Having joined the day’s decisive breakaway early in the longest stage of the Volta a Valencia, Timmy Duggan (right) stayed away and earned enough points to put him in a tie for second place in the mountains classification.

Initially a five-man break, the Timmy group shrunk to three riders who maintained a 4-minute gap on the peloton for most of the stage. Timmy was the strongest of the trio and had one second- and three first-place mountain finishes, snatching 11 mountain points. Manuel Vazquez (Contentpolis-Murcia) currently holds the mountains jersey with 16 points.

Timmy said he felt good going into the stage and that “…the plan was for me to get in the break, then see what happened. We were working to keep Trent and Ryder ahead of any splits in the technical finale and get CJ in the final sprint,” said Duggan. “I never did the math on the KOM points. Just did what I could and hoped for the best.”

“Tomorrow will be very important GC-wise. If I can get in the break again, that would be perfect. I could scoop up mountain points and then help Trent and Ryder,” he said. “But first priority is to have those guys really going for it. Should be a fun one because it is supposed to be raining too!”

Slipstream stage 2 results
1. Erik Zabel 4:31:22

16. Christopher Sutton mt
25. Ryder Hesjedal mt
27. Trent Lowe mt
39. Julian Dean mt
57. Lucas Euser :08
69. Pat McCarty :13
110. Dan Martin 1:54
123. Timmy Duggan 5:06

Slipstream GC after stage 2
1. Jose I. Gutierrez 8:18:11 +

8. Ryder Hesjedal :10
14. Trent Lowe :10
41. Lucas Euser 1:51
57. Pat McCarty 1:56
67. Timmy Duggan 6:45
70. Dan Martin 11:10
80. Chris Sutton 12:35
83. Julian Dean 12:35

Today’s critical break wasn’t going without one of the argyle boys! Timmy had an awesome ride and basically forced the breakaway over the first climb. He was out there so long that long I actually started to miss the guy. About 150km I think. He’s now 2nd in the mountains. So now we are in striking range for that jersey and can hit it hard tomorrow.

The rest of us had a good day soaking up the sun and looking after our two GC guys. The last 10km were crucial as there were a few little climbs and then a twisty 3km descent to the finish. To avoid splits on the line, position was critical. I pulled Ryder to the front, and he and Trent finished up in first group for the sprint so they both moved up on GC.

Me, I was feeling much better today. I hit out with about 6km to go with De la Fuente got a descent gap. I was planning the move all race but decided to fulfill my team duties before getting carried away. I kind of stopped dead on the last small ramp before the final descent. At least I know my tactical brain is working. Just need to have the legs to pull it off next time.

Italy’s most important cycling magazine Bicisports visited the Slipstream/Chipotle crew in Girona, Spain during their January training camp.

**Linked article in Italian.**

The French cycling website Velo 101 profiles Slipstream/Chipotle Director Sportif Lionel Marie on his new role with the team. Marie said that after the first few months, he has found that there is “…a freshness and enthusiasm amongst everyone, all the way to the bus driver who calls to get the results of the day.”

**Linked article in French.**

Pez Cycling News featured a Q&A with Australian Trent Lowe shortly before he went off to ride Tour Med - where he finished a respectable 12th.

So I have spent almost a week and a half here in Girona. During the first week, I was staying with Dan Martin at his place. For the last couple of days I have been living with Will and Meatball. It has been great to catch up with the boys. That is the one thing I really miss when I’m at home injured.

Training has been going great and my collarbone is improving extremely quickly. I have done some really hard rides (just ask Meatball who has been my loyal training partner) and I’m getting better and better every day.

Things are starting to heat up with Tirreno only two weeks off and that will be my first race back. But first we will go up to Belgium next week to test some cobble stones. This is something I always look forward to, and this year is no different.

I am very keen on finding out what the bike and wheels will feel like on the cobbles. I love that anticipation just as I hit the first stone.

I will keep you updated on how the test session goes.

- Maggy

Slipstream/Chipotle’s Ryder Hesjedal and Trent Lowe managed to hang with some of the sport’s best climbers today on what was a surprisingly challenging first stage of the Volta a Valencia. The final climb of the day - Alt del Garbi - with widely varying 15-18% grades - broke the front group down to ten, two of which were sporting the argyle.

“Though it didn’t look that bad on paper, we knew the last climb was hard because Johnny (DS Weltz) had raced it many, many years ago and warned us about it this morning,” said Lowe. “The climb was really inconsistent so it was hard to get a rhythm, but we stayed with the front ten over the top. And Ryder told me he was feeling unbelievably good today.”

Lowe said tomorrow’s stage with its long circuit and fast climbs would be one for the sprinters - Chris “CJ” Sutton and Julian Dean. Having reconn’ed the route last week, Lowe said that tomorrow’s stage finished with a very dangerous, twisty decent that could make things interesting. The penultimate stage of the week will be stage 3 that Lowe said was, “..super hard, relentless with technical descents and some bad surfaces.”

When asked if what his goals were for Valencia, Lowe said, “Though I am building up for the Giro d’Italia in May, it is important to nail each race as we go. Each one is a step harder. Valencia is harder than Tour Med, and Paris-Nice harder still. Ultimately, it is how we measure up to the competition. And today we were up front with some of the best.”

Slipstream stage 1 results
1. Jose Gutierrez 3:46:59

9. Ryder Hesjedal mt
17. Trent Lowe mt
30. Lucas Euser 1:33
55. J. Pat McCarty 1:33
58. Timmy Duggan 1:33
69. Dan Martin 9:06
124. Chris Sutton 12:25
126. Julian Dean 12:25

Bicycling’s Joe Lindsey spends some time with David Zabriskie during the 2008 Tour of California to get inside one of the sport’s most misunderstood personalities.

Lindsey writes: “Zabriskie is, as the Belgians would say, puffing out their cheeks as if to say, ‘What can you say? Guy’s a good damn bike racer. Time triallist, anyway.’ So a guy like that can rock the ’stache whether it’s a joke or not.”