Hood River, OR – Chris Baldwin of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented came into the final stage of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic Sunday needing to make up a 13-second gap to race leader Paul Mach (Bissell). But the tight, windy 1 km course provided little opportunity for the team’s newest member to escape and put time on Mach.

“It’s a bit frustrating not to capitalize on the small margin,” he said. Instead, Baldwin finished in the main pack and easily preserved 2nd place overall.

The day before, on the Wy’East Road Race, Hood’s queen stage, Baldwin was aggressive in trying to shake Mach to close down what was then a 15-second gap. Baldwin had help from teammate Roman Kilun in setting up attacks going into the final climb, but with the team’s third rider, Jonathan Chodroff, out of the race after being taken out in a crash, Baldwin was on the wrong end of a numbers game with Bissell. He put in several attacks near the end of the finishing climb trying to dislodge the young Bissell rider from his wheel. But at the stage’s end, he was unable to get away, settling for second place on the stage just ahead of Mach.

“They got a bit of time on me during the first road stage Thursday, and Mach was able to do a really strong time trial the next day,” Baldwin said. So strong that the two-time national time trial champion was only able to gain three seconds on the Bissell rider despite winning the stage. “On Saturday, all he had to do was follow my wheel. Give him credit. He rode a strong, smart race.”

Though he was frustrated with finishing 2nd, overall Baldwin was pleasantly surprised with how well the race went. He finished with one stage win, a 2nd place and a 3rd place, to go along with Chodroff’s 3rd place in the time trial.

“When I first talked to Mike (Tamayo, OUCH Presented by Maxxis directeur sportif), we looked at this race as more for training,” Baldwin said. “I didn’t know how I was going to feel with the new equipment. That’s a really personal thing. The first road stage was only the second ride I did on my new Kuota, and the first one was for about an hour the evening before. Some guys can get on a new bike and just go. I’m at the other end of the spectrum. I’ve very finicky.

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Oakland, CA – The OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis has added Chris Baldwin, a two-time U.S. National Time Trial Champion, to its roster for the remainder of the 2009 season.

“Chris has been one of North America’s top stage racers for this entire decade,” said team directeur sportif Mike Tamayo. “He’s an excellent time trialist and one of the best climbers around. He adds tremendous depth to our stage race squad. He’s had some great rides already this year, and I think he’ll really excel with this organization.”

OUCH Presented by Maxxis team leader Rory Sutherland has battled against Baldwin for the past two years and is glad to now be riding along side him.

“Chris is a good guy and a great rider,” Sutherland said. “His talents compliment in areas where we need more help. Obviously he’s a great time trialist, and he’s probably a better climber than I am, especially at altitude. He’s going to be a huge asset for us at races like Hood and Utah.”

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After a self-professed frustrating year, the 2-Time USPRO Time Trial Champion, in 2003 and 2005, Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) is skipping the TT this year to focus on the road race in the upcoming US Professional Championships in Greenville. Combined with the lost of the team sponsor, 2008 has been a rough ride for the (almost) always smiling rider but that didn’t dim the tremendous passion the 32-year old still feels  for the sport or his  optimism about the state of cycling in the US.

After playing phone tag with Chris, I caught up with him while he was on an afternoon bike ride with his lovely wife Kimberly, a retired professional cyclist. He took the time to answer all my questions about his year, his future and his thoughts about US cycling.

Let’s talk about the US Nationals coming up this weekend.
Chris: I actually decided against doing the time trial this year, I’m really trying to focus on the road race and hoping that goes well. With the time trial the day before, I think that takes the sting out of your legs for the next day, so that is the focus and I’m looking forwards to ride with Chris [Wherry] and Justin [England] and we have kind of a small squad but a good hit squad, so it should be fun.

What do you think is going to happen this year? Current Road Champ Levi Leipheimer is not riding and you were one of the few that stuck with him last for a bit anyway.
Chris: (laughs) I think a bit is right. I think that’s it going to be pretty similar with everybody looking at Garmin because they have so many riders, they have the most opportunities to use the riders for breakaways and what not, key on them, and then George [Hincapie] is going to be good and I think he has a couple of teammates.

What’s the plan for the Toyota-United team? Are your teammates riding for you?
Chris: No. We’re just three guys, I don’t thing anyone is riding for anyone else, we’re all riding for each together, we’ll see how it goes. Luckily, it’s kind of a mountain bike race in its style, in that it’s a hard enough race that the selection happens naturally, I think it bodes well for a smaller team.

Was the decision not to do the TT based on the road race the day after or the new course?
Chris: I would say all of the above. If there had been a decent break between the two, I would do it regardless just to do it. But with just not feeling it and not time trialing well all year, and the course, just like you said, is now flatter and two turns, a u-turn… All these factors combined, it doesn’t look like a good course for me, I’m not timetrialing well, not enough rest before the road race, it just kind of all pointed towards to just not do it. Not having it as a goal, well it’s a load off my shoulders, I’ve been training hard to timetrial all year and it just hasn’t happened, there comes a point where you feel like beating a dead horse, banging your head against the wall. Personally, it’s nice to focus on the road race for a change.

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The Rock Racing team successfully protected the 54-second lead Santiago Botero had gained while soloing to victory on Stage 1 on Friday in Beaumont. Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) finished second overall and Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell Pro Cycling) was third. The result was Botero’s first-ever win in the United States and the Colombian also took home the red jersey of best climber in the four-day race.

The Rock Racing team made sure that Redlands was not a repeat of previous weekend’s San Dimas race when they lost the lead in the last stage by one second, by controlling the front of the field throughout the race, never letting a rider get more than a one-minute gap.

After his Colavita-Sutter Home team executed a perfect leadout train in the ultimate lap of the five laps of Saturdays’ criterium course, Alejandro Borrajo won the field sprint ahead of Tony Cruz (BMC) and Rory Sutherland (Health Net p/b Maxxis).

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