Willy Zellmer of Team Specialized takes fifth place in the first stage of the Tour de l’abitibi. While a win would have us at an early celebration party, sometimes a fifth place finish can be a “win”. Firstly, an eight man breakaway went clear of the field, built up a lead of one minute and still held off a charging field. Secondly, National teams Canada, France, USA and Japan all missed the move and thirdly, New Zealand had two riders and Kazakhstan had three riders. Mexico, Thailand and Team Specialized made up the rest of the break. Yes, a trade team/ regional team away with the strong National teams! Finally, Willy’s teammates enjoyed a day of following wheels and monitoring the moves. Mostly they found that the chase was not well organized, probably due to the average pace of 28.4 miles per hour over this 112 kilometer stage. Further to this point was that Willy hung on and dished out some fierce attacks, until the breakaway gap came down and the eight decided to cooperate to the line.
1- James Oram, New Zealand
2- Dion Smith, New Zealand +.01
3- Roman Semyonov, Kazakhstan +.06
4- Vitality Marayhin, Kazakhstan + .08
5- Willy Zellmer, Team Specialized + .10
28- David Benkoski, Team Specialized + .28
30- Jeff Perrin, Team Specialized + .28
41- James LaBerge, Team Specialized + .28
63- Torey Philipp, Team Specialized + .28
84- Kyle Torres, Team Specialized + .28
132 finishers
Our position in the caravan slides up to 3rd car. This is a reflection of Willy being 5th place on GC but 3rd team behind New Zealand and Kazakhstan. Team Specialized is sitting 3rd on Team GC 25 seconds behind Kazakhstan and New Zealand.
Overall, the team is in good spirits. They are eating lunch and breakfast together as a team and dressing the part. They are going to bed at 10pm and sleeping ten hours a night. Nutrition and recovery is critical to a six day stage race.
Cheers, Larry
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