After a late spring snow storm dusted Boulder, Colorado Saturday evening, it was a bright and sunny Easter Sunday for the 100-man field toeing the line for the 60-minute Colorado University Research Park Criterium.  With a number of local pros on hand, the pace was fast from the start.  Toyota-United used their strength in numbers to establish the winning break in the opening 25 minutes.

The five-man break consisted of Toyota-United’s Henk Vogels, Ivan Stevic and Justin England along with Frank Pipp (HealthNet) and Michael Cody (Jelly Belly).  With 15 minutes remaining, Toyota-United’s Ben Day and Tom Zirbel (Bissell) jumped from the peloton, but only Day was able to bridge up to the break.  The break only had an advantage of 10-20 seconds that shrunk to within eight seconds on the final lap.  Vogels launched his sprint with 500 meters to go and Stevic, in his season debut, came around Cody to score the top two podium positions.  Finishing off an outstanding day for Toyota-United, Jonny Clarke took the field sprint for 7th place.

Results

CU Research Park Criterium

1st Henk Vogels – Toyota-United

2nd Ivan Stevic – Toyota-United

3rd Michael Cody – Jelly Belly

4th Justin England – Toyota-United

5th Frank Pipp - HealthNet

6th Ben Day  – Toyota-United

7th Jonny Clarke – Toyota-United

The previous day, Vogels won the Promontory Park Criterium in Greely, Colorado on Saturday from a five-man breakaway.  The Australian strongman logged 230 kms that day by riding 90 km each way to and from the race in addition to a 90-minute effort in the winning break.  The snowstorm hit Boulder during the final 30 km of his ride home with temperatures hovering in the mid-30s.   

Results

Promontory Park Criterium

1st - Henk Vogels- Toyota-United

2nd - Stefano Barberi

3rd - Jim Mohan

The California-based Toyota-United racers added two wins of their own for a total of four team victories over the holiday weekend.  It was a gorgeous 75-degree day in Del Mar, California where Toyota-United contested the Del Mar Criterium.  Continuing to display winning form, recently crowned Mexico Time Trial Champion Chepe Garcia escaped with one rider from the Time Pro Team before winning the race in a sprint.  Just behind the break were Toyota-United’s Hilton Clarke and Dominique Rollin, who finished 3rd and 4th respectively.  Hilton's top three placing enabled him to win the Del Mar Criterium series.

Results

Del Mar Criterium Series- San Diego, CA

1st - Chepe Garcia- Toyota-United

2nd - Rider from the Time Pro Team

3rd - Hilton Clarke- Toyota-United

Overall winner of the 2008 Del Mar Criterium Series