Tour of the Gila; Stage 3, Dan Potts Memorial Tyrone Time Trial

By Eddie Clark

Tour of the Gila; Stage 3, Dan Potts Memorial Tyrone Time Trial

Parker and Hughes put in breakthrough surprise performances to claim TT victories.

(April 29, 2011) SILVER CITY, NM—Just in time for the time trial, the dreaded winds of southwestern New Mexico got back up to speed to provide an extra challenge for the racers and their aero-dynamic machines.  Using past experience, the race officials smartly changed the start time for the pro fields to the morning to give the racers a best chance at showing their strength instead of fighting the wind. 

The Pro Men would roll out first at thirty second intervals starting at 9am, and the top ten on GC would depart at 1 minute intervals with the leader starting last.  The Pro Women started immediately after the men in the same order.

The course started just south of Silver City on Hwy 90 at the community of Tyrone, and sent racers on an out-and-back course that covered 16.15 miles with almost 1200 feet of climbing to boot.  For most of the time trial, racers had to battle stiff cross winds which reeked havoc on deep dish aero wheels and especially rear disc wheels.  Fortunately, the first-aid medics stayed bored as the racers all kept it rubber side down.

For the Pro Men’s race, it was anybody’s guess as to who would complete the 16 mile course with the fastest time as the list of previous winners and skilled time trialist ran deep for this field.  Previous Gila Champion, Tom Zirbel, who just recently signed on with the Jamis Sutter-Home team set an early fastest time of 35:27 for the rest of the racers to best.  Jeremy Vennell (Bissel) would be next to set the fastest time with a 34:45 performance, which he credited to staying in his aero bars for the whole time trial with the help of a narrower profile front rim. 

The big surprise of the Men’s field went to eventual winner, 18 year old Dale Parker, an experienced track racer from Australia racing with the Trek-LIVESTRONG team for his first year.  Parker destroyed the course and his competitors with a time of 34:39.  Race leader Francisco Mancebo (RealCyclist.com) also produced another splendid performance with a third place time of 34:46, which also helped bolster his GC lead over Ben Day (Kenda 5-Hour Energy) to 1:15 going into the Stage 4 criterium in downtown Silver City.

The Pro Women’s race possibly saw the biggest surprise performance with Canadian Clara Hughes (Pactimo), a former speed skater, delivering a standout performance that was clearly a level above the rest of the women’s field.  Her impressive time of 39:33 was 1:50 faster than second placed Rhae Shaw (CycleU Seattle) who also put in a surprise performance in the women’s field.  Janel Holcomb (Colavita Forno D’Asolo) was third at 41:58, and race leader Mara Abbott (Diadora-Pasta Zara) finished in fourth at 42 minutes even. 

Hiughes was quite happy with her performance and said, "I went as hard as I could, but it's been a long time since I've done a time trial like this, and I was cramping a little towards the end.  I wished I had a bigger gear because I had my 55x11 spun out on the downhills.  I'm going to take it day-by-day for the rest of the race, and I'll do the best I can and fight as hard as I can for the rest of the race." 

Hughes’ most impressive performance catapulted her to first in GC with Abbott trailing in second at 1:43 back.