Glen Chadwick (Team Type) has had quite a season so far. The 31-year old New Zealander was hospitalized for several weeks in February after doctors discovered he had the Epstein-Barr virus in his spine. After his recovery, he went on to win two stages and the overall title at the inaugural Tour of Arkansas, in May. He then topped it off with his first participation at the Olympic Games, where he represented his country along with two teammates, Julian Dean and Tim Gudsell, in the road race.

Chadwick, or Chaddy as he is known, finished fifteen minutes and fifty-three seconds behind the winner, but finish he did.

After spending only one week in Beijing, Chaddy was back in the United States, racing at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah with his team, and that is where I caught up with him. A relaxed and joking Chaddy shared some of his memories about his Olympic experience.

Chadwick went on to a third-place finish overall at the Tour of Utah and claimed the King of the Mountain title.

When did you leave Beijing? Did you come directly to Utah?
Chaddy: My flight was like at 3 o’clock in the afternoon in Beijing, which is 3 am east Coast time, and then I got into Utah midnight, Monday night. I flew from China across America to Newark and back to Utah.

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Full Week of Promotions and Activities for Cycling Championships
Begin with Baseball Game on Monday

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Professional athlete and Greenville resident George Hincapie will exhibit talents in two sports next week, baseball and cycling. He will start the week on Monday, August 25 at Fluor Field at the West End by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch of the Greenville Drive’s final home game of the 2008 season. The five-time Olympian will end the week on Sunday, August 31 vying for his third Stars-and-Stripes road race jersey in the Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling Professional Championships.

“This is a great way to pay tribute to the growth of cycling in the Upstate and to kick off all the festivities for Labor Day weekend with the Greenville Hospital System USA Cycling Professional Championships. George is not only a world-class athlete, but a world-class ambassador for the sport of cycling. We encourage all cycling fans to cheer on George and use the baseball game to get ready for the Pro Championships and the Stars and Stripes Challenge,” said Kevin Dunn, president of Palmetto Peloton Project, the 501c3 non-profit organization that produces the Stars and Stripes Challenge fundraising events that are part of Championship weekend in Greenville.

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-Ben Jacques-Maynes Makes His Return-

Grand Rapids, Mich., – BISSELL Pro Cycling’s (BPC) Tom Zirbel is back on form and ready to challenge America’s top time trialists in pursuit of the USA Cycling time trial championship. Zirbel’s recent Tour of Utah Stage 5 time trial victory sent out a clear warning that when he exits the start gates on August 30 in South Carolina at the Greenville Hospital Systems USA Cycling Pro Championships, he will be on a mission.

“I feel really good right now and my time trialing is where it needs to be,” said Zirbel following his Utah victory. “My mid-season crash kept me off the bike long enough to feel the effects but this warm-up gave me the confidence I needed – just to know that I’ve returned to where I was earlier in the season - and I am looking forward to leaving it all out there on the course in Greenville.”

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Bethel, Conn. – Cannondale Sports Group (CSG) Europe, today announced the beginning of distribution of GT Bicycles and SUGOI performance apparel throughout Italy and France beginning in September 2008. This new distribution model will help to re-launch the GT Bicycles brand into these important markets and officially introduce SUGOI into France for the first time. Cannondale Sports Group is a Division of Dorel Industries (TSX: DII.B, DII.A).

“France and Italy are both leading performance brand oriented markets and consumer product expectations are high,” said Jeff Frehner, CSG President and CEO. “Historically, demand for GT has been very strong. Now as part of the Cannondale Sports Group, we will be using the Cannondale distribution center in the Netherlands to distribute our GT and SUGOI brands in new and more effective ways to these countries.”

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McMahon rides Blue to Canadian National Championship and Haskins grabs 11th place in Beijing

Norcross, Georgia – On Sunday, August 17, 2008. Elite triathletes sponsored by Blue Competition Cycles raced to success on two continents. In Kelowna, British Columbia, Brent McMahon was crowned 2008 Canadian National Champion. Later that same day (August 18 in China), Sarah Haskins rode Blue’s new TriadTM multisport/time trial bike to 11th place at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China, finishing less than three minutes behind gold medalist Emma Snowsill of Australia.

“We are extremely proud of our sponsored athletes,” said Chance Regina of Blue Competition Cycles. “Sarah and Brent are incredibly dedicated and talented professionals and these results prove it. We’re also gratified to see our new all-carbon multisport bike perform so well in its debut at the Olympics.”

The Olympic Women’s Triathlon marked the first time Blue’s new bike was ridden in competition. “Normally, you wouldn’t ride a new bike in an event like the Olympics,” said Haskins. “But when I rode the Triad in training, I knew I had to have it for this event. I’m glad I did, because the cycling segment was much faster and more difficult than our team expected. The Triad helped me stay in the lead group, putting me in a great position to start the run,” concluded Haskins.

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It is called the race of truth for a reason. After 320 miles and over 30,000 feet of climbing over four days, “America’s Toughest Stage Race” came down to the final 7.5-mile flat time trial at the Tour of Utah. Trailing by seven seconds in the overall classification behind Blake Caldwell (Garmin-Chipotle), Utah native Jeff Louder (BMC) came in third and more importantly bested Caldwell’s time by sixteen seconds to be crowned the winner of the Tour of Utah.

Jeff Louder (BMC) gives it everything he’s got in the final meters to win the Tour of Utah

With his form back after breaking his collarbone at the Tour of the Gila back in May, time trial specialist Tom Zirbel (Bissell) stopped the clock at 13:50 to win the final stage. The only other man to break the fourteen-minute barrier, comeback kid Brent Bookwalter (BMC) was second, nine seconds back.

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Tooele, Utah – Glen Chadwick’s third-place finish overall at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah, as well as a third place in the team classification, confirms that Team Type 1 is one of the top stage racing teams in America, said Sport Director Ed Beamon.

Billed as the “America’s Toughest Stage Race,” (the race even owns the copyright on the phrase) Chadwick held onto his podium place with an impressive top 10 finish in Sunday’s final stage, the KJZZ Time Trial at Miller Motor Sports Park in Tooele, Utah.

“I’m really proud of how all the guys rode,” Beamon said. “We were even short-handed for this race, not having Moises (Aldape). So we lost a guy who could have been a real difference-maker.

Aldape competed in the Olympic men’s road race for Mexico, but travel logistics prevented him from making trip back in time for the five-day, five-stage race.

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Downers Grove, Ill. — Rahsaan Bahati’s victory Sunday at the Saab USA Cycling Professional Criterium Championship proved to be the crowning moment of the most prolific day – and week – in Rock Racing’s two-year history.

Bahati out-sprinted Alex Candelario (Kelly Benefit Strategies presented by Medifast) and third-place finisher Mark Hekman (Toshiba-Santo Pro Cycling) at the end of the 62-mile (100 km) race to join Rock Racing teammate Justin Williams as a winner of the coveted stars-and-stripes national championship jersey.

Earlier this month, Williams captured the USA Cycling Under-23 National Criterium Championship in Anaheim, Calif. It is believed to be the first time two African-Americans have earned national cycling titles in the same discipline in the same season.

“This has got to be some type of history,” Bahati said after notching his ninth win and receiving a congratulatory call from Rock Racing Team Owner Michael Ball. “There is definitely some significance to it. Perhaps we won’t see it now, but in the future it will carry some weight.”

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Digging deep to the finish of the Saab USA Cycling Professional Criterium Championship (left to right): Alex Candelario (Kelly Benefit Strategies presented by Medifast), Rahsaan Bahati (Rock Racing), Mark Hekman (Toshiba-Santo Pro Cycling) and Kayle Leogrande (Rock Racing).

Rock Racing’s Rahsaan Bahati posts up for the win as Alex Candelario (left) holds on for second ahead of Mark Hekman (Toshiba-Santo Pro Cycling).

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The contenders duked it out in the final climb of the Queen stage at the Tour of Utah. Before the stage, 13 riders were separated by 38 seconds in the general classification but after slogging it over 14,778 feet (4,504 m) of climbing over a 98-mile (159 km) road race, the race now comes down to 2 pretenders to the title.

Utah native Jeff Louder (BMC) was triumphant in front of a home crowd and crossed the line first, pointing in pride at his jersey. Yellow jersey Blake Caldwell (Garmin-Chipotle) crossed the line in second place, 13 seconds back. With time bonuses on the line, Caldwell now has a 7-second buffer over Louder going into the final stage, a relatively flat 12-mile (19.3 km) out and back time trial that starts and finishes at the Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele.

Jeff Louder (BMC) points to his BMC jersey when crossing the line in front of an enthusiastic crowd

A break of 7 riders went off in the first 10 miles of the race, and got almost a five minute advantage before being caught on the HC climb up Alpine Loop at around the 55-mile marker. One participant in the break was green jersey Brad White (Successful Living), on his third break of the race, who nailed down the Sprint jersey as no one contended the sprints.

The lone survivor of the break, Mike Creed (Rock Racing) grabbed the KOM points before re-integrating the chasing dwindling field.

By the time the lead group made it to the bottom of the final climb to Snowbird, the numbers were down to about 25 riders with all the contenders present and ready for action. Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) was the first one to launch a move which caused ripples in the group. Garmin-Chipotle duo including Caldwell started to chase him down which caused the BMC duo of Louder and Darren Lill to react and chase the argyle pair. Meanwhile, KOM Glen Chadwick (Team Type 1) flew away, passed Sevilla and got a 20 seconds gap to the chasers, but Caldwell went after him and passed the Kiwi.

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