The hardest day | Cyclingnews

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This is my first race in the team car,(Image credit: Erik Saunders)

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On the map, it looked like the day was going to be decided on the final Category 1 climb at Warm Springs at the very end of the race, but that's not quite how it worked out for the majority of riders. The first selection of 20 (riders) or so actually ended up being made on a steep roller just after the first KOM about 50 miles in. When I got the numbers of these guys, it was obviously going to be over for everyone else.

Chris Monteleone rode a nice race to get 40th ten minutes back. He was a junior last year, so I think that this is a good result on a hard day against experienced professionals like Dominique Perras who have had many seasons in Europe. Chris was in the main field and over the last climb up Warm Springs, he was tailed off a bit from the first 12, so it's a good ride from him. In the end, there were the winner, then nine riders at 50 seconds or so, then six 6 at about 1:40, then 11 at about 4:30, then five near six minutes, then Chris and 12 others at about 10 minutes. The rest of the finishers were broken apart in smaller groups like this for an hour after the winner crossed. 26 riders were time cut and about that many more stopped on their own. So we lost 57 riders in this stage alone.

Jered Gruber finished 66th at 17 minutes. He rode a really aggressive first hour when things were going hard and the first selection came as a counter attack on a steep hill after an attack that Jered had been a part of was brought in. He is super-motivated for the next stages because he sees that he could just have easily made the selection with a little different luck and timing. He got in trouble when he flatted and couldn't come back, but he ended the day pumped up about his ability to actually take part in a hard race. I agree with him. It's better to go out there and ride hard because you can learn what you can do much better than sitting in waiting to get pounded on the climb.

The TIME Factory Development Team isn't your average American elite amateur team. Under the leadership of former pro Erik Saunders, the program has created an environment in which riders can gain the experience, knowledge, and fitness to get results instead of simply tossing riders into races and hoping they succeed. Along the way, the riders will live, eat, ride and race together as they learn how to become professional bike racers. For further reading about the team, visit the