South African vows to be aggressive through out the weeklong race
Following on where he left off in the Tour of Utah, Bissell rider Jay Thomson again went on the attack in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge on stage one yesterday. Thomson was initially joined by Bradley White (United Health Care), Will Dickeson (Jelly Belly) and Eduard Beltran (EPM-UNE) but was only left out front with White for most of the stage.
“It was the team’s plan to get one of us in the break,” he told VeloNation afterwards. “It’s to show we are here to race and not just going to sit and wait to get ridden off. It somehow landed up being me [in the break] again but I’m not worried, I will try again this week.
“You always go into a break knowing that the chance of it getting caught is very high, but if there is 1% chance it might stay away I’ll definitely give everything in me to try and make it stick. If not, I’ll try again.
“The form has been building really well going into the Tour of Utah and I think I’ve carried it into the USA Pro Cycling Challenge.”
The South African was one of many riders left scrambling to find employment last December after he signed for the ill-fated Pegasus cycling project. In January he inked a deal with the Bissell pro cycling team and has since rewarded them with victory in the Joe Martin stage race.
The USA Pro Cycling Challenge will be his last race for the year in America. The 25 year old was hoping to represent his country at the world championships in Copenhagen. However, South Africa failed to qualify any elite riders for the event.
“It’s hard to see that we didn’t qualify any riders for worlds but hopefully we can sort out why we didn’t and make amends for next year. The way Daryl Impey (Team NetApp) and Robert Hunter (Team RadioShack) have been riding this year, it would have been really great to help them to do something big, seeing as though the course really suits them this year. But I definitely think we will be back there next year. I’m sure that the U/23 and women’s teams that will be there will make South Africa proud.”
Today’s stage in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge from Gunnison to Aspen will be one of the toughest stages in American cycling at 209.8kms. The peloton will have to climb the Cottonwood Pass, which sits at 12,126-foot-high, the highest point in the race before also negotiating the Independence Pass.