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Duggan wins Puerto Rico opener
San Juan, Puerto Rico – TIAA-CREF’s Tim Duggan put the chaos of a hectic morning behind him to win Thursday’s opening time trial stage of the inaugural Tour of Puerto Rico.
Duggan awoke to the sounds of a howling wind and a torrential downpour, then coped with a series of logistical and mechanical problems before firing down the start ramp in front of the Olympic House in San Juan.
The stage started nearly 20 minutes late and some team personnel found themselves stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic miles from the start/finish line. Duggan said TIAA-CREF was not without its problems, too.
“We don’t have a mechanic here so we were having trouble getting our disk wheels going,” he said. “Sometimes you just have to stop stressing and start pedaling your bike.”
Fighting strong crosswinds and intermittent rain showers, Duggan clocked a time of 23 minutes and 48 seconds over the 11-mile course. Frank Terwel of Marco Polo was second in 24:09, followed by Duggan’s teammate, Chad Hartley, who clocked a 24:13.
“It was really windy,” Duggan said.
TIAA-CREF, which is using the race as training for the upcoming Tour of Georgia, placed four riders in the top 10 to lead the team standings. Marco Polo is second and Team Kaos is third.
Other notable finishers from the first stage of the UCI 2.2 race included
Friday’s stage begins in San Juan and traverses the northern side of the island, finishing 100 miles west in the town of Mayaguez. Duggan, 22, said he knows it will be windy again, but that he knows little else about the stage. Three sprint lines dot the rolling course.
“It’s kind of hard to chase things down when you only have six guys,” he said. “In a situation like that, you have to be smarter with your firepower.”
The four-day, UCI 2.2 srace continues Saturday with two stages: a 41-mile stage in the morning with two third-category climbs that finishes in Hatillo, and a 47-mile rolling stage that sends the 103rider field back east to Bayamon. The race concludes Sunday with a 70-mile race from Bayamon that finishes with 20 circuits in the finish town of San Juan.Tour of Puerto Rico
Stage 1 - Individual Time Trial -11 miles
1. Tim Duggan, TIAA-CREF, 23:48
2. Frank Terwel, Marco Polo, 24:09
3. Chad Hartley, TIAA-CREF, 24:13
4. Jonathan Baker, Team Kaos, 24:19
5. Ramon Pineda, Seleccion de Santiago, 24:19
6. Stefano Barberi, TIAA-CREF, 24:20
7. Wendy Cruz, Seleccion de Santiago, 24:20
8. Edualdo Asencio Rosario, Ciaico/Asiphex, 24:25
9. David Robinson, TIAA-CREF, 24:31
10. Michael Carter, Marco Polo, 24:36
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