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A look at the Tour of the Gila

Published: Apr. 30, 2003
A look at the Tour of the Gila
A look at the Tour of the Gila

With the nation’s newest and richest stage race — the Dodge Tour de Georgia — just wrapped up, the five-stage Holiday Inn Express Tour of the Gila, held in Silver City, New Mexico, won’t be pulling in the same caliber of road teams as it has in years past.

“It’s going to be a mountain bikers’ training ground this year,” noted race director Jack Brennan, regarding the absence of top domestic teams like Saturn, Prime Alliance and Navigators in the men’s NRC event. “With [NORBA National Championship Series #1] Big Bear two weeks away, it’s a perfect chance for them to get in some racing miles.”

Brennan’s not kidding. Last year, Mercury dominated at Gila, with Chris Wherry (now with Navigators) claiming the overall, winning the opening time trial and the difficult final 100-mile “Gila Monster” road race while teammates Gord Fraser and Scott Moninger took stage wins in between. But with Wherry’s new Navigators squad sitting out the race, Moninger serving a suspension and Fraser heading the upstart Health Net team — along with former Mercury teammate Mike Sayers — the door is open for one of the composite mountain bike teams to shine.

At the race last year, then SoBe-Cannondale rider mountain biker Tom Danielson made an impression on the field at Gila by counter-attacking Chris Horner on a climb of the final stage, finishing eighth overall and immediately landing a contract with Mercury. And while Danielson’s is an unusual story, might there be any similar revelations this year?

Headed by Drew Miller, the winner of last weekend’s other stage race, La Vuelta de Bisbee, the Trek-VW All-Stars bring to Gila off-road celebs Walker Ferguson and Travis Brown as well as journeyman Scott Price, sixth at Bisbee and tenth at Gila last year. If they work together wisely, the All-Stars could pull off some surprises, and Miller and/or Price could find themselves catapulted from their Landis-Trek-VW “shop team,” as Miller calls it.

Also bringing a strong off-road contingency is the Canadian National team, headed by an on-form Chris Sheppard, along with Andreas Hestler, Matt Toulouse and Ricky Federeau. If these fat-tire specialists from the north can survive the fast Stage 4 Silver City criterium, there just might be some full-fingered gloves and knobby-soles atop the final podium. Now that’d be a trip, eh?

Of the domestic road teams slated to start, Health Net and Sierra Nevada-Clif Bar, led by Andy Jacques-Maynes, are most likely to animate the race. Jacques-Maynes has posted strong results this Spring — 17th at both Redlands and Sea Otter, and seventh at Bisbee — while the geography, combined with a lesser-experienced peloton, could play right into the hands of the veteran Sayers, who has raced aggressively all season and took fifth at Bisbee, where Fraser took third. While the Gila course profiles will likely prove to be too hilly for Fraser to threaten the GC, another criterium stage win for Gord is a safe bet.

Other riders/teams to watch:
• Last year’s cyclo-cross national champion Todd Wells, who placed fourth at the recent La Vuelta de Bisbee, will be racing solo in his Team Hyundai-Mongoose kit.
• Reigning NORBA cross-country national champion Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski, who will be riding alongside RLX-Ralph Lauren teammate Carl Swenson.
• Colby Pearce and Blake Caldwell, both from Boulder, Colorado, will be riding for the Jonathon Vaughters-sponsored 5280-Subaru team. While Pearce’s name is well known in domestic racing circles, Caldwell’s is not — yet. Only 19, Caldwell has won two junior national road championships and placed 51st at Redlands this year.
• LeMond Fitness-Cra-Z Soap, co-led by former Ofoto rider Andy Crater and Adrian Laidler, the Australian U23 time trial champion.

The Women
In the women’s stage race, last year’s winner Genevieve Jeanson is, as usual, the clear favorite. The form she demonstrated while crushing the field at Redlands and Sea Otter, combined with a stronger RONA-Esker team, give no cause for doubt that Jeanson can — and will — repeat her Gila performance of 2002, where she won four of the five stages, amassing an eleven-minute lead over second-placed Kimberly Bruckner.

With Bruckner and the rest of the T-Mobile global team racing in Europe, Jeanson’s closest competition is likely to come from her former super-domestique Manon Jutras, now racing for Saturn. At 35, Jutras is 14 years Jeanson’s senior, but has shown impressive strength this year, particularly in the hills, placing third overall at both Redlands and Sea Otter behind Jeanson, and winning the McLane road race and Bisbee overall in Jeanson’s absence.

T-Mobile’s domestic squad, led by Katrina Grove and Dotsie Cowden, couldn’t touch Jutras at Bisbee, and there’s no reason to suggest they will do any better in the hills of the Gila — although the addition of the multiple-collegiate national champion Kate Maher to the T-Mobile team could prove interesting. Still, backed by national champ Jessica Phillips and flat-course powerhouse Ina Teutenberg, Jutras is a near shoo-in for second-place, with Teutenberg a good bet to win the crit.

Other riders/teams to watch:
• Like their male counterparts, the women’s Canadian National team brings a strong off-road contingency, particularly in former world cross-country champion Alison Sydor. Riding with Sydor will be notable off-roadsters Chrissy Redden and Kiara Bisaro.
• Trek-VW mountain biker Sue Haywood, who rode a strong Redlands this year and placed tenth at the Sea Otter cross-country stage race.

Weather
The forecast is, not surprisingly, sunny and warm all week, although with isolated thunderstorms predicted for Sunday’s 100-mile “Gila Monster” road race, anything could happen.

Race Note
Unlike the UCI-sanctioned Georgia race, this NRC event is open to a broad expanse of levels, hosting five stages for the Pro/1, Senior Men 2, 3, 45-plus and Women Pro 1/2 categories, and the final three stages open to Senior Men 4 and 5's and Women 3 and 4’s.

The Stages
Stage 1 - Tyrone Time Trial
Wednesday, April 30
A 15.7-mile out-and-back with over 1000 feet of climbing, the courseconsists of nearly all ascents or descents, with very little flat ground.
Weather Forecast: Sunny with wind, 71°
2002 Winners: Chris Wherry, Genevieve Jeanson

Stage 2 - Silver City to Mogollon Road Race
Thursday, May 1
The men race 92 long miles, with 5,650 feet of climbing — most of whichcomes in the final 35 miles. The finish is atop a 5.5-mile category 1 climb,on a very narrow alpine road. Women will race over a 70-mile course dishingup 4,530 feet of elevation gain to the same uphill finish. There will betwo 15-second time bonus sprints during each race.
Weather Forecast: Sunny, 72°
2002 Winners: Scott Moninger, Genevieve Jeanson

Stage 3 - Inner Loop Road Race
Friday, May 2
Beginning and ending at Fort Bayard, 7 miles from the Silver City raceheadquarters, the 73-mile loop offers up 5,150 feet of climbing, with narrowalpine descents. Pro women race the same course. There will be two 15-secondtime bonus sprints during each race.
Weather Forecast: Sunny, 76°
2002 Winners: Mark McCormack, Genevieve Jeanson

Stage 4 - Downtown Silver City Criterium
Saturday May 3
A 1.08 mile closed course on city streets, with four 90-degree cornersand 60 feet of climbing per lap. Pro women race 25 laps, pro men go for40; both feature one 15-second time bonus sprint.
Weather Forecast: Partly Cloudy, 76°
2002 Winners: Gord Fraser, Karen Bockel

A look at the Tour of the Gila
A look at the Tour of the Gila

Stage 5 – “Gila Monster” Road Race
Sunday May 4
Pro men will leave from Gough Park in Silver City and follow a 100-mileloop to the finish in Piños Altos after 9,360 feet of climbing,while the women will start from same location ten minutes later, and followan abbreviated loop of 66 miles, with 5,420 feet of climbing to the samefinish. Most of the climbing comes in the latter part of race, and muchof the race is on narrow mountain roads. The finish is at the end of asurprisingly difficult category 4 climb. There will be two 15-second timebonus sprints during each race.
Weather Forecast: Isolated Thunderstorms/Wind, 71°
2002 Winners: Chris Wherry, Genevieve Jeanson
 

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