our race coverage

June 18-21, 2008

Thursday’s Stages 2 & 3 Race Report

Thursday’s stages were packed full of racing with the morning time trial at Northstar at Tahoe and the evening crit in Truckee.

The time trial course was a short but brutal one with an average grade of 14% over 3.5 miles. Ian McKissick (BMC) won the time trial by 16 seconds. McKissick was in top form after preparation for the Tour de Suisse; however, he refocused his goals after not being selected for the Suisse roster. Aaron Olson, Burke Swindlehurst, and Morgan Schmitt were the BISSELL riders in the top 10 of the morning’s stage.
The Downtown Truckee Crit was a party atmosphere for the spectators but all business for the riders. A breakaway including Justin England (Toyota-United), Jon Baker (Vitamin Cottage), and Roman Kilun (Health Net) was able to stay away as the field was slow to react to the move. Kilun was working in the break but his main priority was to keep the time gap down to protect his teammates, Matt Cooke and Corey Collier, who were placed 2nd and 3rd in the GC, respectively. Kilun took the stage win; however, time bonuses benefited England who is now only 6 seconds behind overall leader, Ian McKissick.

Friday’s 100k road race should be a determining stage as the riders encounter some steep climbing and very fast descending. The BISSELL Pro Cycling Team is well represented in the GC with Aaron in 6th place :19  back, and Burke in 8th place :20 behind the race leader.