Solomon Repeats, Cox Dominate the 22nd Tucson Bicycle Classic
By Steve Bohn
The 22nd running of the Tucson Bicycle Classic (TBC) stage race was graced with warm spring weather, spectacular wildflowers and the ever present winds. The TBC is Southwest’s oldest multi-category SR and one of the most popular, sticking to a unique TT/2 RR format, offering very challenging courses for 19 USCF cats in the beautiful Sonoran Desert west and south of Tucson.
Elite Men/Women
Stage 1: Old Tucson/McCain Loop TT
The wind kicked up as the later categories rocketed down the start ramp for 3 miles of pain capped off with brutal stair- stepped climbs. Albuquerque's Joshua Liberles (Colavita NM) took the Pro/1 prologue at 7:35, shy of Gord Fraser’s 2003 course record time of 7:09. Drew Miller (Landis Trek/VW) followed :03 back and Phillip Gaimon (Fiordifrutta)@ :08.
Earlier in the day, the women were the first group off and Melissa McWhirter’s (Coliviata AZ) blazing 8:16 nipped Genevieve Jeanson’s 2004 record by :02. Tucson’s Sarah Swanson (Summit Velo) and Melanie Meyers (Specialized Designs), both :22 and :28 back, rounded out the podium spots. America’s Dairyland team was nearly 1/2 minute in arrears but that was soon to change.
Dairyland runaway train: Clare Vlahopoulos leads GC winner Leda Cox
in Stage 3. Photo: Mason Ibas
Stage 2: Sahuarita/Garrett Lemire Memorial RR
UK veteran pro Leda Cox, after 4 years of the Euro scene, signed on with the America’s Diaryland team recently, a squad of skilled elite riders. On this new 20 mile RR course with varied terrain, the pace in the 60-mile women’s race was aggressive from the start. Dairyland Cari Higgins took the Queen of the Mountains sprint at four miles in, but with race leader Melissa McWhirter (Colavita Arizona) patrolling the front, the race soon came back together.
As the field crested the long climb along Duval Mine Road, heading into the rolling hills of Mission Road, a strategic attack shattered the pack. Four riders went clear — two Dairyland teammates Cox and Aussie Clare Vlahopoulos, along with McWhirter and Meyers, stayed away to finish in that order, leaving the field to battle for fourth. Cox rode steady tempo to and soloed to an easy victory (2:49:42) to don the leaders jersey while her teammates controlled the pack. Teammate Vlahopoulos followed at 3:52 back with McWhirter in 3rd at 4:02 back. Leda’s breakaway power put her firmly in the GC lead by 3:43 over McWhirter. This kind of effort should make Cox a household name in the US results columns this spring.
In the men’s 80 mile RR, the peleton regrouped after the 1st lap KOM sprint but on the second of four laps, a four man break with 3 riders from Mexico’s P& S-Specialized broke away, including ‘07 TBC champ David Solomon, Carlos Hernandez and Rodolfo Avila. Kyle Colavita (Ride Clean) rounded out the opportunists.
David Solomon (P & S-Specialized) leads the Pro/1 field on way to
repeating TBC Champ. Photo: Mason Ibas
The break worked well and gained 2:20 on the field but on the last lap in the roller climbs on Mission Rd, Avila, then Colavita cracked as Solomon and Hernandez pushed on.
The winds picked up and with the lead down to 90 seconds and closing fast, Fiordifrutta’s Phillip Gaimon jumped from the pack in pursuit of the break 10 miles from the finish. The peleton came to life and swallowed up Gaimon and nearly the break, but Hernandez (taking the longest pulls) and Solomon worked hard to finish 1-2, just 13 second ahead of the depleted peleton lead by sprinting Alex Bhogal (Mazurcoaching.com). Solomon donned the leaders jersey once again, his 3rd and counting since ‘07, while his teammates took 3 of the top 5 spots for the stage. Sitting :13 ahead of Liberles in GC was no consolation with the upcoming Stage 3’s numerous time bonuses. Miller was just :16 back in 3rd.
Old Tucson/McCain Loop TT action with desert wildflowers abound.
Photo: Mason Ibas.
Stage 3: Speedway Anklam Circuit Race
The Pro/1 men’s 50 mile race on this challenging 5.6 loop with 300’ climbing per lap had several unsuccessful breaks. Heavy winds split the field up into 3 groups and the apparent stage winner was Carlos Hernandez, leading in the front group of 13. However, after repeated yellow line violations while working for race leader/teammate Solomon, Hernandez was relegated to 12th place. The revised finish order gave the victory to the 2007 AZ Rider of the Year Brian Forbes (Landis/Trek/VW), followed Ryan Baumann (CRCA-Sakonnet Tech) and Nick Friesen (The Bike Shop).
P & S-Specialized teamwork kept Salomon in the top GC spot, making him the most recent repeat champ since Scott Price’s 2000/’01 dominating performances. Liberles and Miller maintained their previous positions, :13 and :16 back for the remaining podium spots.
The Pro/1/2 women’s 39 mile race was once again dominated by America’s Dairyland’s 4 person squad. Riding away from the field at ease, Vlahopoulos and Cox took the lap 3 time bonuses and motored ahead of the peleton, complacent to battle for the remaining spots. The Dairyland squad took all of the stage podium spots, with Vlahopoulos winning at 1:57:22, :02 ahead of TBC Champ Cox while Higgins won the filed sprint , 4:19 back.
n the final GC, Cox’s monster efforts put her 4:04 ahead of teammate Vlahopoulos and 8:17 ahead of McWhirter, reminiscent of Jeanson’s (now known to be EPO tainted) 2 wins 6-7 years ago.
Other Categories
Tight Masters Fields but Ageless Hammer and Ducket Pound Away
The TBC has 5 master’s cats for men. 70 year young , multi-national champion Franz Hammer ripped a blistering 8:31 in the TT, 2:06 over the his closet rival. That time would be good enough for 2nd in the 55+ and 3rd in the Cat 3’s! Granted the wind kicked up for the later groups but that is an amazing effort. The 2007/’08 TBC Champ and Seattle resident would finish nearly 20 minutes ahead of David Deichman (Saguaro Velo) and Robert Paganni (Pasadena Athletic Association).
The 65+ group had a strong field of 7, with Tucsonian Ralph Ducket (SW Hand) soloing in both RR’s to the overall GC victory by 6:06 over William Barnes (RPM) and Jim Moutray (IC 3), 6:34 back.
The remaining master races were closer, with Don William's (Bicycle Haus Racing) edging out RPM’s Eric Nelson by :02 in the 55+ field. Duane Mulvaney (Landis Trek) took 3rd.
John Simonson’s (GST Racing) 2nd place TT and solo victory in Stage 2 kept him :42 ahead of Mark Fosengurg (ECFA/Honeywell) for the 45+ GC crown. Jay Guyot (GST) rounded out the podium. In the tight 35+ race, Al Senft’s (Colavita NM) blistering 7:36 TT helped him edge out Jim Silverman (Ride Clean) by :05 after 2 tightly contested RR’s. Colavita teammate Brian Palen was :06 back in 3rd.
In the women’s 35+ race, attrition left SW Hand teammates Jo Roberts and Leslie Odoherty to battle it out. Robert took the overall GC by :30 over Odoherty, who also was the top 50+ rider.
LAJORS Race
The TBC has been a Lance Armstrong Junior Olympic Race series for 10 years running, helping develop riders of the future. In the 13-14 group, Andrew Gonzales (NA) & Brianna Lindflott (Summit Velo) won their respective cats while Albuquerque duo & KHSnm.com teammates Andrew Templeton and Clarissa Freeman took the 15-16 category victories.
In the 17-18 cat, Alexander Quinones (Nob Hill Velo) record setting 8:04 TT and 2 RR wins gave him the convincing overall crown by 1:15 over Robert Chorost (Syncardia).
Again, a special thanks to all of the volunteers, officials, organizers and racers who have made the TBC a success ove the last 22 years. For complete results, go to:
Results >
