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BISBEE — Racing without his Navigators Insurance teammates, Phil Zajicek fell from first overall to eighth after Saturday morning’s Sulphur Springs Road Race, thanks in large part to his inability to secure any sprint bonuses.
But in Sunday’s Tombstone Road Race, eager riders not in contention for the overall title sped ahead for the bonuses and left the Tucson racer with a 25-second lead to protect down the stretch.
Drew Miller of Flagstaff, who won the 2003 overall title, was his biggest threat. And the 38-year-old Miller gave Zajicek all he could handle, winning the final stage in a time of 4 hours, 6 minutes and 17 seconds. But it wasn’t good enough, as Zajicek was able to keep Milller in his sights the whole way to finish five seconds back and win the overall by 38 seconds.
 (Above) Phil Zajicek (yellow jersey) conquers the final climb of the Tombstone Road Race on his way to the overall title of the 28th annual La Vuelta de Bisbee. Zajicek finished second in the stage behind Drew Miller of Flagstaff. Jason Donald of Team Einstein and Colorado trails behind him. (Below) Bloodied and bruised Sujeet Karna of Scottsdale tells of his ordeal after he hit a javelina on the course. (Photo by Matt Hickman-Herald/Review) |
“There were attacks all the way up the (Mule Pass) climb,” Zajicek said. “Once we got on (Hwy.) 80, Drew rode away from us. But I knew I didn’t need to catch him, I just had to keep it close. And I kept a little in reserve in case I needed to clinch it.”
A pair of riders not in serious contention for the overall title, broke ahead by 25 seconds heading into the tunnel. The racers then rode into Old Bisbee, down the Lavendar Pit and around the traffic circle. Then they headed back up the hill, finishing on an arduous climb to the top of the Mule Pass Tunnel. Miller passed the stage leaders at the traffic circle turnaround and broke into the final climb to the top of the tunnel ahead of a group of five that included Zajicek.
“Once we came around offf of 80 it was only 10 seconds, so I wasn’t too stressed,” Zajicek said.
Miller said he expected to catch the breakaway leaders at the traffic circle.
“A group of guys goes so much faster than individual guys,” Miller said. “Then it was just a hill climb to the finish.”
Miller, who now has a first-place, second-place and third-place finishes on his La Vuelta resume, knew by the time he exited to the top of the tunnel, he wouldn’t be beating Zajicek by enough.
“I looked back a couple of times and saw Phil making gaps,” Miller said. “I gave it everything I had but he proved he was solid and didn’t crack the whole way through… Phil was the strongest guy. He showed he was the best man this year. My hat goes off to him.”
Miller said the first move in the race came midway through.
“There was a seven-man break by Tombstone and they got up by about four minutes,” Miller said. “So we put up a couple of guys to chase them down — a couple of Phil’s allies from California — before we hit the hills. We weren’t too concerned about the guys in front unless they had about five minutes, then, anyone can win.”
In the men’s masters race, Mark Aasmundstad completed his wire-to-wire win in the B event, winning the final stage in 2 hours and 30 minutes and the overall title by 44 seconds over Flagstaff-based Grand Canyon Racing teammate Douglas Loveday.
Aasmundstad gave all the credit to his team.
“We have seven guys on our team and they controlled the whole race,” Aasmundstad said. “It was really a team victory. I was fortunate to be part of it.”
Daniel Martin from the Safeway/GA Communications team gave Aasmundstad reason to sweat toward the finish, building a large lead heading into the tunnel.
“He made me really push myself and made it challenging,” Aasmundstad said. “But he had spent a lot of energy pulling away, and by the time he got (to the final climb) he was out of gas. He pushed himself to his full potential and that’s what racing is all about. He was 20 seconds down, but if he could have gotten a group he could have won the race.”
But after the men’s masters’ race, all the talk at the finish line was about Sujeet Karna. Karna, who lives in Scottsdale and rides for the ProCon Cycling team, had a good run in Sunday’s finale. He finished 22nd in the stage, good for a 41st-place finish in the overall, but riding downhill into Bisbee as part of a post-race cool down, the unthinkable happened.
“I hit a javelina after the race was over,” Karna said. “It just jumped out across the street — I T-boned it.”
As Karna’s face hit the blacktop, the javelina fled the scene, the extent of its injuries unknown, and his bike cracked in half. An ambulance tended to Karna at the scene and released him with scuffs, scrapes, cuts and bruises.
As Karna was telling his story, race organizer Albert Hopper carried the shorn bike for all to see.
“This is the first time anything like this happened,” Karna said. “Crashing is something you expect in this sport, but you never expect something like this.”
Sports Editor Matt Hickman can be reached at 515-4612, or by e-mail at sports@svherald.com.
Wiillie wrote on Mar 2, 2009 7:42 PM: