Phil Gaimon Wins Stage 1, Tour de San Luis
In his first race with Team Garmin-Sharp Phil Gaimon won the opening stage of the 2104 Tour de San Luis on Monday from an escape group on his debut for Garmin-Sharp.
“(team sport director) Chann thought it might be worth it to toss me into the break today, since the big teams don’t know who I am. That plan kinda worked like a charm. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d be wearing yellow here. Unless I wake up and it was all a dream, wizard of oz style, we’ll fight to bring it home for the team. Thank you to my teammates and Chann and JV for giving me the opportunity to do what I did today, and for believing in me.”
Sport Director Chann McRae added:
“Phil performed with the heart of a warrior today. He was able to manage his hydration and effort level so that he would have something left for the final. Phil’s breakaway companion couldn’t respond when he attacked him inside 2k to go, and Phil put his head down and gave it full gas all the way to the line. Today’s win was a phenomenal start to 2014 for the entire team.”
The victory means that Phil will be riding in the leader’s jersey tomorrow for stage 2, which covers 170km from La Punta to Mirador del Potrero. With a difficult category 1 finishing climb, it should be another exciting day of racing in Argentina!
From everyone at Team Garmin-Sharp, congratulations Phil! Be sure to cheer him on by sending him a note via his Twitter account!
Overall classification after stage one
1. Phillip Gaimon (USA) Garmin-Sharp in 4-06-54
2. Emiliano Contreras (Arg) Argentina at 12 secs
3. Marc De Maar (Ned) UnitedHealthcare at 1-17
4. Leandro Messineo (Arg) San Luis Somos Todos at 1-26
5. Cristian Da Rosa (Bra) Club Dataro-Bottecchia at 3-52
6. Adrian Alvarado (Chi) Chile at same time
7. Christian Meier (Can) Orica-GreenEdge at 4-35
8. Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida
9. Kenny De Haes (Bel) Lotto-Belisol
10. Manuel Belletti (Ita) Androni Giocattoli at same time
More information: slipstreamsports.com