Peterson wins Stage 3 at Tour of the Gila

May 04, 2007 - Fort Bayard, NM - Team Slipstream/Chipotle dominated today’s third stage of the Tour of the Gila, just outside of Silver City, NM, with an impressive team effort that resulted in 19 year old Tom Peterson’s first major win as a professional cyclist.

Also known as the Inner Loop Stage, the riders started and finished in historic Fort Bayard, racing 80 miles through the Gila National Forest. From the outset, Team Slipstream/Chipotle took the initiative with an all-out assault in the first hour of racing that decimated the 118 rider field, down to a small group of only 18 riders.

It was from this select group that Tom Peterson made his move with three breakaway companions. Building a maximum lead of 3 minutes with 20 miles to go, Peterson displayed extraordinary tenacity by holding off a hard-charging chase group in the final miles to win by a mere 10 seconds while riding on a rear flat tire.

Following their aggressive riding in Stage 3, Team Slipstream/Chipotle now features 6 riders in the top-25 on General Classification. Tom Peterson is the highest placed, in 6th.

Later in the day, Team TIAA-CREF/5280 Magazine’s juniors were hard at work in the Category 2 and 3 races. In the Cat. 2 race, Taylor Phinney kept his pink leader’s jersey while he and teammate Daniel Summerhill sprinted to 6th and 7th place finishes. In the Cat. 3 race, Andrew Barker bridged to a solo breakaway rider late in the race and finished 2nd place in a close sprint. Robin Eckmann, the youngest rider in the race, came in just fine with the main field. Both Barker and Eckmann maintained strong top-20 overall placings.