Tour de Nez Stage 3: Kilun Kills Em' in Truckee

Kilun won easily after beating his breakaway companions in Truckee

photo courtesy of Kurt Jambretz Action Images (www.actionimages.cc)

In what was an amazing day for bicycle racing in America, the third stage of the “Coolest Bike Race in America,” the Tour de Nez, unfolded in downtown Truckee. Conditions for the event were nearly perfect, with temperatures in the high 70’s and sunny skies. A stiff headwind made things interesting for the field, as the action was fast and furious from the opening gun in the seventy minute timed criterium.

Multiple attacks marked the first thirty minutes of the race, as pre-race favorite Alex Candelario took an early flyer, as did Eric Wohlberg, the former Canadian national champion riding for the Symmetrics squad. Behind in the main field, the BMC team struggled to pin down the early breaks, while the other teams with big sprinters refused to do much work to help bring back the break.

By the time the race had reached the one hour mark, a group of three had managed to escape from the field. Health Net’s Roman Kilun, Vitamin Cottage’s Jon Baker, and Justin England of the Toyota United team worked together to create a tentative gap, while behind BMC, weary from their race long effort to control the field, were unable to do much to bring the trio back. As the minutes ticked down, the gap held at twenty seconds, and the threesome was assured of being able to contest the sprint amongst themselves.

On the bell lap, the tactics began to play out, as each of the three riders began taking long looks at each other in an attempt to gauge the strength of each other. Coming down the home stretch, it was all Roman Kilun as the 26 year old from Oakland, California took the win easily ahead of Baker and England.

Kilun explained the situation on the road, and what his thoughts were during the race. “I was feeling really good when I went away with Justin and Jon, and I was surprised that we were able to get such a big gap. My next thought was for my teammates Corey Collier and Matt Cooke, who are high up on the GC. I didn’t want our break to get too much time, but I also wanted to go for the stage win. Since our gap didn’t get too big, I decided to go for it.” Speaking of winning against Baker and England, Kilun explained, “I felt pretty good. You know, they’re both good riders, so I didn’t take them for granted, but I was definitely confident that I could win.”

In what was a great day for the Health Net squad, Cooke and Collier finished second and third respectively in the morning time trial, while Kilun managed the win in the evening criterium. In looking to tomorrow’s road race, Kilun was humble. “I’ll work for my teammates, and try to give them the best chance possible to stay towards the top of the GC. They are both huge talents, and are really good climbers. They’ll show it for sure tomorrow.”

In the GC picture, BMC’s Ian McKissick was able to retain the leader’s red jersey, which he’ll try to defend or pass on to a teammate tomorrow on stage four. Roman Kilun claimed the latest green points jersey, while Adam Switters of the Rock Racing team was able to retain the white jersey of best U-23 rider despite significan mechanical problems with his back wheel throughout the race. “I had a problem with my back wheel, my gear kept slipping out on the sharp turns. I ended up being gapped very lap and had to work really hard just to stay in contact.”

Racing continues today with a 65 mile circuit race that is sure to shake up the general classification, as the riders will tackle 10 laps of a demanding 6.5 mile circuit, with a total of over 800 vertical feet of climbing on each circuit. Look for BMC to be out in force, along with Kelly Benefit’s Andrew Bajadali and Bissel’s Burke Swindlehurst. Finally, today’s breakaway rider Justin England should be in the mix, as he tries to take the overall win without any team support.