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July 30, 2007 - Team Slipstream wraped up an extemely successful week of racing at the tour de toona winning the team general classification, the best young rider (Peter Stetina), most aggressive rider (Mike Friedman), and two stage wins (Friedman and Taylor Tolleson). Team Director Allen Lim felt great about the team’s efforts noting that “It was a dominant team performance from a young group of riders showcasing only a glimmer of the potential to come.”

July 30, 2007 - Altoona, PA - It was another great day for the team today in Altoona, PA as Taylor Tolleson pulled off one of his biggest wins to date by winning the longest and hardest stage of the Tour de Toona.

Sprinting from an emaciated field, Taylor came across the line first, surprising second place rider Charles Dionne who had his hands up at the finish. Unfortunately, Taylor had speed on his side today as well as a whole lot of grit and determination as he was initially dropped on the first KOM of the day but clawed his way back into contention.

The racing in today’s 98.5 mile road stage started from the gun with Team Slipstream’s Mike Friedman initiating the first attack of the day, building a quick 30 second gap in the first 3 miles of racing. By mile 10, Friedman was joined by 7 others and the group worked well together building a maximum of a 2 minute lead at one point. But 50 miles later on the first major climb of the day through the Blue Knob state park, the break was caught and the attacks started flying.

Over the top of the climb, only Mike Creed, Ian MacGregor, and Peter Stetina made it with a lead group of 15 riders. Taylor came over almost one minute later with a small group of approximately 20 riders. After a hard and treacherous chase, Taylor’s group made contact with the leaders just before the second KOM of the day at mile 70.

Unfortunately, the dangerous and wet descent ruined the day for Alex Howes as he crashed simultaneously with 8 other riders through a wet corner. Alex hit the neutral support car and his bike literally blew apart into pieces. Despite a significant amount of road rash and impact burns on his head from his helmet, Alex came out of the crash without significant injury but did have to withdraw from the race.

Back in the main field, a number of attacks through the last KOM were neutralized by a strong performance by Team Health Net seeking to protect their individual GC lead. That brought a small group of about 30 riders to the line to sprint it out for the win. Pulling a classic “Days of Thunder” move, Taylor aimed for the center of all the madness, flying through a smoked field for a fantastic win. With Taylor’s win and the continued strong performance of the team, Slipstream should retain continues to lead the Team GC.

Tomorrow’s stage finishes with a downtown criterium and with two stage wins under the belt, Team Slipstream is hungry for more.