Lucas Haedo and Hannah Barnes Outfox Field, Earn Respective Teams' First Stage Wins

Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 03 May 2015 03 May 2015

Jamis-Hagens Berman and UnitedHealthcare Sprinters Prove Best of the Bunch

Silver City, NM (May 2, 2015) - With storm clouds looming over the Tour of the Gila's fourth stage, the Downtown Silver City Criterium, the UCI men's and women's plot lines were filled with strategy as teams eyed tomorrow's decisive final stage and general classification standings.

The women's field lined up at 3:00 p.m. for a 27 mile journey around the traditional four corner circuit (nearly rerouted until a late decision to postpone road work offered the typical course racers are used to). With an ever-tightening general classification time separation between riders Mara Abbott (Amy D. Foundation composite team) and Lauren Stephens (Team Tibco-SVB), each rider's team was forced to play defense and find time bonuses, respectively. But with more than 40 other riders with plans of their own, the stage win was up for grabs.

With two laps to go, UnitedHealthcare rider Linda Villumsen came through the start/finish banner with her arms held high. Villumsen had lost count of laps and celebrated prematurely. Fortunately the team was redeemed, with certainty, shortly after as teammate Hannah Barnes out sprinted Leah Kirchmann (Optum presented by Kelly Benefits Strategies) and Alison Jackson (Twenty16-Ridebiker) for the stage win.

"Coming into the last lap I saw Brianna Walle from Optum go solo," said Barnes. "About 500 meters to go I chased and and caught Brianna, then Leah (Kirchmann) came past me I said, 'that's it, it's over,' but I managed to just jump on her wheel and come around."

The clouds that loomed over the men's race were for naught as the Silver City sun shone over the 43.4 mile loop. The most threatening aspect of the entire race came in what proved to be a failed breakaway with two of the best time trial riders in the world and stage 3 podium finishers, Tom Zirbel and Jordan Kerby. As the two leapt from the pack with five laps to go, it looked like Zirbel was about to steal back-to-back stages. But with just two laps to go, the Optum team took up the chase for their sprinter Eric Young while the Jamis-Hagens Berman team positioned their Argentinian sprinter, Lucas Sebastian Haedo.

"I wasn't feeling really good all day but then in the last corner, two UnitedHealthcare guys went and I took the corner behind them in third position," said Haedo. "Maybe I went a little bit early but I came through with a fast sprint."

Rolling through behind Haedo were Wouter Wippert (Drapac Professional Cycling) and Eric Young (Optum).

Abbot, who has lead the women's race since stage one retained her overall race lead while Stephens still sits in second with Jasmin Glaesser (Optum) in third place.

Rafael Montiel kept his "Gila Monsters" red race leader's jersey while Rob Britton (Team SmartStop) is in second place and Daniel Jaramillo Diez (Jamis) is in third.

The final stage five "Gila Monster" road race will start in downtown Silver City and cover 100.6 miles (men) and 65.9 miles (women).

Content on the Beat

WARNING: All articles and photos with a byline or photo credit are copyrighted to the author or photographer. You may not use any information found within the articles without asking permission AND giving attribution to the source. Photos can be requested and may incur a nominal fee for use personally or commercially.

Disclaimer: If you find errors in articles not written by the Beat team but sent to us from other content providers, please contact the writer, not the Beat. For example, obituaries are always provided by the funeral home or a family member. We can fix errors, but please give details on where the error is so we can find it. News releases from government and non-profit entities are posted generally without change, except for legal notices, which incur a small charge.

NOTE: If an article does not have a byline, it was written by someone not affiliated with the Beat and then sent to the Beat for posting.

Images: We have received complaints about large images blocking parts of other articles. If you encounter this problem, click on the title of the article you want to read and it will take you to that article's page, which shows only that article without any intruders. 

New Columnists: The Beat continues to bring you new columnists. And check out the old faithfuls who continue to provide content.

Newsletter: If you opt in to the Join GCB Three Times Weekly Updates option above this to the right, you will be subscribed to email notifications with links to recently posted articles.

Submitting to the Beat

Those new to providing news releases to the Beat are asked to please check out submission guidelines at https://www.grantcountybeat.com/about/submissions. They are for your information to make life easier on the readers, as well as for the editor.

Advertising: Don't forget to tell advertisers that you saw their ads on the Beat.

Classifieds: We have changed Classifieds to a simpler option. Check periodically to see if any new ones have popped up. Send your information to editor@grantcountybeat.com and we will post it as soon as we can. Instructions and prices are on the page.

Editor's Notes

It has come to this editor's attention that people are sending information to the Grant County Beat Facebook page. Please be aware that the editor does not regularly monitor the page. If you have items you want to send to the editor, please send them to editor@grantcountybeat.com. Thanks!

Here for YOU: Consider the Beat your DAILY newspaper for up-to-date information about Grant County. It's at your fingertips! One Click to Local News. Thanks for your support for and your readership of Grant County's online news source—www.grantcountybeat.com

Feel free to notify editor@grantcountybeat.com if you notice any technical problems on the site. Your convenience is my desire for the Beat.  The Beat totally appreciates its readers and subscribers!  

Compliance: Because you are an esteemed member of The Grant County Beat readership, be assured that we at the Beat continue to do everything we can to be in full compliance with GDPR and pertinent US law, so that the information you have chosen to give to us cannot be compromised.