Three on the podium (Photo by Rebecca Reza)
SILVER CITY, NM (May 2, 2014) Sergei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly) beat his rival today, National Time Trial Champion Tom Zirbel (Optima p/b Kelly Benefits) at the Dan Potts Memorial Time Trial for Stage 3 of Silver City's Tour of the Gila. Joseph Rosskoph finished a strong third to round out the podium.
After finishing runner-up in the TT at Redlands last month, he finished with a time of 34:02 on the 16.5 mile course, 18 seconds faster than Zirbel. "I'm really glad for this result, honestly I looked for GC but what happened the first day took me out of that so I needed to look for a stage win," Tvetcov said at the finish. "Those up hills and down hills, okay first up hill I need to be a little safe and then the down hill I need to go a bit faster so experience definitely helps."
Typically wind and frigid temperatures are a factor in the stage but not today, which gave some of the climbers an advantage. Flavio de Luna (SmartStop) finished in the top 10 to move him in the lead of the Southwest Bone & Joint Institute Best Young Rider classification. Other riders that finished strong included Kirk Carlsen (Jelly Belly) and Rob Britton (SmartStop), both sitting in the top ten on GC.
At right, Carter Jones (Optum) out on the course. (Photo by Mitch Clinton)
Carter Jones finished 4th on the stage, gaining 38 seconds on Daniel Jaramillo (Jamis-Hagens), moving into the leaders jersey. Jaramillo sits in six place on GC following the stage.
"I had Jonas(DS) from the car giving me splits," Jones added. Jones sits a mere two seconds ahead of Gregory Brenes Obando (Jamis-Hagens) heading into the weekend. "It's always better to be ahead than coming from behind. It's my first leader's jersey for a UCI race so I'm psyched! We have two days to figure out a good plan but I have a very strong team behind me to defend and hopefully keep the jersey through the Gila Monster."
Several riders missed their starting times due to some changes in the UCI regulations with handlebars. Mechanics were scrambling to fix them minutes before their riders start. Some lost close to a minute due to the delay.
Tomorrow, Saturday, is the popular crit in downtown Silver City with several teams in contention for the win. UHC will have their bluetrain ready to fight for Carlos Alzate, while
Team SmartStop has Travis McCabe who won last week at Joe Martin. Also look for Joe Lewis of Hincapie Sportswear Development who won the crit the last time he was in attendance.
Above, Carter Jones (Optum) in red (Photo by Rebecca Reza)Carter Jones (OPM) hopes the team will be able to balance both protecting the lead jersey and supporting their sprinter and crit champion Eric Young for the win, "We definitely want to give him an opportunity."
The NRC Pro Women 1,2 begin at 3 PM while the UCI Men begin at 4:15 PM.
UCI Men Results
Top 3 on Stage 3 - Dan Potts Memorial Tyrone Time Trial
Sergei Tvetcov (Jelly Belly)
Tom Zirbel (Optum)
Joseph Rosskoph (Hincapie)
Town of Silver City Leader's Jersey: Carter Jones (Optum)
PNM Sprinter Leader Jersey: Carmen Small (DNA)
Freeport-McMoRayn King of the Mountain Jersey: Daniel Jaramillo (Jamis-Hagens)
Southwest Bone & Joint Institute Best Young Rider: Flavio de Luna (SmartStop)
Full Results:
http://www.tourofthegila.com/tvetcov-beats-zirbel-win-tyrone-time-trial/