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RACE REPORTS: TOUR OF THE GILA STAGE 2: HAEDO WINS STAGE 2 FIELD SPRINT
Road Bike Action
April 30, 2009
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(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Colavita's Lucas Sebastian Haedo won the second stage of the Tour of the Gila in southern New Mexico by taking a hard fought field sprint. Levi Leipheimer finished in the front group to hold on to his overall lead heading into Friday’s stage three time trial.
The day was marked by a 48-mile breakaway that contained pre-race favorite Floyd Landis (OUCH pb Maxxis). Also in the break were Colavita's Luis Amaran, Team Type 1's Shawn Milne and Garmin-Holowesko Partners-Felt’s Caleb Fairly.
With Landis in the break, Leipheimer's Astana/Mellow Johnny’s teammates Lance Armstrong and Chris Horner, spent most of the day on the front trying to contain the gap to the four-man break. The break’s gap topped out at about 4 minutes, but in the hilly final 20 miles, the break came apart. Amaran cracked and was dropped on the climb up to the Santa Rita copper mine, and then on the finishing circuit in the town of Bayard, Milne attacked with Landis and dropped Fairly. Landis and Milne worked well together but were brought back in the last mile.
From there Haedo was set up perfectly by his team, allowing the Argentinean sprinter to power clear in the last 200 meters. Alex Howes (Garmin-Holowesko Partners-Felt) finished second with Rory Sutherland (OUCH pb Maxxis) in third.
Tour of the Gila
April 29-May 3, 2009
Stage 2: April 30: Inner Loop Road Race, 128/125km
1. Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home)
2. Alex Howes (Garmin-Holowesko Partners-Felt)
3. Rory Sutherland (OUCH pb Maxxis)
General classification after stage 2
1. Levi Leipheimer (Mellow Johnny's)
2. Peter Stetina (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin)
3, Christopher Baldwin (Boulder)
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