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Day leads Beauce after winning TT
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For the second consecutive day, the Tour de Beauce saw a change in the lead, with Australian Ben Day (Navigators) taking over the yellow jersey from Gregorio Ladino Vega (Tecos) after scorching the competition in the individual time trial.
Danny Pate (Slipstream-Chipotle), the defending time-trial champion at Beauce, finished second with Svein Tuft (Symmetrics) third. Tuft moves into second overall at 33 seconds behind Day, with Pate taking over third at 1:04.
The 20km out-and-back time trial was held under near-perfect conditions, with temperatures in the mid-20's (Celsius) and almost no wind or humidity. Starting along a boulevard, the riders zig-zagged out of the town of St-Georges for the first 2km before hitting a steady (but not steep) grade for the next 4km. The remaining 4km before the turnaround were flat.
Canadian cyclo-cross champion Greg Reain (Calyon-Litespeed) set the first sub-28-minute time, eventually finishing sixth at 27:29. It took Glen Chadwick (Navigators), winner of the previous two stages, to lower the time by one second.
After this, Pate came through more than a minute faster, with Tuft two seconds behind him. But it was Day who rode in after Tuft, second from last on the start list, and the former Australian time-trial champion was the only rider to go under 26 minutes, recording a very quick 25:58. Ladino Vega could only manage 27:38 (ninth best), and dropped to fourth overall.
"I always have confidence in a time trial, but today I was on top of it,” said Day. “Today was a very good day for me."
Tuft was visibly disappointed with ceding more than 30 seconds to his rival.
"I just didn't have the full zap after yesterday at Megantic. Going up the climb so hard took a lot out of me, I guess. I knew the legs weren't there even during the warmup, so I wasn't in top form, but I also think Day had an exceptional ride. Some days you feel like you can push a gear, other days not so much ... this was an 'other' day for me."
Race notes
Tuft pointed out that Beauce isn't over, with two more days of tough circuit racing. He should know - he lost the lead two years ago to Nathan O'Neill on one of those final days, on the circuit that is going to be used Saturday. "I still think the possibilities are good. Anything can happen at Beauce; I saw it the last time trying to protect my lead on the Québec stage."
Day said that this year, for the first time, he had a chance to do some wind tunnel testing to improve his time-trialing. "We were at the wind tunnel before the Tour of California. The time trial has been my specialty for a few years, but this year is the first chance to try out the wind tunnel. We changed a few small things on the position at the front of the bike, and it has made a difference. This race is definitely not over. It seems to me like the kind of race where it is easier to race from behind then defend from in front. But, I have confidence in the team, that we'll get it done."
Results
1. Ben Day (Aus), Navigators Insurance, 20km in 25:58
2. Danny Pate (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, at 0:27
3. Svein Tuft (Can), Symmetrics, 0:29
4. David O'Loughlin (Irl), Navigators Insurance, 1:02
5. Glen Alan Chadwick (NZl), Navigators Insurance, 1:30
6. Greg Reain (Can), Calyon-Litespeed, 1:31
7. Dominique Rollin (Can), Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada, 1:32
8. Francois Parisien (Can), Slipstream-Chipotle, 1:37
9. Gregorio Ladino Vega (Col), Tecos Trek, 1:40
10. Dominique Perras (Can), Québec, 1:44
Overall
1. Ben Day (Aus), Navigators Insurance, 13:41:45
2. Svein Tuft (Can), Symmetrics, at 0:33
3. Danny Pate (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, at 1:04
4. Gregorio Ladino Vega (Col), Tecos Trek, at 1:25
5. David O'Loughlin (Irl), Navigators Insurance, at 1:32
6. Jacob Erker (Can), Symmetrics, at 2:44
7. Dominique Rollin (Can), Kodak Gallery-Sierra Nevada, 2:47
8. Dominique Perras (Can), Québec, 2:55
9. Philipp Mamos (Ger), Team Sparkasse, 3:14
10. Juan Pablo Magallanes Arawda (Mex), Tecos Trek, at 3:20
