Trek-LIVESTRONG teammates Jesse Sergent and Alex Dowsett flew through the 3.2-kilometer course of BMC Cascade Cycling Classic to win the first and second place finish, respectively. The race was a close one, with only a half-second separating the top three finishes, Sergent’s continued improvement in time trialing enabled him to come out on top.
The 22-year-old New Zealander stated Tuesday after the race, “I’ve started to target the time trial more. I didn’t know there was a time trial prologue here until about a week ago. It was definitely something I wanted to go well in. I wanted to get another one for the team being my last year as an U23 rider.”
Sergent will wear the yellow jersey today as Trek-LIVESTRONG takes on the infamous McKenzie Pass Road Race.
“Tomorrow we will see how it pans out,” said Sergent, “we have a lot of strong riders including Alex who just came off a win at the European champs. It’s not just me.”
In addition to the great time trials by Sergent and Dowsett, the 2010 U23 European Time Trial Champion, teammates Benjamin King (USA) and Nathan Brown finished 14th ( + :05.4) and 15th ( + :05.5) behind Sergent.
The BMC Cascades Cycling Classic continues in Bend, Oregon with Stage One, a 119-kilometers mountain stage. The six-day race concludes on Sunday with the 132-kilometer Awbrey Butte Circuit Race.
JESSE SERGENT
