May 15/08 9:53 am - Tour of Arkansas Stage 1
Posted by Editor on 05/15/08
Tour of Arkansas Russellville, AR
Report by Steve Bauer
Under cloudy skies, cool temperatures and substantial humidity Team RACE Pro began the Tour of Arkansas.
After a long 15 mile neutral start the race was on. It was not long before attacks began, on the large rolling hills approaching a difficult climb at 40 miles. Team RACE Pro were under instructions to not miss any breakaways in the early going. The team did well, following important and challenging attacks.
On the tough climb at 40 miles Team Type 1 set a hard tempo, splitting the peloton and leaving only 30 riders in the front group. Keeping pace for Team RACE Pro (TRP) were Mark Walters, Dan Timmerman and Dustin MacBurnie. Team Type 1 sustained the rhythm for a period to ensure the time gap was established and then let up. Attacks from the front began immediately, with Mark Walters opening up the race again. After lots of action the first split of the 30 man group put Dustin MacBurnie in front with 8 other racers.
Walters managed to bridge up with 4 men, increasing TRP's chances. Then a monster effort came from Dan Timmerman, as he soled across a 20 second gap to complete a strong 20 man lead group. Timmerman made contact with the leaders and without hesitation counterattacked the leaders and formed a new 3 man break with Valeriy Kobzarenko of Type 1 and Eric Boily of Team Volkswagen. The trio cruised into a maximum lead of 1 minute 30 seconds over the next 20 miles and eventually the gap stabilized at 1 minute.
With 10 miles to go the leaders still pushed the stage win attempt, with Team Toshiba and Jelly Belly sharing the work of the chase. At 5 km to go the gap was 30 seconds. The breakaway was caught at 1 km to go. Just before the junction with the chase group, Glen Chadwick of Type 1 (Two stage wins Tour de Beauce 2007) attacked hard at the 1 km sign on the final hill and made a good break off the front. Chadwick held off the group just barely in the surge to the line, in front of Menzies (HealthNet) and Aldape (Team-Type 1). MacBurnie made an excellent sprint, finishing 4th with Walters barely a wheel behind in 6th.
A fabulous stage for Team Race Pro with MacBurnie, Walters and Timmerman riding smart and strong.
Stage 1: Epic RR, Russellville to Hector, 110.92 miles/178.5km
| 1. Glen Chadwick (Team Type 1) | 4:42:13 |
| 2. Karl Menzies (HealthNet p/b Maxxis) | 4:42:18 |
| 3. Moises Aldape (Team Type 1) | 4:42:23 |
| 4. Dustin MacBurnie (Team RACE Pro ) | 4:42:28 |
| 5. Clayton Barrows (Rite Aid pb Shebell & Shebell) | s |
| 6. Mark Walters (Team RACE Pro ) | |
| 7. Predrag Prokic (TOSHIBA-Santo Presented By Herbal life) | |
| 8. Fabio Calabria (Team Type 1) | |
| 9. Christian Helmig (Metro Volkswagen/FCS Cycling) | |
| 10. Nick Reistad (Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team) | |
| 25. Dan Timmerman (Team RACE Pro ) | 4:42:28 |
| 26. Eric Boily (Team Volkswagen) | s.t. |
| 45. Nick Freisen (GS Mengoni) | 4:52:17 |
| 47. Buck (Kevin) Miller (Team RACE Pro ) | |
| 49. Jean Michel Lachance (Team Volkswagen) | |
| 53. Francois Chabot (Team Volkswagen) | |
| 56. Alex Cloutier (Team Volkswagen) | |
| 58. Mark Batty (Team RACE Pro ) | |
| 65. Adam Thuss (Team RACE Pro ) | |
| 67. Keir Plaice (Team RACE Pro) | |
| 68. Arnaud Papillon (Team Volkswagen) | |
| 73. Andrew Hunt (Team RACE Pro) | |
| 74. Eric Robertson (Team RACE Pro ) | |
| 75. Mark Pozniak (Team RACE Pro) | |
| 80. Bruno Langlois (Team Volkswagen) | all s.t. |
| 84. Christian Deshais (Team Volkswagen) | 5:16:15. |
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