BISSELL #1 Team in NRC Rankings & BJM wins the Joe Martin Opening Stage

The Joe Martin Stage race marks the 6th race in the NRC calendar, and the BISSELL Pro Cycling Team kicked it off in perfect form. The current NRC standings were just released and confirmed that the BISSELL Team is ranked first in the team standings and BISSELL’s Tom Zirbel is 2nd in the individual standings. To make a good day even better, Ben Jacques-Maynes won the opening Joe Martin time trial and BISSELL had 4 riders in the top ten. Thursday’s opening time trial was a short but very tough course. The 2.5 mile stretch out of Devil’s Den had an average grade of 6.8% with 680ft gain in elevation. Also having a tremendous stage were BISSELL’s New Zealand Time Trail Champion, Jeremy Vennell, who had the 3rd fastest time, along with Tom Zirbel in 7th and Morgan Schmitt in 10th. Rounding out the Joe Martin roster for BISSELL are Andy Jacques-Maynes, Peter Latham, Frank Pipp, and Kirk O’Bee. Tomorrow’s stage is 110 miles with 5400 ft of climbing. The course includes a 9.2 mile steady climb with an average grade of 2.7 % and an uphill finish that kicks up to a 6% grade for the last 350 meters.