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Altoona, Penn. (July 31, 2006) - Despite not sending
an official delegation, the Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team
was represented admirably at this past week's Tour de 'Toona, with Scott
Zwizanski and Dominique Perras figuring in the seven-day race's most prominent
attacks.
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Dominique
Perras |
In the third stage, a 98-mile road race from Johnstown
to Altoona, Perras took advantage of infighting among the early breakaway
to escape with Glen Chadwick (Navigators Insurance), although the pair were
caught before the day's main ascent of Blue Knob.
Still, Perras did manage to win both sprint points on the course and picked
up second-place on the day's first KOM.
In stage 5, Zwizanski's early counterattack proved to be the catalyst for
the stage-winning breakaway in Martinsburg.
Joined by Mark McCormack (Colavita-Sutter Home), Bernard van Ulden (Navigators
Insurance) and Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly), Zwizanski's efforts helped create
a lead of over three minutes, which came down to 22 seconds at the finish
where he placed third behind van Ulden and McCormack.
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Scott
Zwizanski |
"I was planning to attack at the end, but the gap
was coming down so fast and it was a really hard headwind for the last 10k,"
Zwizanski recalled. "For whatever reason, I never saw an opportunity to
go and we kept rotating until 1km to go. Sill, I was glad to get on the
podium."
The next day, it was Perras' turn in race's hardest mountain stage and he
showed that his climbing form is among North America's elite, getting away
in a six-rider breakaway with Chadwick and Sergey Lagutin (Navigators),
Chris Baldwin and Chris Wherry (Toyota-United) and Andy Bajadali (Jelly
Belly).
"I felt great on the climbs and broke away with Lagutin on the last KOM,
but the rest caught us on the descent," said Perras, who in the end finished
2nd overall in the KOM standings and won the race's most aggressive rider
award.
Also racing in Altoona was Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada's David Robinson,
who had a tough week with mechanicals and crashes.
Zwizanski and Robinson both rode under the Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada
banner, along with guest riders Joe Whitman and Stephan Kincaid, while Perras
moonlighted for the week with the Quebec provincial selection.
Next up for the team is the Bank of America Invitational, this Saturday
night in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ben Jacques-Maynes, Jackson Stewart,
Pete Lopinto, Martin Gilbert, Scott Zwizanski, Dan Schmatz, Jason Allen
and Jesse Anthony will take the start and race for one the season's largest
purses.
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