Dominique Rollin Finishes 4th place in Stage 1 of the Tour of California.

Stage 1, Santa Rosa, California

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team came into Stage 1 with a goal of repeating its win of the 2006 edition of this great stage into Santa Rosa. Although, the team did not win, Rollin provided fans and his teammates alike with an exciting finish and a performance to be proud of.

The team led by Dominique Rollin who coasted in with a 4th place finish as the highest placed non ProTour rider. Toyota-United continues to perform in America’s biggest races the past 3 years with seven stage wins in America’s three “grand” Tours.

“It was a tough day at the office for Toyota-United.” said Scott Moninger. The European teams rode aggressively up the climb early, Ivan Dominguez and a group of TUP riders stuck within 20 seconds of the leaders as they broke away up the climb. They stayed with the leaders up until an hour to go in the race when the pack separated and only 3 Toyota-United riders stayed with the leaders; they were led by Dominique Rollin, Heath Blackgrove, and Ben Day. The remainder of the team fought to catch up to the lead group unsuccessfully the remainder of the race.

Dominique Rollin came into this race in great shape and today’s finish required a strongman’s finish which played well into Dominique’s hand. With one lap to go, Heath Blackgrove brought Rollin into position, “I had the perfect wheel for the sprint with 300m to go, I was flying by everyone, and I knew with this speed, I would win it. But with 150 meters to go, I had a chicane to go thru and I had to pull up or I would have slammed into the barricade, otherwise I had the clear path and I believe I would have won” said Rollin. It was an impressive performance once again for Toyota-United and the boys are resting for another long stage tomorrow during Stage 2 from Santa Rosa into the capital city of California, Sacramento. It promises to be an exciting week of racing with the early fights we have seen already.

Photos By © Kathleen Poulos

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 2:01 am and is filed under Stage 1, Toyota United. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.