Team Priority Health

Stage 1
The Squad:  Brian Sheedy, Brent Bookwalter, Tom Zirbel, Ted King, Robbie King, Glen Mitchell, Richard England

More than 100 miles of consistant ups and downs, very steep too. This race has teams from all over the world, it's a world-class level race. The race itself is the biggest setting I've been at to date. It looks and feels like a European tour. It's in Quebec so everyone speaks French which adds to the ambience.

The team rode great, but we missed out on a very important break early in the race. Because we came here to win the tour we put the whole squad on the front to bring back the break. We had some bad luck with a lot of flats, the roads are very rough here. Tom Zirbel had 3 flats himself but dug deep to get back in the race each and every time. Unfortunately, Robbie King got a flat at a very bad time when the field was really drilling it and the wheel change was slow. He worked hard all day to make the time cut but because of the circumstances he could not get in the caravan to motor pace back to the group.  Basically he fought the wind solo for 50 miles to try and stay in the race. He missed the time cut and was out.

Even with a massive effort by the team, the break managed to stay away and at the end of the day we are not in the top 10.  Tough day, great effort, we just plain missed the key move.
-- Mark Olson


Stage 2
Again, more than 100 miles, same terrain but even tougher. We went on the attack early to see if we could get a stage win and maybe move up in GC. Tom Zirbel and Glen Mitchell got in an early move and the bunch let it slip away. To set the tone of the following you must understand that Glen Mitchell was in the winning break at Philly just a few days ago and has raced every major race we have done in the past 2 weeks. Glen was not feeling a 100 percent so he told Tom to conserve his energy and he would drive the break to set Tom up to try and win the stage in the last 20 miles.

Glen then proceeded to the front of the 18-man break and drove the move nearly solo for the next 50 miles. He was going so hard that the guys in the break were suffering just to hold on to him. Every corner, every climb he would kick it hard and put the break into a tight single file line. He drove it until he could barely hold his bike up. Then he sent Tom on his way and set up a chance for us to get a stage win. It was one of the most selfless, heroic efforts I've witnessed and its showed why Glen is so respected in the pro peloton and why he is a 2-time Olympian.

Tom worked hard and rode very good tactically from there out. Then he attacked to try for the solo win. He rolled off alone and got a good gap. Over the KOM and into another huge climb. Then over that next climb it was just too much for him to hold on to...  It was a great effort by the whole team, gutsy. The team effort gave us a chance. At the end, the race was blown to pieces with groups of riders spread out for miles. Brian helped deliver Teddy and Brent into great position and both Brent and Teddy finished well, they were the 2nd and 3rd Americans to finish in the stage and on GC.

All the racing to date and the tough terrain took a toll on one of our favorite Aussies, Richie England. I had to take Richie out of the race to get him healed up for the rest of the season. He's raced hard and dug deep, been thru crashes, stitches, and it's time for a break to get him ripping for the big races to come.
-- Mark Olson


Stage 3
OK, yes, it got harder today. Same as the last 2 stages but this stage finished on a mountain top. Massive climb! About 5 miles long, 15% average, 18% or more in places. Huge, huge climb! Brent was sitting about 50 seconds behind the leader of the U23 jersey (that's the jersey for Best Young Rider). Again, Glen, Brian and Tom Zirbel rode super to protect both Brent and Teddy who were riding great and were our best GC guys, plus Brent had a chance to get into the U23 jersey. Glen, Brian and Tom pushed strong winds all day to keep the young guys fresh.

It was awesome to see the team work, and the sacrifice the older guys were making for the young guys. When Brent and Teddy would slip back in the field because of the winds, Glen and Brian would go back and get them and block the wind for them to get back to the front. They did this ALL day long. Numerous times, because of the massive efforts he was doing to protect Brent and Ted, Brian would get dropped from the field and spend miles on the caravan chasing back to the bunch.  Time after time he did this and every time when he got back to the bunch he'd ride straight to the front of Brent and Ted and protect them again. You had to see it to understand the mental toughness it takes to do what Brian was doing and the technical savvy it takes to use the caravan to get back into the race. I don't know anyone, nor have I seen anyone in the Pro field, do this as good as Brian. Bottom-line, Glen, Brian and Tom sacrificed all day long to set up the chance for Brent and Ted to rip up the final mountain climb.  

And then Brent and Teddy delivered! They both ripped the climb! Both finished in the top 20. Brent gained almost 20 seconds on the U23 jersey, setting himself up for a chance to get into the jersey with the TT [time trial] coming in the morning.

The efforts of the past days finally took the legs out of Glen. We decided to put Glen out to get him recovered for the Tour de Nez which starts in less than a week. So now we are down to 4, Brent, Tom, Brian and Teddy....
-- Mark Olson


Stage 4a
Today we had a time trial in the morning and a hard, steep climbing crit in the evening.

We did great in the TT. Tom Zirbel held the fastest time on his ripping Ridley TT bike until late in the day when Danny Pate, former world TT champion, surpassed him. Only a few other very heavy hitters from the Navigators passed Tom on the day giving him the best placing for the team this far in the stage race with a 6th.

Brent ripped it today in a big way on his Ridley Cronus TT rig. He needed to overtake the young Columbian racer that held the U23 red jersey by 33 seconds, a tall order considering the TT was only 15 KM long. Brent delivered and smashed the Columbian's time by just over 1 minute! That puts Brent in the red U23 leader's jersey!

Teddy had a great day too, finishing in the top 25 which put us in second place in the Team competition for the day.

We still have 2 very tough days left, with 2 very hilly circuit races. I'll keep you posted.
-- Mark Olson


Stage 4b
Evening Crit, same day as TT
This crit did not count in the overall so we just needed to conserve energy and race smart to finish with the main group and that's exactly what we did...


Stage 5
Tough Circuit race in Quebec City
Great venue!  Old town Quebec along the river wilh huge cliffs on the other side, it was an awesome circuit.  It was also very tough, with a very tricky, steep decent and a vicious one-mile climb that would be a major factor in the race.  The circuit was 12.5km long and we did 10 laps.
 
Our main objective was to protect Brent's Red U23 jersey.  So Teddy, Brian and Tom had their work cut out for them.  There were seven guys within reach of Brent but two in particular were less then two minutes down, and the young Columbian the closest at just 29 seconds.

With two laps to go the field hit the climb very hard and there was a break of 20 riders who came off the top with a big gap.  From the car we could not tell if we made the split or not.  This was critical because if we missed it, and the Columbian made it, we'd be in big trouble.

A quick radio check confirmed the great news that Brian and Brent had made the split and the Columbian did not.  Now that group of 20 ripped it hard for the next 5 km and the gap went up very fast, to the point that the field just sat up and let it roll.

Brent and Brian had to get up the climb one more time with the heavy hitters to have a shot at a podium for the stage.  On the way to the climb, fighting for position like he has done the whole week, Brian put Brent in great position.  On the way up Brain even found the energy to give Brent a big push up the climb.  You'd think that would have been it for Brian but he ripped up the climb to be there for the finish sprint.

The 20 man break flew down the finishing straight, many attacks and counter-attacks and at the line Brent was 8th and Brian not far behind.

A great day, a top 10 and we put big time into all the guys close to Brent for the U23 Jersey.

One day to go..
-- Mark Olson