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Stage 2
Friday, June 5
Scenic Gorge Time Trial
18.5 miles
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Paul Maintains Lead in GC
BISSELL’s Paul Mach rode a fierce time trial on Friday into ferocious headwinds where he came through with the 2nd fastest time and held onto the overall race lead! The winds were blowing uncharacteristically out of the west with gusts up to 22 mph and turned the already brutal day into an even more punishing event. The fastest rider on the day was OUCH’s Chris Baldwin who came in 3 seconds quicker than Paul. At the first time check of the day, Paul was 3 seconds up on Chris and at 4 miles to go the two riders were even. It was a very close battle with Chris just inching out Paul; however, Paul’s 18 second lead over Baldwin in the GC going into the day’s TT holds Paul’s place as overall leader. The other BISSELL riders combated the winds as Morgan Schmitt took 3rd, Burke Swindlehurst 12th, Graham Howard 17th, and Omer Kem 23rd. “It was a crazy headwind”, says BISSELL’s Burke Swindlehurst who notes that his TT was about 4 minutes faster last year in a tailwind. The BISSELL Team also leads the Team GC.
The BISSELL Team is prepared to control tomorrow’s Wy’East Road Race. Graham Howard and Omer Kem will be BISSELL’s chief defender s in Saturday’s battle which will take the riders 92 miles and see huge elevation gains from a lowest point at 1,000ft to the uphill finish at 5,000ft. Glen Mitchell is confident in BISSELL’s ability to hold the lead. “Paul is showing great form. It will be hard for Chris to beat him”, says Mitchell. Paul holds a 15 second lead over Baldwin heading into tomorrow’s stage. |
