win since turning pro in 2005.
Stillwater, Minn. - Ivan Stevic will be the first to tell you that his first overall stage race victory in his two-and-a-half seasons as a professional was hardly an individual effort.

Stevic’s Toyota-United Pro Cycling teammates helped the 27-year-old win the opening criterium of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Then they spent the rest of the five-day, six-stage National Race Calendar event chasing down break-aways or controlling the field in the race’s remaining criterium and two road stages.

After losing the lead after Thursday night’s Cannon Falls Road Race, the two-time Serbian National Champion regained it with a stunning third-place in the following morning’s time trial.

Stevic sealed the win – and his victory in the Wheaties sprint points competition – by finishing sixth in Sunday’s criterium in the same time as winner Frank Pipp (Health Net).

On the final classification, Stevic finished 27 seconds ahead of Rory Sutherland (Health Net) in a race that covered 251 miles (405 km) in a blazingly fast 29.2 mph.

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said the team approached the race with the idea that Stevic would win.

“He had the best odds,” Jansen said. “If you limit mistakes, you secure those odds.
“It’s always tough to ride a flawless race but that’s where the state of the team comes in. This group of guys can really pull together and make it happen. If you have a concise, clear plan in place, everyone can visualize that win and that’s they did this week.”

Henk Vogels said the timing of the victory was also good.

“This was the most valuable race of the year for us as far as the NRC is concerned,” he said.

Race Note: Chris Wherry said he is feeling better after having to abandon the race after the second stage. “I had a cold and it went straight to my lungs, which made it hard to breathe,” he said. “I’m already doing better and looking forward to racing at Manhattan Beach next week.”

Stevic Holds Onto Race Lead On 'Hardest Stage'

2007-06-23T22:40:00.000-07:00

Riders tackle the challenging climb of the circuit in Mankato.
Mankato, Minn. — Defending Ivan Stevic’s lead at the Nature Valley Grand Prix on the penultimate stage Saturday may have cost the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team a chance to put two riders in the top five overall and its third-place spot on the team classification.

But the efforts of riding on the front and working hard to reel in a pair of dangerous breakaways on Stage 5’s 86-mile (138.4 km) Mankato Road Race were more than enough to keep Stevic in the race leader’s yellow jersey with only on stage remaining in the five-day, six-stage race. Sunday’s Stillwater Criterium – a 60-minute race on a highly technical 1.5-mile (2.4 km) course – was one of Stevic’s seven wins of the 2006 season.

Rory Sutherland (Health Net presented by Maxxis) emerged from a group of six riders who escaped on the final lap of the finishing circuit to give Health Net its fourth consecutive stage win of the race. But eight seconds later, Stevic won the bunch sprint from what remained of the shattered peloton to retain his race lead over Health Net’s Nathan O’Neill by 23 seconds.

“Today was the hardest stage for us because we had to do so much to control the race,” Stevic said.

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said defending the jersey became most difficult when a group of about 15 riders rolled off the front 35 miles into the race.

“The gap may have never gone past 20 seconds, but it was a hard, hard chase,” he said. “We spent 30 minutes on the front before we brought them back.”

A second break of four riders later rolled off the front and had a 20-second lead as the race entered Mankato for four laps of a 2.2-mile (3.5 km) finishing circuit featuring the challenging climb up Man Hill Road that gains 200 feet of elevation in half-a-mile. But Toyota-United’s all-out chase pulled them back and the field was together as it received the bell for the final lap.

Moments later, teammates Sutherland and O’Neill joined up with two riders from the Navigators Insurance Cycling Team (Darren Lill and Phil Zajicek), Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) and Cesar Augusto Grajales (Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling Team) and charged up the climb as Stevic found himself isolated for the first time. With O’Neill 31 seconds off the lead in third place, Stevic knew he had to keep the break in sight.

“His legs weren’t the best at the end,” Jansen said. “But he did what he had to do to keep the jersey.”

Stevic said he is not feeling the pressure of trying to score the first stage race win of his two-year professional career.

“That’s because I came here with the idea to win,” he said. “All the guys on Toyota-United really want me to win so it’s easy to defend the lead when you’re surrounded by so many great teammates.”

Toyota-United’s Chris Baldwin, who was fifth overall heading into the stage, lost contact with the peloton after expending so much energy on the chase on the finishing circuits and dropped to 13th place overall. Baldwin had been on his way to his fourth top five placing at a National Race Calendar stage race this year.

The Stillwater course features a climb up Chilkoot Hill averaging 18 percent grade, along with 10 90-degree turns. It has traditionally been a decisive stage that figures prominently into the overall. When Stevic won the stage last year – ahead of current Toyota-United teammate Caleb Manion (who was riding for the Jelly Belly Cycling Team) – only 22 riders finished within a minute of the lead as the field was decimated by the difficulty of the course.

Stevic Widens Lead With Two Stages Remaining

2007-06-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United's Ivan Stevic joins the other jersey wearers after Stage 4.
Minneapolis - — Calling his teammates’ performance “simply amazing,” Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team widened his overall lead Friday night during the Stage 4 Minneapolis Downtown Classic Criterium at the Nature Valley Grand Prix.

An estimated crowd of nearly 20,00 watched as Toyota-United controlled the 60-minute race, helping Stevic win three time bonus sprints (amounting to 15 seconds) as well as a 10-second time bonus for second place on the stage. Kirk O’Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis) scored his second stage win of the race while Toyota-United’s Henk Vogels finished third.

“The guys were doing perfect lead-outs for me all night,” Stevic said. “They did everything as we planned, except for me getting second. I had hoped to win. Unfortunately, in the final sprint, I didn’t see O’Bee coming around at all. But we’re happy with second and third on the stage. It shows Toyota-United is the strongest team at the race.”

Stevic’s lead over O’Bee stands at 19 seconds with two stages remaining: Saturday’s 86.8-mile (139.7 km) Mankato Road Race and an hour-long criterium in Stillwater, Minn. Sunday. Nathan O’Neill (Health Net) and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) are tied for third, 31 seconds behind Stevic. Toyota-United’s Chris Baldwin is fifth, 40 seconds off the lead.

Throughout Friday night’s race, Toyota-United rode on the front to discourage attacks and limit breakaways from getting too far ahead. The average speed for the race was 36.9 mph.

“From the first moment I came back to the bus after the race, I saw the guys were so happy,” Stevic said. “This night was all about winning those bonus sprints and keeping the pressure on. They definitely want to win this race and it really gives me so much positive energy.”

In third place in the team classification, Toyota-United’s remaining seven riders include Baldwin, Heath Blackgrove, Justin England, Caleb Manion, Sean Sullivan and Vogels. An eighth team member who started the race, Chris Wherry, had to retire after Stage 2 due to illness.

Saturday’s road race includes four point bonus sprints (a classification Stevic leads) but only time bonuses on the finish line for the first three finishers. The 118 riders remaining in the race will complete four laps of a 2.2-mile (3.5 km) finishing circuit in Mankato that Stevic calls “challenging.”

“They’re short, but steep climbs, so the finish is pretty hard,” he said. “Before that, it will pretty much be rolling hills and we’ll have to contend with the wind like we did on the other road stage. So it’s going to be hard to control the race.”

Stevic Back In Yellow After Impressive Time Trial

2007-06-22T13:22:00.001-07:00

Ivan Stevic is back in the lead at the Nature Valley Grand Prix after Stage 3.
St. Paul -Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team pulled off a stunning performance in Friday morning’s Stage 3 individual time trial to regain the yellow jersey he lost the night before at the ninth annual Nature Valley Grand Prix.

The Serbian National Champion was only nine seconds slower than eight-time Australian national time trial champion Nathan O’Neill (Health Net presented by Maxxis), who won the 5.0-mile (8.0 km) race against the clock with an average speed of 31.6 mph.

Stevic’s third-place finish – behind Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) and just six-tenths of a second ahead of Toyota-United teammate Chris Baldwin – put him back in the race lead heading into Friday night’s Minneapolis Downtown Classic Criterium. Stevic leads O’Neill by six seconds, with Stage 2 winner Kirk O’Bee (Health Net) in third place, nine seconds back. Baldwin’s time trial moved him from 34th to fifth place overall, 15 seconds behind Stevic.

There are a total of four bonus sprints in tonight’s criterium, each carrying time bonuses of five, three and one-second for the first three riders. Additionally, there are bonuses of 15, 10 and six seconds for the first three finishers of the stage. With 39 riders within one minute of the lead, the time bonus sprints are expected to figure heavily into the 60-minute race.

Stevic’s remarkable ride back into the race lead helped Toyota-United forget the misfortunes suffered on Stage 3’s 65.3-mile (105 km) road race Thursday night in Cannon Falls, Minn. Baldwin was involved in a large pile-up less than 15 kilometers into the stage and had to switch bikes three times after it was discovered his Fuji bicycle frame had been damaged in the crash.

Additionally, Toyota-United’s Chris Wherry, who has been plagued by illness for much of the season, withdrew from the event after finishing more than nine minutes down in Thursday night’s race. Earlier in the stage, Wherry had figured prominently in Toyota-United’s chase to catch three riders who held a nearly two minutes’ lead with 30 km remaining in the race. The trio was caught after the race reached the finishing circuits within Cannon Falls and Stevic finished fourth in the bunch sprint.

Fourth Place On Stage 2 Knocks Stevic From Lead

2007-06-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United spent much of Stage 2 on the front chasing down a break.
Cannon Falls, Minn. - Toyota-United's Ivan Stevic finished fourth in the bunch sprint finish on Stage 2 of the Nature Valley Grand Prix but it was not enough to hold onto the yellow jersey of race leader.

Stevic lost out on time bonuses to stage winner Kirk O'Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis).

Stevic Rallies From Crash To Win Nature Valley Opener

2007-06-20T19:12:00.000-07:00

Stevic wins with a fist pump while Vogels (right) has time to celebrate as well.
St. Paul, Minn. - Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team captured the opening stage of the ninth annual Nature Valley Grand Prix Wednesday night by winning the Downtown St. Paul Criterium.

Stevic rebounded from a mid-race crash that sent him over the handlebars and onto the pavement coming into the first turn of the six-corner, six-tenths of a mile (1.1 km) course that the racers circled for 60 minutes.

“Two guys in front of me crashed and I lost control and went down,” Stevic said. “I got back up and I was pretty angry after that so the adrenaline was really flowing.”

Stevic was delivered to the finish line by teammates Henk Vogels, Caleb Manion and Sean Sullivan (pictured at right) in what Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen called “an impressive leadout.” Kirk O’Bee (Health Net presented by Maxxis) finished second and Jonathan Page (Nature Valley) was third.

“Henk (Vogels) was the last one to pull off and even he managed to finish fourth,” Jansen said.

The victory was Stevic’s fourth of the season and the 25th for Toyota-United in 2007. Just three days ago, Stevic won the Driveway Criterium in Austin, Texas, using another picture-perfect lead-out from Vogels.

“I was feeling pretty good before the crash,” Stevic said. “It helps that the guys were amazing and did more than a perfect job to help me tonight.”

Jansen said Toyota-United has every intention of keeping the yellow jersey of race leadership on Stevic’s back for the remainder of the five-day, six-stage race.

“We definitely want to protect the jersey,” Jansen said. “Tomorrow, we will be protecting Stevic and one or two of our other riders.”

Thursday’s stage is the 65.3-mile (105 km) Cannon Falls Road Race. The race starts and finishes at Cannon Falls, Minn., with a 5 p.m. start. Though it is a short race, Jansen cautioned that it will be made more difficult by five laps of a difficult 1.9-mile (3 km) finishing circuit.

“It’s going to be windy and the finishing circuits are pretty tough. That makes tomorrow’s race a tough one,” Jansen said.

Stevic, who won the final stage of the 2006 race, said he hadn’t even looked that far ahead.

“If it’s like last year’s course, it is pretty steep, short climbs,” he said. “No matter what, I think we have a strong team here so we’ll see how it goes.”

Fifth Time Is A Charm For Burke Swindlehurst

2007-06-18T07:33:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United’s Burke Swindlehurst climbed to the top step of the podium Sunday as the winner of the two-day, three-stage High Uintas Classic Stage Race in Evanston, Wyo.

Swindlehurst soloed away to win Saturday’s 80-mile race through the rugged mountains of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest to the summit of Bald Mountain. He followed that with third in Sunday morning’s 10-mile time trial and second in the afternoon criterium.

“I'm pretty happy with this since I've been second at this race the previous four times I’ve done it,” Swindlehurst said.

With Swindlehurst's victory, Toyota-United has now won 22 races in 2007.

Bobby Lea Sets Sights On Olympic Track Berth

2007-06-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

Bobby Lea’s quest to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing began Friday night in the venue known as the “Track Cycling Capital of the World,” the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, Penn.

Over the next three-and-a-half months, Lea will become very familiar with the 333.3-meter concrete track and its 28-degree banked turns as he attempts to gain enough points to make the United States Olympic team in the points and Madison races.

“It’s no secret that it’s less competitive to make the Olympic team on the track than on the road,” Lea said. “For someone like me, track is by far my best shot. I know that if it is something I want to do, I have to get it done now, then I can switch over to road racing full-time.”

Lea has the opportunity to compete in seven Union Cycliste Internationale events this season, the most of any velodrome in the world. During UCI-sanctioned events, riders accumulate points for the world championship and toward qualifying for the Olympic Games. Because of this, more than a dozen top international riders are spending the summer in Trexlertown.

Since he started racing at Lehigh Valley (at the age of eight) in 1991, Lea has won seven elite national championships, five national titles as a junior and 30 National Collegiate Cycling Association national track titles. But adding to those victories seemed questionable this spring when Lea underwent surgery to repair arteries in his legs.

The Easton, M.D., native had been experiencing problems with blood flow to his legs while pedaling with maximum effort during competition and training. An examination revealed constriction of the external iliac artery in both legs. Surgeons at the University of Virginia Medical Center placed a patch inside each artery to act as a wedge and open the artery back up to its proper size.

After extensive rehabilitation following the March 8 surgery, Lea was back on the bike in a few weeks and racing again by the last week of April.

“The first couple of weeks back were tough,” he said, “but I am definitely stronger than what I was before the surgery.”

Lea surprised even himself with a win at the Leonardtown Criterium on May 20 and raced impressively at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic earlier this month.

The two events Lea has his sights on for the Olympics are similar. In the Madison, he will pair with another rider to compete for points during sprint laps. The event is a variation of the points race – Lea’s other main discipline – in which points are awarded to the first five finishers of sprints that occur periodically throughout the race.

Even though his primary goal is to compile UCI points toward an Olympic qualifying spot, Lea will split his time between the track and road racing.

Sunday was a prime example of the demands he will face. After finishing third in the 30 km points race and fifth in the 15 km scratch race Friday night, Lea was racing early the next afternoon in the Crystal City Classic criterium in Arlington, Va.

“I rode the first 45 kilometers sitting in, just trying to find my legs,” Lea said.

After working his way into three different breakaways – the last of which was caught with two laps to go – Lea finished 19th.

Stevic Third, Vogels Fourth At AT&T Austin Criterium

2007-06-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

Toyota-United's Sean Sullivan (center) escaped with USA Crits series leader Mark Hekman (Abercrombie & Fitch) and Phil Wikoff (HealthCoach) with 10 laps to go.
Austin, Texas - Short on numbers, the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team still managed to come up with impressive results at a pair of weekend races in Austin, Texas.

Only Sean Sullivan, Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels made the trip to Texas’ capital city to compete in Saturday’s AT&T Downtown Austin Criterium and Sunday’s Driveway Criterium.

In front of a huge crowd, Sullivan nearly pulled off a win Saturday jumping out of a three-man breakaway – only to be caught on the last lap of the 70-minute race.

Frank Travieso (AEG-Toshiba-Jet Network) took the win, as Stevic and Vogels finished third and fourth, respectively.

“We were hoping Sean would make it to the finish,” Stevic said. “It was really hard to control things with only three guys.”

Sunday’s race featured a smaller field but speeds were still high on the car and go-kart racing track where the race was held.

The 45-minute race featured a flurry of attacks. But it all came back together in the end with Stevic taking the win and Vogels placing third. The victory was Stevic's third of the season.

Toyota-United Fields Impressive Lineup For Austin Crit

2007-06-14T10:36:00.000-07:00

Left to right: "Chepe" Garcia, Sean Sullivan, Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels.
Austin, Texas — The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team will field one of the strongest squads for Saturday’s 2007 AT&T Austin Downtown Criterium, the fourth race of the USA CRITS Series.

Toyota-United’s lineup for the 70-minute race consists of Serbian national champion Ivan Stevic, Australian Tour de France veteran Henk Vogels, former Mexican national champion Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia and former Australian Under 19 national champion Sean Sullivan.

The four are responsible for five of Toyota-United’s 21 victories this season. Stevic scored one of the team’s most impressive wins on Stage 2 of the Tour de Georgia when he soloed over the top of Clocktower Hill in Rome, Ga., to notch the only victory by a domestic team at the ProTour race.

Toyota-United has been ranked either first or second all season in the National Race Calendar team standings. In addition to its 21 wins, the team has more than 60 podium finishes (first, second or third placings) to its credit and is rapidly closing in on the 100-win mark in just its second season as a professional cycling team.

Vogels was Toyota-United’s best finisher in Philadelphia, placing 13th. He was one of a number of racers that were delayed by a crash a couple hundred meters from the finish line.

“It’s frustrating when you ride six hours and everything comes unglued in the last kilometer,” Sullivan said about the end to the 156-mile (251 km) race that was won by former Toyota-United rider Juan Jose Haedo.

At the last USA CRIT Series race in Arlington, Va., June 2, Stevic narrowly lost the sprint to Rashaan Bahati (Rock & Republic Cycling Team). Toyota-United did not field any riders for the first two races of the series.

Toyota-United is one of the most fan-friendly teams in the pro peloton. Its riders wear their last names on the backs of their jerseys for easy identification (like other “mainstream” sports such as basketball, football and baseball). The team also has a fan club that boasts 20,000 members who receive discounts on team merchandise and apparel, as well as monthly e-mail newsletter and other special offers. For more information, visit www.toyota-united.com.

Final Kilometer Pile-Up Dashes Toyota-United’s Hopes

2007-06-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia - The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team saw its two best opportunities to win Sunday’s Commerce Bank International Championship end in two different ways.

A late-race breakaway that included Toyota-United’s Caleb Manion and Ivan Stevic was chased down and caught on the final trip up the Manayunk Wall.

But the bigger blow came with the finish line in sight and four Toyota-United riders near the front of the pack. A collision nearly took down Henk Vogels and held up the others as CSC’s Juan Jose Haedo sprinted down the parkway for the victory.
Despite the misfortunes, Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen had many positives to point out after the 156-mile (251 km) race that was run in record time.

“The guys had a phenomenal race,” Jansen said. “In all honesty, maybe a better race than last year. They didn’t make mistakes.

“Stevic and Manion did what they had to do. They had to make moves in the final part of the race and that’s what they did. Everyone did their job.”

Indeed, after Stevic crashed hard, he regained the field with the help of teammate Heath Blackgrove and rode straight through to a breakaway up the road that included Manion.

“When I saw Caleb, it was a beautiful day,” Stevic said.

The group of 10 included two from the Navigators Insurance Cycling Team, two from the Symmetrics Cycling Team, one each from the two ProTour teams (T-Mobile and CSC), plus riders from Health Net presented by Maxxis and the BMC Professional Cycling team. The escapees’ lead grew to nearly 90 seconds before they were reeled back in through the combined chasing efforts of the Slipstream presented by Chipotle and Tecos de la Universidad teams.

“Everyone but Slipstream loved it,” Manion said.

Toyota-United’s Chris Wherry, who won the race in 2005, also made his way into breakaway that gained more than a minute’s lead. But each time, like all the rest of the breakaways before and after that, it was reeled in.

But the most decisive blow to Toyota-United’s chances of improving on last year’s second-place finish by Ivan Dominguez came as Vogels was sitting in 10th place. A rider lost control as the final sprint began.

“It started on the left and came across four lanes of traffic to the right,” Wherry said. “It actually hit Henk and he was sliding sideways but managed to pull out of it.”

Vogels’ 13th-place finish was the best Toyota-United could manage. But it did not diminish Jansen’s spirits.

“I walked onto the bus with a smile on my face and told the guys they rode a fantastic race,” he said.

Toyota-United Roster for International ChampionshipIncludes Former Champions Wherry, Vogels

2007-06-10T03:35:00.001-07:00

Philadelphia –The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team will put two former champions and a stage winner at the Tour de Georgia on the start line of Sunday’s Commerce Bank International Championship in Philadelphia.

American Chris Wherry (2005) and Australian Henk Vogels (2000) have each earned wins in the 156-mile (251 km) race when it was contested as the USPRO road race championship. They will join Serbian national champion Ivan Stevic, winner of Stage 2 at the Tour de Georgia, on Toyota-United’s roster for the final event of the Triple Crown of Cycling.

Stevic has competed in the Philadelphia race twice before, but has never placed better than 14th. Last Saturday, he finished second to Rashaan Bahati (Rock & Republic Cycling Team) at the CSC Invitational in Arlington, Va.

But it is another Ivan – Ivan Dominguez – who has been grabbing headlines for Toyota-United this season. The Cuban has won eight races, including Stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California, and finished second in last year’s International Championship. But a crash in mid-May at the Tri-Peaks Challenge Stage Race sidelined Dominguez with back and rib injuries.

“It is definitely a loss to not have Ivan Dominguez here with us,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “It would allow us to be a little more flexible with our tactics.”

Toyota-United will field one of the most international lineups of any team in the 140-plus rider field.
Joining Stevic, Wherry and Vogels on Toyota-United’s roster will be Brazilian Stefano Barberi, New Zealander Heath Blackgrove, Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia of Mexico and Australians Caleb Manion and Sean Sullivan.

Sunday’s forecast calls for sunny skies with low humidity and a high temperature of 80 degrees Farenheit (27 degrees Celcius). Stevic said he wouldn’t mind the temperature to be even warmer.

“I want it to be hot – like 90 degrees or more,” he said. “I always feel good in hot and humid weather.”

Jansen agrees that the race takes on a different complexion when the mercury rises.

“We would fare well with hot weather because it would make for a smaller group coming to the finish,” he said. “That would make it an easier race to control in the end.”

Nearly half a million spectators are expected to turn out for Sunday’s race that includes 10 laps of a 14.4-mile circuit. The featured aspect of the course is the brutal ascent of the 17 percent grade Manayunk Wall. Thousands pack the climb, contributing to a world championship-like atmosphere that is unlike any other in a race in the United States.

“It’s probably the single-most prestigious one-day race in the United States,” Jansen said. “It’s one of those races that we were very close to winning last year and we’ve definitely put our sights on it.”

“Philadelphia is a special race, unlike any other we will ride the entire year,” Stevic said. “You really have to have a feeling that you’re going to win this race.”

Although the race will be the longest single-day event Toyota-United will compete in this year, Stevic said long training rides aren’t necessary to adequately prepare for the distance.

“The big effort in this race only lasts about two hours,” Stevic said. “Before that, it is just about riding your bike.”

Toyota-United will spend Friday training outside Philadelphia, in Reading, where the team competed in the second leg of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown on Thursday afternoon, then ride the course on Saturday.

German Bernhard Eisel (T-Mobile) is the leader in the Triple Crown standings after the first two legs of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown. With victories at both Lancaster and Reading, Eisel has an 80-point lead over Sergey Lagutin (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team), who finished second in Lancaster on Sunday. Through the first two races, Toyota-United’s best placing is the 10th place finish by Caleb Manion in Thursday’s race in Reading.

Toyota-United has won 20 races this season and is the only domestic team to win stages at both the Amgen Tour of California and the Tour de Georgia. The second-year squad is also the only one in the U.S. with an official fan club. The Toyota-United membership team (www.toyota-united.com) boasts nearly 20,000 fans who have signed up to receive the team’s newsletter and purchase team merchandise and apparel at discounted prices.

Toyota-United Races Thursday In Reading

2007-06-04T21:08:00.001-07:00

Toyota-United celebrates after Heath Blackgrove's stage win at Mt. Hood.
Reading, Penn. – Toyota-United, one of the top-ranked professional bicycling racing teams in the National Race Calendar standings, is among more than a dozen squads that will participate in the Commerce Bank Reading Classic on Thursday.

Toyota-United’s roster includes Australian Henk Vogels, a veteran of several Tours de France, as well as Serbian national champion Ivan Stevic, who finished second Saturday at the CSC Invitational in Arlington, Va.

More than 140 racers will compete in the race Thursday over a 75-mile, 11-lap circuit course that winds its way through the streets of Reading. On the final three laps, the course diverts the cyclists up the challenging Mt. Penn climb.

“The race organizers have made the race much tougher this year by making us climb Mt. Penn two more times than last year,” Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. “That climb seemed to be the decisive factor in the race, so I would expect it will figure prominently again this time.”

Reading is the second stop of The Commerce Bank Triple Crown Series. On Sunday, Bernhard Eisel of the German T-Mobile squad won a rain-soaked, 85-mile race in Lancaster, Penn. The series concludes on Sunday with the Philadelphia International Championship, a grueling 156-mile race that is widely considered the single-most important bicycle race in North America.

Toyota-United has won 20 races this season and is the only domestic team to win stages at both the Amgen Tour of California and the Tour de Georgia. The second-year squad is also the only one in the U.S. with an official fan club. The Toyota-United membership team (www.toyota-united.com) boasts nearly 20,000 fans who have signed up to receive the team’s newsletter and purchase team merchandise and apparel at discounted prices.

Toyota-United Goes 1-2 At Mt. Hood Criterium

2007-06-03T16:14:00.000-07:00

Heath Blackgrove wins while teammate Bobby Lea celebrates.
Hood River, Ore. - Heath Blackgrove won his first race since the first week of January and teammate Bobby Lea cruised in behind him to give the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team a 1-2 finish on the final stage of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic.

Blackgrove and Lea were hardly challenged in the final sprint to the line at the end of Sunday’s Stage 6 Downtown Criterium. Blackgrove said he was originally going to lead out Lea at the end of the 60-minute race. But on the tight, four-tenths-of-a-mile course, the New Zealander recognized an opportunity to win himself when Lea allowed a gap to open up through the final corners.

“I took the last four corners and just bombed through those as hard as I could,” Blackgrove said. “I didn’t want to lead Bobby out too early because it was an uphill sprint and into the wind. Once I got through the final corner, I just kept waiting for someone to come around me and no one did.”

Lea said he thought it would be a good idea to back off from Blackgrove heading into the final corner in order to keep his momentum onto the 150-meter finishing straightaway.

“But when I came out of the last corner, I hit it and no one was on my wheel,” Lea said. “So I didn’t even have to come around Heath.”

The 1-2 finish in the criterium that featured an average speed of 45.2 kph (27.9 mph) came in addition to Toyota-United’s Stefano Barberi winning the King of the Mountains classification. Those results brought a huge grin to the face of Team Director Kirk Willett.

“The guys raced aggressively today and, in the end, the week turned out great for us,” Willett said.

Sunday’s race was a role reversal of sorts for Toyota-United’s top two riders on the general classification. With their spots in the top 12 overall likely not to change in the final stage, Chris Baldwin and Justin England went to work following attacks and keeping Lea and Blackgrove out of trouble.

England, who was third across the line in Saturday’s Stage 5 Wy’East Road Race, finished in fifth place overall, three minutes behind Nathan O’Neill (Health Net), who repeated as the race’s overall champion. Chris Baldwin, who came into the race a handful of points behind Ben Jacques-Maynes on the National Race Calendar standings, finished 11th overall, 3:41 behind.

Blackgrove, who now has four wins to his credit this season, said the victory eases some of the frustration that came with rehabilitating a nagging knee injury suffered at the Amgen Tour of California in February.

“It’s been a long, hard road back but finally things are slowly starting to improve for me over the past few weeks,” he said.

Blackgrove and Barberi will now head to the East Coast to ride the second and third races of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown race series on Thursday and Sunday.

Toyota-United Goes 2-3 On Mt. Hood’s Stage 5

2007-06-02T23:54:00.000-07:00

Burke Swindlehurst (left) joins Justin England (right) and
stage winner Darren Lill (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team).
Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area, Oregon – Intent on making sure Stefano Barberi remained in the King of the Mountains jersey at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett devised a plan Saturday that would pay even bigger dividends.

Facing the toughest stage of the race, Willett instructed Barberi and teammate Burke Swindlehurst to initiate a break early on in Stage 5’s 89-mile (143.2 km) Wy’East Road Race. The result was an eight-man group that stayed in front nearly the entire stage, with Swindlehurst finishing second, followed by teammate Justin England in third.

“We had a plan set up for today and everyone executed the plan exactly as we discussed,” Willett said. “We came out of that with second and third on the day and the KOM jersey. That’s a pretty darn good day.”

Darren Lill (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) rode away from Swindlehurst and Barberi in the final kilometers to win the stage by 21 seconds. England jumped out of the peloton with 3.1 miles (5 km) to go and finished seven seconds behind Swindlehurst. The result moved England up to sixth place overall, two minutes and 55 seconds behind race leader Nathan O’Neill (Health Net presented by Maxxis).

“This race has been really tough, with good courses,” England said. “But I think our team has represented itself well. We’ve been active in the breakaways – both today and yesterday – but we really would have liked to have come away with a stage win.”

Barberi said he envisioned the early breakaway being able to stay away on the course that featured 9,200 feet of climbing. At one point, the escapees had a four-minute lead.

“It was a good group of guys and everyone was working well together,” Barberi said. “There was no looking back. We were either going to win the stage or destroy the rest of the field. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the win.”

With only Sunday’s 60-minute Downtown Criterium remaining in the six-day race, Barberi needs only to finish to win the first-ever special classification of his three-year professional career.

Toyota-United also moved into third place Saturday in the team classification behind Navigators Insurance Cycling Team and Health Net presented by Maxxis.

Ivan Stevic Second at CSC Invitational

2007-06-02T17:01:00.000-07:00

Stevic led with 200 meters to go, only to be nipped at the line.
Arlington, Va. — Ivan Stevic of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team came within inches of winning the sprint finish Saturday at the 10th annual CSC Invitational.

It was a drag race from the final corner to the finish line, with Stevic being beaten by Rashaan Bahati (Rock & Republic Cycling Team) while Hilton Clarke (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) was third.

“It was a long sprint and into a headwind, so it probably helped Rashaan that he was able to come from behind me,” Stevic said. "I'm happy for him and his team.”

Stevic’s finish was the second runner-up placing on the day for Toyota-United. At the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic in Oregon, Burke Swindlehurst and Justin England finished second and third, respectively, on Stage 5 at that National Race Calendar event.

Stevic, the reigning Serbian National Champion, said he received a perfect leadout from teammates Chris Wherry and Henk Vogels on the final lap of the 62-mile (100 km), 100-lap race that is billed as the “Hardest Crit in America.” The only glitch, Stevic said, was that he came around Vogels on the outside of the final turn, rather than the inside.

“I should have told Henk I was coming up on the inside,” Stevic said. “I can usually do the corners really tight, so I usually go to the inside. Rashaan saw my mistake and jumped, and there was no way to catch him.”

Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said he was pleased the team performed so well despite the absence of its top sprinter, Ivan Dominguez, who is recovering from a crash that injured his back and ribs.

"Ivan Stevic was really fantastic today," Jansen said. "We had only six guys in the race and we got second place, so I'm pretty happy about it."

Of Toyota-United’s six riders, two of them – Jose Manual Garcia and Caleb Manion – were not feeling 100 percent in the 90-degree heat. Garcia was suffering from stomach problems and Manion was experiencing back pain, Stevic said.

“Everyone did what they could today,” Stevic said. “With eight laps to go, I almost crashed and went all the way to the back of the bunch. But Chris (Wherry) came back and got me and took me right back to the front. We were very lucky that he was feeling good today.”

In the early going of the race, Victor Rapinski (Navigators Insurance) ventured off on a solo breakaway and was within 15 seconds of lapping the field on the five-turn, one-kilometer course through Arlington’s Clarendon district before several teams began working hard on the front.

Rapinski was eventually brought back and, in the closing laps, Toyota-United and Team CSC controlled the front to set up the bunch sprint.

“It looked like it was going to come down to a bunch sprint,” Jansen said, “so we played it that way.”

Stefano Barberi Eyes King of the Mountain Title

2007-06-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

The Dalles, Ore. – Stefano Barberi of the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team can secure the King of the Mountains crown Saturday in the Stage 5 Wy’East Road Race at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic.

The 89-mile (143.2 km) race features 9,200 feet of climbing to the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area. With three KOM sprint opportunities, Barberi needs only to retain his seven-point lead over teammate Burke Swindlehurst and 10-point margin over Jeff Louder (Health Net presented by Maxxis) to hang onto the special green and white jersey. (Sunday’s final stage is a criterium with no KOM points on the line.)

“He rode a little bit easy in the time trial today,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said of the Brazilian. “His goal will be to win that first King of the Mountain sprint and lock it up.”

Points are available for the first five racers across each of three KOM sprint lines along Saturday’s race route. Point values range from seven (first) to two (fifth) for each sprint.

Saturday’s race begins with the Category 1 climb over Road 44 (at mile 12.9), followed by the ascent to Tygh Grade (mile 42.4) and, finally, a 35-mile, 4,500-foot climb to the mountaintop finish at Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area. All three climbs are KOM sprints.

Willett said Toyota-United’s remaining goal for the six-day, six-stage race is to win a stage. Chris Baldwin has come the closest, finishing third in the opening time trial on Tuesday.

Baldwin had the best time of the Toyota-United team in Friday’s 18.5-mile (29.7 km) Best Western Hood River Inn Scenic Gorge Time Trial. But his result was only good enough for ninth place, two minutes and 28 seconds behind stage winner Nathan O’Neill (Health Net).

“Yesterday’s effort in the breakaway seemed to have an effect on Chris,” Willett said. “I think he’s a little tired. After doing so many months of racing, it’s finally starting to show this week.”

Justin England finished 11th in the time trial, 2:36 back, while Heath Blackgrove (pictured at right) was 12th (2:43 behind), Burke Swindlehurst was 36th (5:02 behind), Bobby Lea was 45th (5:42 behind) and Barberi was 57th (6:27 behind).

In the overall standings, Baldwin is ninth overall, 3:00 behind O’Neill, followed by England in 10th (3:03 back), Swindlehurst is 28th, Lea is 31st, Blackgrove is 38th and Barberi is 44th.

Dominguez Will Miss CSC, Commerce Bank Series

2007-06-01T15:47:00.000-07:00

Arlington, Va. — Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team sprinter Ivan Dominguez will miss Saturday’s CSC Invitational and the entire Commerce Bank “Triple Crown of Cycling” series while he continues his recovery from a bizarre crash at the Tri-Peaks Challenge last month.

Dominguez has been Toyota-United’s most successful racer this season, winning eight races – including Stage 7 of the Amgen Tour of California. The Cuban is a past winner of the CSC Invitational (in 2005), finished second at the Philadelphia International Championship last year and was third at the Wachovia Invitational in Lancaster, Penn., in 2005.

“It’s a tremendous loss for us,” said Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen. “He was coming into such great form.”

Dominguez severely bruised his back and ribs when he flipped over the handlebars 200 meters after crossing the finish line in Stage 1 of the Tri-Peaks Challenge May 17 in Russellville, Ark. The eighth-year pro said he doesn’t remember making contact with anyone and nothing was found to be wrong with his bicycle.

“It has really bothered me the way I crashed,” Dominguez said Friday from his Los Angeles-area home. “If I crashed going into the last turn or going for it in the sprint, I’d expect something like that. But this was while I was rolling in at the back of the group after the finish. I’m still trying to figure out what happened.”

Dominguez said he expects to resume training next week but might not be able to start racing again for some time.

“It’s a very frustrating situation, but like I said to my teammates, I want to make sure I heal the injury the way I’m supposed to,” Dominguez said. “I don’t want to crash again and make it worse.”

Jansen said with Dominguez out, Toyota-United will look to Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels to be the designated team leaders for the four races over the next nine days. Stevic was third at the CSC Invitational in 2005 while Vogels has won in Philadelphia (in 2000).

After Saturday’s CSC Invitational, Toyota-United will compete in three Pro Cycling Tour events: the Tom Bamford Lancaster Classic on Sunday, the Commerce Bank Reading Classic on June 7 and the Philadelphia International Championship on June 10.

The rest of Toyota-United’s roster for the series will be Jose Manuel Garcia, Caleb Manion, Sean Sullivan and 2005 USPRO Road Champion Chris Wherry. The rest of the Toyota-United team is competing in the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic in Oregon through Sunday.

Toyota-United Sponsored RiderBegins Ride Around The World

2007-06-01T14:17:00.000-07:00

Washington, D.C. – Endurance bicyclist Daniel Sheret began his around the world bicycle ride Friday with two racers from the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team at his side.

Serbian National Champion Ivan Stevic and Tour de France veteran Henk Vogels pedaled alongside Sheret in the opening miles of his 14,000-mile journey that started in the shadow of the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Sheret is an amputee who lost the lower part of his right leg in an accident five years ago.

Toyota-United is a proud sponsor of Sheret’s ride, which will raise funds and awareness for amputees who have lost limbs due to landmines. Funds raised by his "Ability Trek 2007" ride will benefit Clear Path International, a non-governmental organization that assists survivors of landmines and explosive remnants of war in Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Thailand-Burma border. His ride will also benefit the Basra, Iraq Prosthetic Center's capacity to treat Iraqi amputees in Iraq's southern region.

“He’s an amazing guy,” Stevic said of Sheret. “He’s more than just someone who is riding his bike around the world. He is a great inspiration to everyone he meets.”

Stevic and Vogels accompanied Sheret from Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial, where he was given his final sendoff. Riding a team-issue Toyota-United bicycle and wearing the team’s official uniform, Sheret will haul everything he needs in a small trailer behind his bike.

“It’s amazing to me that he can do this,” Stevic said. “You have to be so strong mentally to take on a challenge like the one he’s doing.”

Sheret will pedal through Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah and Nevada, before arriving in San Francisco, in approximately 66 days.

From there, Sheret will bicycle through Southeast Asia and visit a Clear Path International mine survivors assistance project in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam. His epic tour will include Jordan, Turkey, the Balkans, the Czech Republic, and Western Europe, and conclude in the United States in 2008.

To learn more about Sheret’s “Ability Trek 2007” and follow his daily blog, visit abilitytrek.org. The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team website will also provide updates.

Rolling The Dice On Stage 3 At Mt. Hood

2007-05-31T17:15:00.000-07:00

Cooper Spur Mountain Resort, Ore. – The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team took a gamble early on in Thursday’s 87-mile (140 km) Cooper Spur Circuit Race on Stage 3 at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic.

The move eventually amounted to a six-man breakaway that included no fewer than four Toyota-United riders: Chris Baldwin, Stefano Barberi, Heath Blackgrove and Burke Swindlehurst.

Baldwin, who stood fourth on the overall classification heading into the stage, told Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett he wanted to “roll the dice” with a big move on a day when the race comprised four-and-a-half laps of a circuit that included 9,200 feet of climbing.

“We were hoping to try something different to try and win the race considering how well Nathan O’Neill (Health Net presented by Maxxis) is riding,” Willett said. “It was our one day to try and get some time on him and we gave it a try.”

In the end, no amount of time was gained, but Toyota-United’s best hopes for overall victory – Baldwin and Justin England – are still in good position with three stages remaining. England finished fifth Thursday, three seconds behind stage winner Glen Chadwick (Navigators Insurance Cycling Team) to move up to seventh overall, 44 seconds behind race leader Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell). Baldwin was 23rd on the day, 22 seconds back, and stands 10th overall, 49 seconds out of the lead.

Friday’s stage will almost certainly be decisive for the overall contenders. The 18.5-mile (29.7 km) Scenic Gorge Time Trial features a two-mile climb that winds its way to the top of the Columbia River Plateau, followed by another climb up to the historic Mosier Tunnels.

“This time trial is unbelievably hard,” Willett said. “It’s probably the most challenging time trial these guys will see all year and quite possibly the hardest one on the domestic scene because of all the climbing and a headwind that’s expected to be 20 to 25 mph.”

Thursday, Toyota-United ignited the stage by attacking after the first of five ascents of the Category 2-rated Cooper Spur climb. With Baldwin, Barberi, Swindlehurst, Jeff Louder (Health Net) and Barry Wicks (Kona Lesgets Factory Team) in the break, the leaders quickly built a 75-second lead 25 miles into the stage.

Fewer than 10 miles later, Blackgrove bridged across to the group of five and helped push the lead up to a nearly two minutes with two 19-mile laps remaining.

“Heath attacked in the hopes that one of the Navigators guys would go with him, which would have put pressure on Health Net and Priority Health,” Willett said. “Unfortunately, nobody went with him.”

The chasing efforts of the Priority Health and Navigators teams eventually brought the margin down as the race closed in on the final lap. With the break about to be caught, Chadwick jumped out of the pack, marked by Toyota-United’s Bobby Lea. The pair worked together to build a nearly minute’s lead with only seven miles to go. But Chadwick eventually ventured off alone and held on to finish one second ahead of Jacques-Maynes, Zajicek and O’Neill.

One consolation for Toyota-United on the day was the effort of Barberi, who took the lead in the King of the Mountains competition. The Brazilian will wear the green-and-white jersey through Saturday, as Friday’s time trial does not figure into the climbing competition.

Baldwin Fourth Overall After Mt. Hood's Stage 2

2007-05-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

Chris Baldwin (third from right) took fourth in the sprint.
The Dalles, Ore. - Chris Baldwin moved up to third overall at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Wednesday morning without even climbing onto his bicycle.

Baldwin was listed as the fourth-place finisher in Tuesday’s Stage 1 Panorama Point Prologue time trial. But overnight, race officials determined the original stage winner, Devon Vigus (California Giant/Specialized), was credited with a time one minute faster than his actual finish. The revised results showed Baldwin in third, 11 seconds behind new leader and defending champion Nathan O’Neill (Health Net presented by Maxxis).

Hours later, Baldwin and his Toyota-United teammates were racing Thursday’s 110-mile (176.9 km) Columbia Hills Road Race, the longest stage of the six-day race. With the peloton averaging barely 20 mph for the first two hours, a three-man breakaway easily escaped up the road and built a 13-minute advantage.

It was left to O’Neill’s Health Net squad to do the chasing – and, with help from the Navigators Insurance Cycling Team – the leaders were caught within 15 miles of the finish.

“Guys were mostly suffering from the heat,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said. “We haven’t really done a 90-degree race in the sun all year. Guys started to wilt off the back when the pace picked up.”

Toyota-United’s Stefano Barberi and Justin England were among several riders who went on the attack in the closing miles, further pressuring the Health Net team.

“Navigators chipped in again to help bring them back,” Willett said. “Unfortunately, if a Navigators rider had been in that move, it might have changed things.”

The race was all back together as it entered the final 10 km (6.2 miles), which was a rolling downhill to the finish. Toyota-United’s Bobby Lea led Baldwin out for the bunch sprint in the hopes of helping his teammate earn one of three time bonuses on the line. Baldwin just missed out on another podium finish, placing fourth, as Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team presented by Bissell) took the win and moved into the overall lead.

All six of Toyota-United’s riders finished among the lead group of 54 and are in the top 25 in the overall classification heading into Thursday’s 87-mile (140 km) Cooper Spur Circuit Race. The racers will complete four-and-a-half laps of a circuit that comprises 9,200 feet of climbing.

“Basically, one half of the course is a climb, the other half is downhill,” Willett said. “In the past, it’s been smaller groups that have come into the finish – mostly the overall contenders and a few climbers – usually a group of less than 20.”

Willett said the stage might not decide the overall race winner, but it can certainly eliminate someone from contention.

“Tomorrow is going to be a hard day,” he said. “We’ll find out exactly how strong the Health Net guys are because we’ll be on the attack.”