David Boily (Spidertech) fighting for KOM points on Mt. Diablo.(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Zachary Bell (Canada) and Eloy Teruel (Spain) in the scratch race in the men's omnium.(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Spidertech riders driving up one of the climbs(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Spidertech-C10 had a rough go of it Monday during the first stage of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado, with three of the squad's eight riders abandoning early in the race. Flavio De Luna, Zach Bell and David Boily, who wore the KOM jersey briefly in the Tour of California, all climbed into the broom wagon before the first KOM during the 202 km stage from Durango to Telluride.
Team director Steve Bauer said the Spidertech-C10 roster is spread out pretty thin, with one squad currently racing in Europe and another racing this week in Colorado.
"We could use maybe a stronger roster definitely with a tough race," he said. "But we chose to focus on two areas, Europe and here, to get ready for (the upcoming UCI races in) Montreal and Quebec and see how that works."
Bauer said De Luna crashed hard at the Tour of Utah just two weeks previously and was marginal for the race in Colorado. "We just don't have enough players, so we put him in," Bauer said.
Zach Bell competed with the Canadian track cycling team during the London Olympics, where he finished eighth in the omnium at the beginning of the month, and he was thrown into this race without much preparation or rest. "We didn't expect him to be great," Bauer said. "And he's not very good."
Boily is another matter. The 22-year-old climber, who was second overall at the Tour de l'Avenir and wore yellow for four days there, seemed well suited for the climbing in Colorado but faltered early and withdrew from the race within the first 30 km.
"With David, we've got to figure him out," Bauer said. "He wasn't going well in Utah, and he's not going well here. So is it an underlying virus? Is it altitude? We have to figure it out. Obviously he's not going well."
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The Canadian-based Pro Continental team is now pinning its hopes on Lucas Euser, the 29-year-old from Boulder who finished Monday's opening stage in 28th place with the same time as stage winner Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp).
"Obviously, Lucas is going well, so we'll try to support him as best we can and see if he can do well in the overall or pick up a stage," Bauer said. "So we'll focus on him and go from there."
Other teams suffering losses due to abandonment on the first day of racing include Omega Pharma-Quickstep, which lost sprinter Francesco Chichi; RusVelo, which lost Matvey Zubov; Team Exergy, which lost recent signee Kirk Carlson; and Bontrager-Livestrong, which lost Charlie Avis, who has been suffering from a leg problem throughout the year.
Growing up in Missoula, Montana, Pat competed in his first bike race in 1985 at Flathead Lake. He studied English and journalism at the University of Oregon and has covered North American cycling extensively since 2009, as well as racing and teams in Europe and South America. Pat currently lives in the US outside of Portland, Oregon, with his imaginary dog Rusty.
