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BISBEE — For the first time in three years, the pro class of La Vuelta de Bisbee isn’t at the mercy of a European rider heads and shoulders above the field.
So maybe it was fitting that the lone unaffiliated spectators at the finish line of Friday’s prologue time trial were a Frenchman and his Mexican wife.
The last American to win the race was Flagstaff’s Drew Miller in 2003. In 2004 Miller finished third behind Italian champion David Frattini and last year, Miller sat out La Vuelta as Italian Clemente Cavaliere took the individual title on a path paved by Serbian teammate Ivan Stevic who controlled the race from start to finish.
 Cyclist Maatje Benassi churns up Main Street during day one of the La Vuelta de Bisbee Friday afternoon. More than 230 riders are competing in the three-day event. (By Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
Miller raced for Phoenix-based Landis/VW Trek when he took the title, but now Miller anchors a new team — Successful Living.
“I had ridden with them for seven or eight years and I decided it was time for a change,” Miller said.
Without a decided favorite in the field, team racing strategies figure to be even more important. And if the four-man representation of Successful Living finds itself in a position to go for the gold late in Sunday’s final stage, Miller might not necessarily be called on to repeat his performance of 2003 when he used his superior climbing skills to come from behind on the final incline to the top of Mule Pass Tunnel.
“I don’t know, we’ll have to see,” Miller said of that eventuality. “Daniel’s (Ramsey) riding well and we have some other good riders … I’m not as consistent — I know that. But beyond that, I don’t really know. I haven’t been tested on any real climbs. I’m as much of a question mark as anyone out here.”
Team Successful Living has only four riders — two from Arizona, two from California — but they don’t feel a shortage in numbers should stop them from surging to the top.
“We only have four, but we have quality,” Ramsey said. “A lot of teams just have quantity.”
The team’s other Arizonan is Tucson’s Curtis Gunn who made headlines earlier this year winning El Tour de Tucson.
“This is different, it’s a stage race, and you’re competing against other pros,” Gunn said. “But definitely being a local guy, you get some prestige winning El Tour.”
Friday’s time trial is typically an indicator of what riders are serious contenders for the overall title. This is because it ends on the same climb that will determine the final stretch climb in Sunday’s Tombstone Road Race.
Phil Zajicek, representing Navigators Insurance, set the pace Friday, racing the time trial in 10:25, three seconds better than Jeremy Powers of Connecticut and eight seconds ahead of Corey Collier of Colorado. Miller sits in fifth, 13 seconds back of the lead.
Felicia Gomez from California and Webcor/Alto Vel is tops among women’s pros with a trial time of 12:12, 15 seconds better than her closest competitor Anne Samplonius of Quebec and Team Biovail. T-Mobil, which has produced the last two women’s champions — Brooke Ourada and Lynn Gaggioli, had the third-place rider in former national time trial champion Mari Holden, a full 44 seconds behind the leader.
In the men’s masters’ race, Mark Aasmundstad of Grand Canyon Cycling had the best time in 11:21, nine seconds in front of D.J. Fernandes and 10 ahead of teammate Douglas Loveday.
Before any riders crossed the time stripe atop the tunnel, Pierre Modena and his wife Rosa were waiting for them with great anticipation. Modena, who emigrated from France to Canada in 1969 and then to the U.S. in 1973, recently retired after 23 years of working for the City of Los Angeles.
Looking for a more affordable place than California to retire, Modena said he learned of Bisbee in a magazine that listed the top 100 places to retire. In August of last year, they moved to Bisbee.
“I didn’t know they had a bike race here,” said Modena, who as a child growing up in a town 40 miles outside of Leon would watch the Tour de France pass through his backyard. “I only saw about it in the newspaper and in some posters… I canceled some plans to watch the race… In France, cycling is big when you’re a kid. Everyone rides a bike and you see it on TV. Baseball here is like cycling there.”
The first rider to take on the uphill time trial was Arizona State University team rider Heather Sborz.
Where was the rest of her Lady Sun Devil team?
“You’re looking at her,” Sborz said. “There’s a bunch more on the guys team… but there’s not as much interest in the girls team. Even the U of A only has one or two, but some teams like Stanford and (Colorado) have like 20.”
Sborz is entered in the professional category, though her sights are set mainly on the national collegiate championships in Lawrence, Kan. in two weeks.
“The competition and the hills — this is good preparation for nationals,” Sborz said.
The Great Falls, Va. native said she’s only been riding for a year.
“I was a runner and I killed my knees, so cycling was the natural progression,” she said.
Sborz hopes to become the third straight La Vuelta women’s champion to win without the help of a team. A fifth-year senior at ASU, she plans to enroll in law school next year.
Sborz wasn’t the only women’s rider using La Vuelta to help train for a future event. The three-members representing Scottsdale-based Strada racing team have something completely different in mind.
The team focuses mainly on velodrome track racing and their regional championship in San Diego is coming up in July.
“We’ve been racing since January so we’re going to have a well-deserved rest period after this,” Melissa McWhirter said. “(Track racing) teaches you to go fast and sprint.”
The 28th La Vuelta de Bisbee continues today with the Sulphur Springs Road Race which begins in Old Bisbee at 7 a.m. this morning and finishes with the pro riders coming through at around 11 a.m. at the Copper Queen Plaza.
At 3 p.m. today the riders take part in the Warren Time Trial and Sunday morning at 8 a.m., the final stage Tombstone road race begins with riders finishing at the top of Mule Pass sometime after 11.
Today’s time trial will be diminished in length from recent years. Because of construction near City Hall in Warren, the finish line is being pushed back on Airport Drive, South of Warren Ballpark.
Instead of the traditional 8.3 miles, the time trial will extend 6.8.
Wiillie wrote on Mar 2, 2009 7:42 PM: