San Dimas Stage Race Day 2, Update from Team Exergy

Was it a disappointment that Matt Cooke of Team Exergy finished 5th on the San Dimas Stage Race uphill time trial yesterday? No, according to Tad Hamilton, the team’s Sports Director, who shared with ProVéloPassion prior to the beginning of stage 2 that Cooke is still building his form.

Matt Cooke (photo via Team Exergy website)

“I think the winner rode a fantastic race,” Hamilton said, referring to Phil Gaimon’s stage 1 win on Glendora Mountain Road. “Matt was not that far off. His real focus is on the [Amgen] Tour of California which is two months from now.”

The weather during the pro-women’s stage race has resembled a hurricane. Nicola Cranmer, General Manager of Exergy Twenty 12, sent off multiple tweets related to the weather. She said, “insane wind…bucketing down, field shattered.” Hamilton shared that the locals are calling the day’s weather “the storm of the year.”

With the horrible weather conditions the women’s field experienced multiple crashes and split to create a select leading group of four including Kristin Armstrong of Exergy Twenty 12.

When asked about Team Exergy’s objectives for stage 2, Hamilton said given Ben Day’s ability to hold his yellow jersey through stage 2 with just a 14 second lead over the second place rider last year, it would be difficult for Team Exergy to claw back over 20 seconds to put Morgan Schmitt or Cooke into the lead today. He said, “We have to put on pressure to break the race open. We’ll try to do that.”

Hamilton added that a stage win or having a rider in the climber’s or sprinter’s jersey at the end of the day would be a successful result for the team.