The Giro di Lombardia takes place in the Lombardy region of Italy. Typically the last race on the European pro calendar, it is often called “la classica delle foglie morte” (the race of the falling leaves). It is 242 km long and includes the Madonna del Ghisallo climb where there is a special shrine to the patroness of cyclists.

Today’s race is scheduled to start at 10:25 and finish between 16:02-16:37.

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O roster
*All rosters are subject to change.*
Steven Cozza
Tom Danielson
Lucas Euser
Mike Friedman
Dan Martin
Tom Peterson
Dave Zabriskie
Christian Meier

Held in the Apennine Mountains of Italy, the Giro del Piemonte first took place in 1906. This European semi-classic is 199 km long and falls just two days before the longer Giro di Lombardia.

Today’s race is scheduled to start at 10:40 and finish between 15:17-15:46.

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O roster
*All rosters are subject to change.*
Steven Cozza
Tom Danielson
Lucas Euser
Mike Friedman
Dan Martin
Kilian Patour
Tom Peterson
Dave Zabriskie
Christian Meier

As I pulled into line on the back of our breakaway, the “TGV - Z” (above) whooshed by! On the flat roads from Paris to Tours, I witnessed something, someone, almost as streamlined and powerful as the high speed French TGV trains, flying with velocity and determination to get to the finish line.

Everyone knows how fast the TGV is just as everyone knows how fast Dave Zabriskie is when he puts on a skin suit. He started the 2008 Paris-Tours in a skin suit not as a joke but to give him a similar advantage the TGV has over every other ordinary train. By combining that with his Zipp 1080’s and a lowered front end on his Felt F1, Dave knew little was going to get in his way. He set out last Sunday to do damage to the pro peloton and that is exactly what be did.

There were five men in our breakaway, but with Dave riding like a man possessed it felt like eight. He heroically bridged to our four-man group by himself after we already had four minutes. When he got there, it was all business. Dave sacrificed himself on the front of the break all day, and with his monster efforts, brought our lead to almost twelve minutes. He put fear into one of the most fine tuned classics peloton there is.

This made the field chase harder than they would have if it had just been us four, creating a positive situation for Tyler and Steve, our shared team leaders for the day. We had put ourselves ahead of the game as Garmin is best known for. It was a long day, nearly 230 km off the front. But as the final showed, it helped Tyler to ride in a good position all day and conserve as much as he could for the end. Our team was never forced to chase and could focus on protecting Steve and Tyler. With just a bit more luck Tyler would have won that race.

Next year Dave and I will be up to the same antics, but from behind it will be Tyler on the back of the Garmin Express! I guarantee it right now. He will be winning big races! Now it’s on to the mountains for the rest of us boys, somewhere most of us feel much more comfortable.

Although I can’t guarantee another skin suit, we will no doubt be up to no good trying to spoil the home town advantage of all those Italian boys! We won’t disappoint!

Hi, I am an 8th grade English teacher at Carmen Arace Middle School in Bloomfield, CT. Our student population is predominantly African-American and many are avid sports fans and athletes. Additionally, they are brilliant and very creative.

Out team decided that our hallway should have a theme. We chose sports and games. The art teacher has been working with the students to turn the whole hallway into a game board called “The Game of Life.” The kids have to go through obstacles to successfully complete the game.

Outside my room my students and I decided that the essential concept that we should think about is the following: “Individuals Can and Do Prevail in the Face of Adversity. Can You?” Adversity is a conflict that my students encounter in their lives every day. To better understand the issue, we have chosen to look at it in terms of pro-cycling. We have created a collage of entries that feature pro-cycling; and specifically Garmin-Chipotle pb H30 and Christian Vande Velde.

My students and I discussed the issue from the perspective of pro cycling. I explained to them that Garmin-Chipotle pb H30 is a new team founded on the premise of racing hard and racing clean. They are now complete and total argyle fans. It was their idea to create the banner, collages and signs to complement our theme.

I hope you enjoy seeing the kids in action as much as they enjoyed working on this project and discussing the issue of adversity. We look forward to Spring, 2009, and a new season to begin so that we can follow all of our favorite Garmin-Chipotle riders. The girls feel a lot of empathy for Blake! And, for some reason the boys all think DZ is cool (which he is.)

“I talked with Jason who is on a layover at DFW from Chihuhua City to Denver. It sounds like a “hip fracture” that will be painful and annoying, but ultimately not a big deal. At this point he’s getting around with crutches and minimal pain. It doesn’t sound at all like the “hip fracture” grandma gets which almost always requires surgery, insertion of hardware, and extensive rehabilitation. I have a call now in to Dr. Stephan Paul at Boulder Orthopedics to see Jason in the next day or two. Details to follow.”

Standing on the side of the road in Branson for the time trial, I got to see the racers going both down the hill at lightening speeds and then climb back up. While speed is intoxicating and gets all the glory, the pace at which they climbed I found to be even more exciting.

The focus of the racers going up the hill was truly inspiring and the chance to get literally within inches of them to take a photo all whilst they are grinding out tons of wattage was better than Christmas. And like Christmas, now that the Tour of Missouri is over, the post holiday depression has set in. The countdown is on until next year.

Race report from DS Johnny Weltz

Everything today was pretty good until 4 km to go when Jason went down pretty hard. He managed to finish the race, but we had to go for x-rays of his hip. After talking a bit with the chief commissaire, they gave him the same time as the bunch. So he got to keep his 8th place on GC.

The rest stayed the same. Pat took the mountains jersey, Tom won the Best Young Rider classification, we had two riders in the top ten overall and the team finished 4th overall.

All in all, a great week for us here in Chihuahua!

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O Stage Results
1. Javier Benitez Pomares 1h55′17″
16. Christophe Laurent +02″
18. Tom Peterson +02″
56. Caleb Fairly +02″
62. Pat McCarty +12″
94. Jason Donald +2′02″

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O GC
1. Francisco Mancebo 21h14′12″
4. Tom Peterson +2′02″
8. Jason Donald +2′40″
22. Pat McCarty +6′49″
26. Christophe Laurent +11′13″
83. Caleb Fairly +1h05′27″

Mountains Classification
1. Pat McCarty 47 pts
2. Byron Guama 33 pts
3. David Vaz 30 pts

Best Young Classification
1. Tom Peterson
2. Javier Etxarri
3. Sergio Dominguez

Today at Paris-Tours we witnessed two very special things. One, Tyler Farrar (right) showed he is ready to step up to the top line of world sprinters. And then, we had the first man to race Paris-Tours in a skin suit?! Who else but our TT specialist, Captain America Dave Z (lower left).

Tyler has shown in years past and this year with us that he is a very capable sprinter. He has had a stellar summer and has kept the ball rolling all the way to the end. But winning the bunch sprint for 5th place a mere fours seconds back, and in front of the cream of the sprinting fraternity, shows he has made the made the next big step. Paris-Tours is a real classic and not any old euro race! He should go into the winter break with a lot of confidence in his future.

From the start today, the team rode as planned with Lucas riding super to make the first break that stuck. They had a 4-minute gap when the skinned-suited up Dave Z made his move. Not an orthodox move, but hey it’s Z! After Z bridged, the 5 riders went out to 11 minutes and spent 200-plus kilometers away !

The other boys did all they could for Tyler all day! Very, very solid performance.

This end of season classic has yet to be won by an American. Perhaps Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O will make history this year…

The race starts at Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines at 11:10 and is expected to finish around 16:50 in Tours.

Team Garmin-Chipotle H3O roster
*All rosters are subject to change.*
Steven Cozza
Tom Danielson
Lucas Euser
Tyler Farrar
Mike Friedman
Martijn Maaskant
Christian Meier
David Zabriskie

Today’s stages starts at 9:00 and will finish between 10:49-11:00.