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Tour of Virginia - NE
USA, April 24-29, 2007
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Stage 4 - April 26: Douthat State Park to Waynesboro Road Race, 165.8km
Borrajo wins second stage
CAICO successfully defends Zapata's GC lead
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Argentina's Alejandro Borrajo (Rite Aid Pro Cycling) outlasted the competition in the mountains to win his second stage, a 108 mile (165.8km) stage 4 in 4:39:40, three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher Kayle Leongrande (Rock Racing). Borrajo previously won the second stage, a criterium in Lynchburg.
Borrajo proved his skill as an all-rounder on a tough road course with two category 3 and two category 1 climbs, including the infamous east side of Reeds Gap at mile 94 (km 151.2) mark. The climb was used during the Tour Du Pont in the 1990s.
"It was a difficult day. Riders' legs were full of fear," said Borrajo. "I gave it one more attack—all I had—and got lucky. I hope to keep it going to the final stage."
Leongrande formed a chase group and caught up with Borrajo's breakaway with only a few miles left in the stage. Leongrande stuck with Borrajo as the pair neared the crowd near the downtown Waynesboro's Main Street finish. But Leongrande could not quite hang on to Borrajo's wheel and faded in the last two hundred meters, and thus a sprinters' duel failed to materialize.
"I gave it everything I could; Alejandro (Borrajo) had a little more," Leongrande said.
Leongrande said his finish proved that he is not just a criterium specialist. He credited his podium finish to his losing weight to increase his power-to-weight-ratio and focusing on climbing this past winter.
Dan Bowman (Kelly Benefit Strategy) finished the stage third in 4:40:01. "(Javier) Zapata and I were in the break, but I just couldn't hold on," said Bowman. Yesterday's stage winner, Columbian Zapata finished 13th in 4:40:04 .
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Zapata brutalized the peloton on yesterday's final climb during stage 3 to take control of the top spot in the general classification. Today, CAICO successfully defended Zapata's GC jersey.
"It was another hard day," said Zapata. "We allowed the terrain to take its toll. We will continue to work to conserve what we have and maintain our ground."
19-year-old Ryan Baumann (ABD Cycling Team) finished the stage in 24th and gets to keep his under 23 jersey for another day.
Whittled to 116 riders after yesterday's stage from its original field of almost 180 racers, the peloton began stage 4 amidst the budding dogwood of a burgeoning spring woods inside the beautiful Douthat State Park near Clifton Forge. After stage 4 was over, the peloton was whittled further to 104 riders.
Prior to the race, some teams and riders said young riders were suffering too early in the week against a tough course and other riders with heavy international experience. But Kelly Benefits Stratagies/LSV director Beth Leasure adamantly dismissed these opinions as nonsense and whining.
"Teams shouldn't complain the race is too hard," said Leasure, who has many years of racing experience, including racing on French and a Dutch team and who has a history of success in directing young riders as professionals. "We need a race like this if we are ever to compete at the world level. I'm grateful that this is hard," she said.
Stage 5 will take racers from Waynesboro to Staunton on Friday. The two towns are only 10 miles apart, but riders will take a winding 99 mile (159.3 km) route there, sampling the rolling terrain of the central Shenandoah Valley over a succession of short, steep climbs.
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by Jason O. Watson/www.jasonowatson.com
- Race Leader Javier Zapata (CAICO) races for final KOM points in Stage 4.
- A small group ascends the stage's toughest climb, up Reed's Gap.
- University of Virginia Cycling Team member Luke Waidmann runs along side riders at the top of Reeds Gap
- Mark Hardman (UVA) crests the top of Reeds Gap.
- Brian Buchholz (UVA) acknowledges the numerous University of Virginia students and supporters at the top of Reeds Gap.
Images by Nathan Beck
- Alejandro Borrajo (Col) stands atop the stage's podium.
Results
1 Alejandro Borrajo (Rite Aid Pro Cycling) 4.39.40 2 Kayle Leogrande (Rock Racing) 0.03 3 Dan Bowman (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast) 0.21 4 Mike Olheiser (Memphis Motorwerks/Carve) 5 Matt White (Firodifrutta Cycling Team) 0.22 6 Mark Walters (Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada) 7 Morgan Schmitt (Priority Health/Bissell) 0.23 8 Jake Rytlewski (Rite Aid Pro Cycling) 9 Christopher Jones (VMG Racing) 10 Adam Switters (Rock Racing) 11 Andrew Guptil (Colavita-Sutter Home) 12 Jeremiah Bishop (Skinny Js) 0.24 13 Javier Zapata (Caico) 14 Daniel Vaillancourt (Colavita-Sutter Home) 0.25 15 Alejandro Cortes (Caico) 16 Joshua Dillon (Firodifrutta Cycling Team) 0.27 17 Jorge Martinez (Caico) 0.29 18 Predrag Prokic (AEG-Toshiba-Jet Network) 1.53 19 Jonathan Cantwell (Kahala-La Grange) 21 Toby Marzot (Firodifrutta Cycling Team) 1.55 22 Mark Hardman (UVA) 23 Dominique Perras (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast) 1.57 24 Nick Friesen (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Lsv Amateur Cycling) 2.15 25 Ryan Baumann (Abd Cycling Team) 2.17 26 Ben Raby (Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada) 27 Dan Timmerman (Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada) 28 Dustin MacBernie (Team Race) 2.18 29 Mike Stoop (Siegler/Axley Cycling Team) 2.19 30 Andrew Boone (Kenda/Raleigh Racing) 2.20 31 Rudolph Napolitano (Rock Racing) 2.37 32 Michael Dietrich (Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada) 33 Alex Sharon (Abd Cycling Team) 34 Justin Spinelli (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast) 2.38 35 Eddy Hilger (Priority Health/Bissell) 2.40 36 Tom Soladay (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Lsv Amateur Cycling) 3.00 37 Chris Monteleone (Time Factory Development Squad) 3.05 39 Jorge Alvarado (Kahala-La Grange) 38 Brian Buchholz (UVA) 40 Jame Carney (Alliance Environmental) 41 Joel Dion-Poitras (Eva-Devinci) 3.06 42 Hayden Brooks (Firodifrutta Cycling Team) 43 Aliaksahav Bieliakowski (CCB/Volkswagen) 44 Buck Miller (Team Race) 3.07 45 Keck Baker (Siegler/Axley Cycling Team) 46 Marcos Rios (Kahala-La Grange) 47 Matt Winstead (Morepartnerincome.Com Development) 48 Ken Johnson (Battley Harley-Davidson/Hudson Trail) 49 Carlos Mayoral (Kahala-La Grange) 3.21 50 Nick Waite (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast) 3.27 51 Jesse Anthony (Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada) 5.42 52 John Delong (Alliance Environmental) 6.08 53 Gavi Epstein (CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25) 7.46 54 Jeff Buckles (Skinny Js) 55 Mike Norton (Rite Aid Pro Cycling) 10.11 56 Pete Whitlock (Siegler/Axley Cycling Team) 57 Corey Burns (Firodifrutta Cycling Team) 59 Sergio Hernandez (Rock Racing) 10.12 58 Phillip Robb (Siegler/Axley Cycling Team) 60 Alex Hagman (AEG-Toshiba-Jet Network) 61 Jared Gruber (Time Factory Development Squad) 62 Lisban Quintero (CRCA/Empire Cycling Team) 63 Adrian Gerrits (Kahala-La Grange) 64 Dan Cassidy (CCB/Volkswagen) 65 Matthew Guse (Calyon/Litespeed Pro Cycling Team) 66 Chirs Rozdilsky (Firodifrutta Cycling Team) 10.13 67 Phil Gaimon (CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25) 68 Scott Stewart (VMG Racing) 69 Chris Kuhl (CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25) 70 Glenn Murray (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Lsv Amateur Cycling) 71 Eric Boily (Eva-Devinci) 10.16 72 Russ Langley (Battley Harley-Davidson/Hudson Trail) 13.38 73 Graham Howard (Priority Health/Bissell) 13.39 74 Todd Henriksen (AEG-Toshiba-Jet Network) 75 Ian Ayers (Rite Aid Pro Cycling) 14.50 76 Stephen Kincaid (Rite Aid Pro Cycling) 14.51 77 Kevin Soller (VMG Racing) 17.59 78 Alexander Gonzalez (Caico) 79 Ben King (Morepartnerincome.Com Development) 19.18 80 Peter Hufanagel (Colavita-Sutter Home) 81 Bain Foote (Memphis Motorwerks/Carve) 82 Jared Bunde (GS Mengoni) 83 Mason Haymes (Siegler/Axley Cycling Team) 87 Evan Fader (Battley Harley-Davidson/Hudson Trail) 19.19 85 Ryan Belliveau (Calyon/Litespeed Pro Cycling Team) 84 John Loehner (CRCA/Empire Cycling Team) 86 Jason Beerman (Kenda/Raleigh Racing) 88 Amos Brumble (CCB/Volkswagen) 89 Boyd Johnson (Alliance Environmental) 19.20 90 Joe Whitman (Alliance Environmental) 91 Yagor Buben (CCB/Volkswagen) 93 Philllip Cortes (Calyon/Litespeed Pro Cycling Team) 92 Michael Sherry (CRCA/Empire Cycling Team) 94 Jonathan Swain (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Lsv Amateur Cycling) 95 Adam Thuss (Team Race) 96 Jonny Sundt (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast) 19.21 97 Brian Butts (Battley Harley-Davidson/Hudson Trail) 98 Jason Baer (Kenda/Raleigh Racing) 99 Sean Barrie (Battley Harley-Davidson/Hudson Trail) 100 Jake Hollenbach (CCB/Volkswagen) 19.22 101 Ryan Roth (Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast) 19.23 102 Eugene Boronow (GS Mengoni) 25.15 103 Martin Lechowicz (GS Mengoni) 25.20 104 Mike Miller (Alliance Environmental) 33.43 105 Ian Birlem (Battley Harley-Davidson/Hudson Trail) 35.20 110 Wendy Cruz (Caico) 109 Agustin Font (Caico) 106 Erik Lyman (Calyon/Litespeed Pro Cycling Team) 107 Greg Reain (Calyon/Litespeed Pro Cycling Team) 108 Paul Koehn (Memphis Motorwerks/Carve) General classification after stage 4 1 Javier Zapata (CAICO) 10.11.17 2 Alejandro Borrajo (Rite Aid Pro Cycling) 0.18 3 Dan Bowman (KBS/Medifast) 1.10
