By: Ted Arnold (Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop) 

It was a day for surprises at the Stage 3 Tour of the Gila Time Trial as Trek-Livestrong U23 rider Jesse Sergent bested Team Mellow Johnny's rider Levi Leipheimer and DZ Nuts rider David Zabriskie. The 21-year old  New Zealand born rider is no stranger to success on the track, but today's win even caught Sergent off guard. “I was on the way back to the hotel on the bike when Reed, our soigneur called to tell me to come back. He's a bit of a prankster so I didn't believe him at first, but then Taylor Phinney called too,” said Sergent.    

“It is huge for us to be able to put together a win on stage like this, for both Jesse and for us it's unbelievable. It shows that we have a lot of quality riders in our team and that it's not just about one or two riders, we have a really deep team,” said Axel Merckx, Trek-Livstrong U23 Director. 

The 26.6 km course started in Tyrone, New Mexico with the riders immediately facing the climb up Little Burro Pass, which topped at 6394' and before the 50 mph plus descent towards the turnaround. It was on the descents where riders fought the wind the most with sections of road where riders would be hit the hardest. “I had a disc on the back and the Bontrager XXX Lite low profile wheel on the front so I could stay on the road. There were definitely some parts out there that blew us around quite a bit and it was hard to stay in the aero bars,” said Sergent.

Riders fought 50 degree temps and stiff crosswinds and the conditions had riders scrambling to find the right equipment.“When we warmed up it was scary, we started out this morning with a tri-spoke and a disc in rear, we went down the descent and both Lance and I were uncomfortable with that so we switched to the lower profile deep wheels (50mm). I lost some time on the faster parts, on the uphills I was great, I was pulling back time on everybody. I may have cost me a few seconds here and there it doesn't matter because I feel great and my fitness is good. I actually don't mind losing to one of the young guys, it's good to see, I'm happy for Jesse,” commented Leipheimer.

After turning around riders faced returning up Little Burro Pass, before a another high speed plunge to the finish line. In the overall picture DZ Nuts second place G.C. Rider  Tom Danieleson's fourth place finish seeded :36 to Leipheimer while Fly V Australia rider Phil Zajicek's solid 35:10 fifth place effort should move him back up in the standings once the final G.C. Results are posted.

 Saturday riders will tackle the 1.1-mile criterium in downtown Silver City and Sunday will face the “Queen Stage” 106 mile Gila Monster road race which will conclude the racing.

Preliminary results: 

1. Jesse Sergent Trek-Livestrong U23 34:09

2. Levi Leipheimer Team Mellow Johnny’s 34:23

3. Dave Zabriskie DZ Nuts 34:35

4. Tom Danielson DZ Nuts 34:59

5. Phil Zajicek Fly V Australia 35:10

Photos: Glenn Kasin