Specialized opens Red River Gorge with TT win

Six riders are crowded atop the GC after stage one’s opening mile-long time trial at the inaugural Tour of the Red River Gorge (UCI 2.1) Junior Invitational Stage Race. Charlie Avis of northern California leads the general classification as the lone rider to come in under two minutes with a winning time of 01:59:63. Lawson Craddock of the Hot Tubes received the white jersey of the Best Young Rider Category posting the seventh fastest time overall.

The first half of the 1.6km course was uphill and saw riders roaring downhill to the finish at speeds exceeding 30mph. Racing under cloudless skies with no wind National Junior Time Trial Champion Adam Leibovitz (Mid-Atlantic Development / Fuji) came in second with a time of 2:00:74. Jacob Rathe (Hammer/CMG Racing), the winner of Tour of the Red River Gorge Classic in 2008, started last aboard a stock road bike with aero equipment and finished within one hundreths of a second of Leibovitz.

Team Hot Tubes riders hovered neared the podium with riders in fourth, fifth and seventh overall.

Racing resumes this afternoon with a challenging 99km road race from Irivine to Stanton, KY. The race features points for King of the Mountain and points competitions.