Swapping jerseys at the Tour de Toona

Image 1 of 2

NOT NOW JEFF!(Image credit: Mark Zalewski)

Index to all entries

I'm defending champ of this stage after having gotten away with Horner in the finale. This year I knew would be different. The pelvic fractures seem to be healed but the muscles and tendons are completely worked. I felt great for the first hour and then typically the injuries began to manifest in minor discomfort. We've come here with six GC/climber types, Sayers for selfless workman, and Hendy for the sprints. (Although he's in yellow now). Somebody has to step up and sacrifice to help out Sayers. Mike "so pro" Jones has already volunteered and soon I join in as well. Jones manages to make the big second group over the day's significant climb of Blue Knob, while I am the first guy not-to-make-it into what Moninger begins calling the "30 second club". Denoting the 37 riders who are within 30 seconds, plus or minus, of the race lead.

As far as racing goes, Hollidaysburg annoys me. In 1992 I was part of the total Saturn team domination of a circuit around this town, when it was the National Amateur Road Racing Championship and Race 1 of 2 for the Olympic Team. Defeated by Lance at the 1991 Road Nationals, I'd hoped to exact revenge in 1992. Some of the players: my then-teammate Chann McRae of Plano Texas. A training pal of Lance. Since Saturn had 6 riders in a 10 man breakaway, Lance didn't have much of a chance to win the championship this day. But he could factor in the selection of WHICH Saturn rider would succeed in riding away from the break. Each of us Saturn guys had a turn at attacking, and Lance brought each of us back time after time. Until Chann went! All that was left was determining the lead-out order for our 1988 Olympic 4th place geter and leader, Bob Mionske. Somehow I went first, which crucially meant that I would end up 10th and last out of the breakaway. Two days later I would miss making the Olympic team by a whisker of points… one of my great regrets. SO… Hollidaysburg and Altoona have a strange attraction and repulsion for me. Hard racing, every year. The best road courses in America. And, I've won stages and finally the overall win in 2004. Good and bad memories.

Back to 2005. We worked really, really hard to rein in a storming Aaron Olsen of Colavita/Sutter Home both days. He got in breaks that featured strong riders like Larkin, Lavalee, etc and were very hard to bring back. Had other teams not taken some responsibility for the stage honors or their men high on GC, then we very well may have had to give up the yellow. Had that eventuated, it wouldn't have been all bad. We had big plans for Saturday's "Queen" stage, the Altoona road race featuring three major climbs and an 8 kilometer fearsome ascent of the toughest side of Blue Knob Mountain.

In '04 Moninger and I one-twoed Horner to wrest the yellow jersey off one of the hardest men to beat. Today we'll try the same thing. Sayers, Jones and I did our best to control a very agro field for the first couple hours. It seemed that EVERYONE wanted to be in the break. Nothing was sticking, because we were not going to let a group of more than six or seven riders go. During one flat stick jam session, I had finally worked my way to the front only to find us all misdirected. The pack weaved through stopped cars and gravel parking lots until we were back on course. Lots of shouting like "piss stop!" ensued. Someone quoted the cult movie "Anchorman", saying: "LOUD NOISES!". Hahahaha. After a 150 man pee break in an abandoned parking lot, we were underway again. A few more attacks had to be neutralized but we were now getting so close to the climb that most riders resigned themselves to the fact they weren't getting away and garnering a "head start" on the climbers. Two guys dawdled off but the three of us workers kept them close. Target Training (featuring none other than the same Chann McRae I referred to above, the guy who went on to ride for the biggest pro team in the world, Mapei, and finished fourth in the professional world road race championship. He's obviously racing for fun these days) took over and gave me just the rest I needed before the climb began in earnest.

I felt great on the ascent, considering, and was able to offer pace-making and encouragement to Hendy in the small fourth group. Colavita had most of their team in our group, so we knew that we'd be back in the race not long after the summit. By the time we got off the descent, Colavita had brought the 2nd, 3rd and 4th groups together into a thirty strong uber-group, chasing just Justin and Scott at about 20 seconds. A 70 km/h full-lean turn onto a metal surfaced bridge and we were onto a short steep climb. From the car, Jeff was suggesting and Scott was seconding a plan to shoot another Health Net pb Maxxis guy across to the first two. Failing that, Justin and Scott were to sit up and wait until the 2nd KOM climb. Unsure of my legs but encouraged after having climbed Blue Knob so smoothly, I took a big dig… instant gap! Jeff and Wherry were in my ear encouraging me, I'm away cleanly and my teammates are waiting for me ahead. Then there were three! Mark McCormack (Colavita) put in a huge bridge shortly after mine, but tactically we knew he wouldn't contribute to the break. Even though had he done so, it probably would have cemented 2nd overall for the tough Colavita rider. We knew that Mark didn't really care that much about 2nd; he was looking for a way to stay with Scott on the upcoming steeps so he could position himself for a real run at the race lead. Mark is a faster sprinter than Scott and with five time bonuses on the line during Sunday's final criterium stage, the Colavita man's strategy was obvious.

At the base of the final climb I was dropped from the break and subsequently couldn't even hold on to the less than thirty guys left in the peloton who came by me about 45 seconds behind the break. Too bad… I was dropped from this big group with just 1km to go to the summit. Had I made it, it would have been free ride for the final 13 kilometers mostly rolling and downhill. Instead I rode the last twenty minutes by myself, which was much harder. I was caught by three motivated riders within the last two kilometers, and was happy to sit on them anyway. At the team van I got the update: Scott had soloed away on the final climb to win the stage and take yellow, while Justin was in the four strong second group with McCormack and Hugh Moran of Aerospace Engineering. With 1 kilometer to go, an SUV driven by an elderly man pulled out right in front of Justin's group. Justin and Hugh went right over the hood. Hugh quickly remounted to finish 3rd or 4th, but Justin was bloodied, bruised (but otherwise OK) and his bike completely smashed. We think the 1km rule (or is it 3km now?) will be invoked to give Justin S.T. (same time) with the group he was with at the time of the accident.

Just one furious 45 minute criterium remains. Hendy has his eye on the green jersey, which he probably should have on his back now. Apparently the second intermediate sprint today he swore he was 3rd in, but the officials seem to have given the placing to the impressive Mercy Fitness rider Brad Huff. So Huff and Hendy are tied up going into a stage with a bunch of points available. Our priority will be defense of yellow, followed by the stage win, and finally we'll look for opportunities to get green too! Based on Colavita's sprinting strength here over the past few days, we'll have our hands full, though!

John Lieswyn is one of Cyclingnews' most popular and sometimes controversial diarists. John started road racing in Florida in 1985. After college graduation in 1990, he raced three seasons for the US National team in Germany, France and Italy, turning professional in 1993 for Coors Light. In 1995 he returned to Europe, scoring numerous top ten results and winning the Delemont (Switzerland) mountain stage of the Regio Tour. After taking a hiatus in 1996, he focused on the US domestic scene with over 40 major wins. In the pre and post season (US) he competes in South America, Australia and New Zealand, notably taking three stage wins in the Herald-Sun Tour (Australia), and overall victory at the Southland Tour (NZ) and Tour de Beauce (Canada). He has written for Cyclingnews.com since 1999 and continues this season with Team Health Net presented by Maxxis.