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UCI Mens Results Time Trial

UCI Men Press Release Day 3

Vargas smokes Tyrone Time Trial, gets victory for Medellín; Røed expands overall race lead

Hot off a Pan-American individual time trial championship, Walter Vargas (Team Medellín – EPM) blazed through the ITT Friday at Stage 3 of Tour of the Gila, clocking a winning time of 33:47 and elevating his team’s spirits after their overall favorite crashed out the previous day.

Torbjørn Røed (Above and Beyond Cancer Cycling Team) expanded his overall race lead to 47 seconds, while Drake Deuel (CS Velo) moved into second overall, displacing Ricky Arnopol (Project Echelon).

“I’m happy to be here at the Tour of the Gila,” Vargas said. “A very tough time trial and quite demanding with the wind. I’m happy to be able to get a victory wearing this jersey as the Pan-American champion in the individual time trial discipline and to dedicate this to all those who follow us from Colombia, from Medellín.”

Riders checked in their bikes to make sure they met UCI regulations and set off one by one from Tyrone into a mostly diagonal cross wind for the 16.15-mile, against-the-clock race. They started in reverse order of the overall race lead so riders most in contention for the red jersey headed out last.

Zach Gregg (Project Echelon Racing) hit the line with a fast time of 35:15 before his own teammate, Stephen Vogel, shattered it with 34:37. From there, Vargas rocketed across, his time holding strong as the number of riders ticked down.

Røed said he was happy with his effort to keep the red jersey.

“Looks like I increased my lead a bit, so that’s super nice going into the next few stages,” Røed said. “Especially tomorrow, just trying to not lose time, it’s going to be a wild one. I opened up hard today. Sadly my power meter didn’t work, but I stayed on top of it and went as hard as I could up the last climb, then tried to stay on top of the gear on the way down, and it went really well so that was good.”

Deuel, who finished fourth on the stage with 34:27, said now that he’s improved his standing, he has the red jersey in his sights but doesn’t have expectations.

“I think anything is possible on the final day,” Deuel said. “As we saw last year, Sean Gardner (CS Velo) managed to pull it out and take over the lead on the final day. I don’t expect anything, but yeah it’s definitely possible. I’m pretty happy with my result today. It’s definitely tricky pacing out there with the wind, but I’m happy with my performance and I’m looking forward to recovering and doing something cool on Sunday.”

Røed’s teammate, Alex Hoehn, picked up third on the day with a time of 34:12 and is inching his way toward the overall lead as well, currently in third, at a one-minute and three-second deficit. He displaced Heiner Parra Bustamante (Canel’s – ZEROUNO) who is now out of the top 20. As someone who loves crits, Hoehn looks forward to Saturday.

“Going into the crit, I love crits, so I’ll be looking to go hard tomorrow and keep Toby safe,” Hoehn said. “We’ll see if that results in anything. As far as the Gila Monster stage goes, it’s throwing everything against the wall at that point and keeping Toby safe obviously, then maybe possibly jumping up a spot and taking the race 1-2. I don’t want to speak too soon but obviously there’s hope and plans of that.”

Riders will make their way around downtown Silver City Saturday for a 40-lap, 43.2-mile criterium in a show of speed, smarts and strength. UCI Men start at 3:45 p.m. and the UCI Women start at 1:30 p.m.

UCI Women Press Release Day 3

Ehrlich flies to victory at Tyrone Time Trial; Killips takes over race lead

Emily Ehrlich (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24)’s long-range campaign over stage races across the U.S. got even longer Friday when she picked up her third consecutive individual time trial win this year at Stage 3 of Tour of the Gila.

Austin Killips (Amy D Foundation) moved into the overall race lead by 22 seconds, displacing Marcela Prieto Castañeda (PatoBike), who led for the first two stages. Ehrlich is now second overall with Nadia Gontova (Roxo Racing) the best young rider, in third, one minute and 12 seconds back.

“The TT today was really hard,” Ehrlich said, who has won time trial stages and overall races at Valley of the Sun and Redlands Bicycle Classic this year. She started the day one minute and 48 seconds back from the overall lead in ninth. “It was super critical to get everything right. But I did pretty well. I’m really happy with all the little things I did to make it work out. I’ve moved up in GC a little bit and I’m happy about that.”

Laurel Quiñones (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24) set an early fast time of 40:11, but Ehrlich smashed it with 38:15. Olympic silver medalist Olga Zabelinskaya (Tashkent City) came close with 40:06 and fifth place, but Maeghan Easler (Roxo Racing) leapfrogged with 39:24 and second place.

Killips clocked 39:33 and came in third on the day. Her team director, Julie Kuliecza, said her team is excited Killips now has the red leader’s jersey.

“The whole team is so stoked, and we’re ready to defend the jersey tomorrow,” Kuliecza said. “We do love a crit, but we know that especially DNA and TWENTY24 will be looking for some of those time bonuses. We’re just going to do our best to kind of scoop those up and have some fun because we really do love crits. And then Gila Monster is the Gila Monster, it’s attritional, we know what to do there, we just have a really solid team, everybody really cares about each other and takes care of each other, and so it’s lots of laughs and lots of fun, and serious business on the bike, but afterwards we’re all smiles and hugs, so it’s been a really good experience so far.”

Prieto Castañeda, who fell three places to fourth, said she tried her best.

“The time trial is not my strong suit, and today I lost the GC jersey, but the race is not over yet,” Prieto Castañeda said. “There are still two stages left, a criterium and a high mountain stage, where I will try to finish at the top in the best possible way and defend a podium finish.”

Riders will make their way around downtown Silver City Saturday for a 25-lap, 27-mile criterium in a show of speed, smarts and strength. UCI Women start at 1:30 p.m. and the UCI Men start at 3:45 p.m.