Thursday, July 23, 2009

Oscar Sevilla Takes Lead At Cascade Classic


By: Kirsten Robbins

Rock Racing's Oscar Sevilla displayed his climbing pedigree at the Cascade Cycling Classic when he soloed to the stage two victory atop Three Creeks Snow Park. Battling Peter Stetina (Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin) until the final kilometre, Sevilla kicked over the closing 1000 metres to finish ahead of Stetina and teammate Francisco Mancebo, who nipped Chris Baldwin (OUCH p/b Maxxis) at the line for third.

"It was great to win here today," said Sevilla, who travelled more than 20 hours to make it to the start of the event after completing the Vuelta a Madrid on Sunday. "After the racing in Madrid we are a little tired. But today, on a climb like this, I was fine. We were always attentive. The whole day was very fast and the last climb was not too steep. I always kept my rhythm and saved a little bit extra for the last kilometre."

Sevilla moved into the overall lead, 27 seconds ahead of his teammate Mancebo and 35 seconds ahead of Baldwin heading into the stage three time trial. "I think all the teams are very strong right now but we have riders who can continue to win stages," added Sevilla, who also moved into the KOM leader's jersey. "I have been in the top results for all the time trials this year and I think I can have a good time trial tomorrow too."

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