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Home » Top Stories » Road » Vuelta Mexico Telmex

Evans takes stage in Mexico tour

By VeloNews.com
Published: Mar. 7, 2009
Vuelta Mexico Stage 6: Evans gets the win.
Vuelta Mexico Stage 6: Evans gets the win.
Photo: Luis Barbosa

Cameron Evans (OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis) won a three-up sprint to take the victory at the end of Stage 6 of la Vuelta Mexico.

The rolling, 190 km stage saw a break succeed for the third consecutive day. And for the third consecutive day, an OUCH rider made the most of it.

“We knew a break had a good shot to stay away to the finish,” Evans said. “We wanted to make sure we had a guy in every move.”

2009 Vuelta Mexico Telmex
Stage 6: San Miguel Allende to León, Guanajuato, 190km (118.1 miles)

Stage winner: Cam Evans (OUCH-Maxxis) in 4:44:05
Winner's average speed: 40.13 kmh. (24.94 mph)
Overall leader: Jackson Rodriguez (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni)
Sprint leader: Karl Menzies (OUCH)
Mountains leader: David Vitoria (Rock Racing)
Best Young rider (Under 23): Peter Stetina (USA U25)
Team GC leader: Rock Racing
Peloton: 112 riders finished stage 6
Up Next: Stage 7 is 158 km (98.2 miles) from Huichapan to Pachuca, Hidalgo

As has been the case all week, attacks came early and often, with Brad White of OUCH covering one short-lived break. But another one went shortly after that break came back, and Evans covered. This group grew to about 15 riders, including race leader Jackson Rodriguez (Serramenti).

“We knew the break wasn’t going anywhere with him in it,” Evans said. But as the initial group was about to be reabsorbed, a seven-rider group formed from it sans Rodriguez, and the newly re-constituted group, including Evans, established a gap on the peloton.

That gap extended to over five minutes, and as the break went over the first KoM, three riders dropped off, leaving Evans, Chris Baldwin (Rock Racing), former race leader Juan Pablo Magallenas (Mexican National Team) and John Freddy Parra (Tecos).

Heading up the second KoM, the Colombian Parra dropped off, leaving three riders together over the top with a lead down to 1:30 on the peloton, and another mostly downhill or flat 25 km to the finish. But the three riders were able to open the gap a bit on the descent and gain a little breathing room to play the inevitable cat and mouse games coming into the finish.

“Baldwin attacked a couple times,” Evans said. “I covered the first one, and Magallenas covered the second. I knew he was pretty strong, but I was feeling pretty good and thought I had a good chance at the finish. I just need to be patient.”

The patience paid off, with Evans taking the three-up sprint and a big stage win for the team.

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