August 28/07 6:16 am - Vuelta a Venezuela: Stage 2: S-Team Overcomes Jetlag for a Top 10 finish

Posted by Editoress on 08/28/07
 

Vuelta a Venezuela
provided by Symmetrics Fuelled By FarmPure

After some terrible travel, the S-Team finally landed in Caracas, Venezuela. The Vancouver contigent of the team had two full nights without a bed due to cancelled flights and red-eyes! After finally arriving, the team did their best to recover for the Stage 1 TT. There are 24 teams in the race, with the major threats being Venezuela Selle Italia, the Italian Cinelli team, the Venezuelan National Team, and the Tachira team.

The time trial did not go as well as expected, most likely due to the travel. Eric Wohlberg finished just outside the top 10, with Svein Tuft and Cam Evans the next riders for Symmetrics fuelled by FarmPure, placing 18th and 19th. The TT course was not flat, it was up and down the whole way with a 2.5km hill in the middle that riders used a 39x23 to get up.

The Stage 1b Circuit race was a flat cigar shaped course 6km around along the main boulevard in the Carupano. The team, still fatigued from the travel, rode conservatively.

Stage 2 saw Eric Wohlberg just miss out on a terrific win. The team rode well, with their legs feeling much better than the first day, marking the moves and getting in breaks. In the final kilometres, Cam Evans jumped and was caught, with Wohlberg attacking hard. The wiley veteran was caught just before the line but still managed to get ninth. If anything, the S-Team was happy to be feeling stronger and looks forward to the oncoming stages...