Inaugural U.S. Open ‘A Tough Race’

Henk Vogel’s 12th place finish led the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Saturday at the Inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championships.

Canadian Svein Tuft (Symmetrics Cycling) soloed away from breakaway companion Pat McCarty (Team Slipstream Presented by Chipotle) in the final three miles to earn the victory in the 112-mile (179 km) race from Williamsburg to Richmond. McCarty held off Alejandro Borrajo (Rite Aid) for second place. Six of eight Toyota-United riders finished, a feat only one other team (Slipstream Sports presented by Chipolte) accomplished.

Vogels and Toyota-United teammate Ivan Dominguez each found themselves in breakaways at some point during the race. Vogels was part of a group that never gained more than 30 seconds’ lead on the road to Richmond. Later, the Australian integrated himself into a three-man move that was off the front with five laps to go. But again, the gap never reached more than 30 seconds and Vogels’ escape ended with a flat tire.

Dominguez was part of a seven-rider group that tried to close the gap on McCarty when the Slipstream rider attacked with three laps to go. Instead, Tuft bridged across to McCarty and the pair quickly built a 39-second gap with two laps to go. Dominguez’s group was caught by the remnants of the pack with 5.5 miles to go, but Tuft and McCarty were already more than a minute up the road.

"The dynamic I was worried about going into this race was that we would be in a position as the team to beat," Toyota-United Team Director Harm Jansen said. "So having the numbers at the end kind of put us at a disadvantage. Everyone else looked to us to do the chasing."

Toyota-United’s Justin England said teammates Ivan Stevic, Sean Sullivan and Caleb Manion did what they could to close the gap and get Vogels and Dominguez (seen below) in a position to win.

"We came up empty in the end, but we gave it a go," he said.

The nearly 150 riders who started the race endured driving snow at the start that gave way to sunshine, only to encounter snow again snowing again. Winds gusting to nearly 30 miles an hour buffeted the peloton, which stayed intact until it reached the first of eight laps along a 5.5-mile circuit finish in Richmond. The race finished under sunny skies, with temperatures in the upper 30s.

"With the cold and the wind and the morning start, it made the race a lot harder," Jansen said. "Had we had sunshine and warmer temperatures, it would have been much less harder."


Inside The Peloton with Chris Wherry (Toyota United)

The Weather: It was probably some of the worst weather conditions I’ve raced in since I was in Belgium several years ago. Everyone at the start thought “this is insane.” But the race organizer seemed to have an eye on the weather and knew it was going to clear up. As soon as the sun came out, the roads dried out but it was still cold all day long.

The Road Course: There were some exposed sections where there were crosswinds. That makes it difficult but it makes it fun and tactical, too. We had a pretty strong headwind all the way to Richmond, but we were still moving along at a fairly good clip.

The Circuit Course: A lot of people thought the first time up Libby Hill was going to be critical and the whole race was going to explode. But with the weather and the course being rolling all the way to the circuit, I think guys were thinking they needed to save some energy. The circuit was hard. It was up and down so you were basically climbing or descending. If we were on the flats, it was basically lined out at 30 miles an hour.

How The Race Played Out: We kept having to play tactics. Henk was in a good move, but he definitely had to save himself. It was a little early. When Ivan (Dominguez) went away, that was a little bit of a crazy situation because nobody wants to drag him up the road because they know he can sprint. The other teams were playing off of us. Unfortunately for the guys in the back, there was a little lack of communication. Some of the guys didn’t know how far the group in front was away. But that’s a bike race.

On Watching The Race On NBC: We finished, took showers and laid down in our hotel rooms and watched it. It was cool, great coverage. The team represented itself very well on TV so that was nice.

Toyota-United's Next Stop: Tour de Georgia

The fifth edition of the Tour de Georgia is being billed as the longest professional stage race in the United States.

A total of 120 cyclists on 15 teams will compete in the UCI 2.HC race that covers 667 miles (1,073 km) over seven days.

Included in this year’s race is a mountain top time trial on stage four.

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team is one of five continental teams that will participate in an event that more than 500,000 people turned out to watch last year.

Since the first edition of the race in 2003, more than 2.3 million spectators have helped generate $121 million in direct economic impact to the state.

Past winners of the Tour de Georgia include Floyd Landis (2006), Tom Danielson (2005), Lance Armstrong (2004) and Chris Horner (2003).

Last year, Juan José Haedo’s victory helped Toyota-United become the only domestic team to win stages at both the Tour de Georgia
and the Amgen Tour of California. Haedo won the final stage, a 118.2-mile (190.2 km) road race from Cumming/Forsyth County to Alpharetta.

Toyota-United was also fifth in the team classification last year, the best placing by a domestic team.

Fans are invited to stop by the Toyota-United booth at the Live Healthy Georgia Expo each day of the race to sign up for the team’s fan club and purchase official team merchandise.

Marcus Burghardt: "Paris-Roubaix is the world’s greatest cyclo-cross race"

Marcus Burghardt spoke with  t-mobile-team.com about his new role at the northern classics. The 23 year old rider said: "Well, I knew from racing here over the last couple of seasons that the Belgian races suited my style. But in contrast to other seasons my role has changed this year. In other years I was riding in the service of  Steffen Wesemann and Andreas Klier - now I have the freedom to ride my own race, which thanks to my good form I've been able to make the most of..."

Burghardt continued by saying: "In the past I had to go give it everything straight from the start; jump away with breakaways on the climbs, or chase them down, basically I had to do whatever the team tactics dictated. Now, I can conserve more energy for the finale and dig for a result there. This role brings a lot more responsibility with it, but I try not to dwell on that, instead I just concentrate on getting on with the job. And so far, I think that has been going well for me."

Asked if changes in his programm had a big influence in his rapid development, Burgahrdt said: "The biggest plus factor was that I got through the winter without getting sick. On top of that, the team management laid on the perfect race programme for me to follow.  At the Tour of Qatar, I could just roll my legs and build my form, and then at Paris-Nice I could really test myself in a fast and hard race. I have also benefited from a special build-up programme with my coach Thomas Schediwie – we followed a special pre-classics program on Mallorca. I have also been improving my form with interval training and motor-pacing."

Burghardt about being watched: "At the E3 Prijs I noticed that the peloton were no longer letting me get away so easy. The favourites were keeping tabs on me, and they were responding to my attacks. When we hit the races crunch points, such as the climbs, I am also being marked, but otherwise nothing has changed. Overall, I don’t give it too much thought."

About the upcoming classics the young T-mobile rider said: "Gent-Wevelgem is a race that suits me. I have raced there twice and both times I reached the finish in the lead group. I think we will see  a bigger lead group of around 25 contest the finale. Hopefully we can have two or three riders in this group, so that tactically we can play out our chances in the finale. I have ridden Paris-Roubaix with both the amateurs and the pros. It’s fun to race on this unique course. As I always say: 'Paris-Roubaix is the world’s greatest cyclo-cross race...' "