Photo: Casey B. Gibson

Geneviève Jeanson (Rona-Esker) did her solitary thing Thursday, extending her overall lead to nearly four minutes in just the second stage of New Mexico’s Tour of the Gila. Meanwhile, Drew Miller relied upon his Trek-VW All Stars team to keep the race under control and leave him free to do what he does best - climb.

With perfect weather (clear, with temperatures in the 70s), the 92-mile men’s race offered up two sprint bonuses for riders with GC aspirations. Early on, a 13-man group that included Mike Sayers, two Health Net teammates and a couple of strong Mexican climbers from Team Tecos slipped away from the pack, with Sayers snatching the sprints as teammate and prologue winner Gord Fraser kept an eye on things back in the pack.

But Miller's Trek-VW All-Star team managed the break, never letting it grow past two minutes. "Our objective today was to try and get the jersey," Miller said.

Toward that end, as Colby Pearce (5280-Subaru), Sayers and a Tecos rider leapt out of the break in the final miles, Miller’s team delivered its designated leader to the turn onto Mogollon Road, and the winner of last weekend’s La Vuelta de Bisbee settled into his climbing rhythm and went after that jersey.

Miller was able to reach Sayers a mile from the top and had just enough drive left to reach the finish line 33 seconds ahead of the Health Net rider. It would be enough to catapult him into the leader's jersey.

Geneviève Jeanson wins -- again
There was no secret as to how the women's race would be contested: Rona-Esker would control any breaks or threat, and Jeanson would try to ride away and put time on her rivals.

Rona executed its plan perfectly. On the climb up Mogollon, Jeanson extended her GC lead to almost four minutes over Manon Jutras (Saturn), who finished 1:27 ahead of Katrina Grove (T-Mobile).

Race notes
Blood is thicker than water, especially where bicycle racing is concerned - and we're not talking Eddy and Axel here.

In Thursday’s Category 2 race at the Gila, a strong breakaway of about eight riders had nearly 10 minutes on the main pack containing the overall leader, 18-year-old Angetti Sheldrake (5280-Subaru).

Frustrated that the break was growing and the pack seemed content to let things slide, an older Cat. 2 rider on another team upped the tempo. On every small climb, this rider would fade and fall back through the group. But on every stretch of level ground or descent, he would push the pace again. Why?

Ang Sheldrake

Photo: Stephen W. Medcroft

Because Bart Sheldrake wasn’t about to sit in and watch his son's chances in the Tour of the Gila go to waste.

The elder Sheldrake's efforts paid off. Ang Sheldrake made the turn onto the climb with just a four-minute bridge to cross - and while David Reid (Landis-Trek-VW) was able to stay away and win the stage, Bart's boy crossed the line second to maintain a lead of 2:22 over Joe DePaemelaere (Boulder Denver Couriers).

Ang and Bart Sheldrake have been cycling together since Ang was young. In fact, father and son have been at the Tour of the Gila before, both as Cat 3's - when Ang was just 13 years old. It should be interesting to see how far they go from here.