The BISSELL Pro Cycling Team put in a great day of racing in the opening stage of Gila and delivered Burke Swindlehurst to the finish in 5th place, 1:18 behind race leader, Levi Leipheimer (Astana/Mellow Johnny’s). The first day’s course was typical of the brutal climbing that the riders will face this week. Wednesday’s 94 mile point-to-point course included a final 6.7 miles of climbing where grades reached 19% and had a finishing altitude of 6794 feet. The BISSELL Team was very active in controlling the peloton during the frequent attacks during the opening 60 km. The break of the day came 2/3 into the race when Chad Beyer (BMC) attacked. Fifteen riders went with him, and Sheldon Deeny was BISSELL’s man in the move. The gap quickly grew to 3 minutes and forced Astana to control. With 10 km to go, the gap was hovering around a minute and Astana really threw it down in the crosswind to further shatter the field. BISSELL did a great job to protect Burke and Tom on the approach to the final 3 mile climb, but they couldn't quite hold onto Levi's final acceleration. The climb was virtually an individual time trial up Mogollon as each BISSELL rider raced within themselves to the best of their ability.
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Burke finishes in 5th place
photo: veloimages/brian hodes |
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