Gringo Diaries: Vuelta Independencia, Etapa 4

By Josh Liberles

(Editor’s Note: Josh Liberles (who you may recall from his recent story about training in Maui) is a Portland, Oregon-based road racer. He is racing in the Vuelta Independencia, a 10-stage race in the Dominican Republic and will be providing VeloNews.com readers with periodic updates. You can read all his reports on the Vuelta Independencia page.

It’s amazing that the whole Ten Speed Drive team has managed to stay crash-free thus far in the Vuelta Independencia. The body count continued to mount on the course today, as did the trashed equipment tally. I just shredded my second tire — luckily I brought extras. The Metro VW team, out of Dallas, Texas, is out of front wheels, having gone through several tubulars and run out of glue. They’ve resorted to using neutral wheels for the rest of the race.

Today’s course featured a long series of rollers through beautiful green, lush country with overhanging trees and hills in the distance, followed by 22 kilometers of wide open, crosswind-blown rice fields on the way into the finish in San Francisco de Macoris.

Racers are definitely showing their fatigue, as we saw slow-motion crashes on the uphills, as well as some higher-speed ones on descents. Race leader Josú Flober, a Columbian racing for the Dominican Mauricio Báez squad, was able to maintain his overall lead, but he needed some help to do it.

Again, a group of riders attacked right at the beginning of the stage, looking to grab more sprint points.

Luis Sepulveda (Aro & Pedal Aro & Pedal), Jose Payan (Telecable Central – Bicicentro), Wendy Cruz and Alexander González (both of VCSM – Santiago) had an early gap that hovered around 30 seconds. They were caught in the early climbs, and by km44, a more threatening group of six riders were out in front. Orellen Moyon (VCSM – Santiago VCSM – Santiago), Deivi Capellán (Mauricio Báez), Benigno de la Cruz (Elvin Auto Parts), Ablay Shugaipov (Team Kazakhstan), David Boily and Eric Boily (both of the Canadian Spidertech team) stretched their lead to almost three minutes.

Flober was doing a lot of work on the front to defend his yellow jersey, and looked concerned that he didn’t have many Mauricio Báez teammates up there with him to lend a hand. After some discussion with Team Ecuador, they came to some kind of arrangement, and several Ecuadorian riders came to the front to set pace and keep the breakaway close.

As for me, I flatted at mile 12, just before the day’s first big rollers. I got a pretty quick wheel change and chased through the caravan, up and over several hills, before finally clawing my way back to the tail end of the pack. After nearly falling apart in yesterday’s stage, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to hang on, as the pack continued to accelerate over more rollers. I tried to gain ground and move up in the peloton on the descents and “sag climbed” the following rollers, going a bit slower, conserving as much as I could and drifting back through the pack — only to repeat the process on the next climb. I felt better as the race progressed and I was able to scarf some food. The breakaway was reeled in before we finished the hills.

Once we hit the rice fields and crosswinds that followed after a long, fast descent, the field strung out, single file along the left edge of the road. Again today we had a full, rolling road closure — which meant both sides of the road were in play, but that oncoming traffic was forced to pull over as we approached. The parked cars became part of the race tactics and an extension of the gutter, as those in front would swerve tightly around them and try to create gaps behind as a result. Many of the riders were good about pointing out upcoming hazards, but between buzzing around parked vehicles, fighting for a draft on the edge of the road, jockeying for position and avoiding wheel-consuming holes in the road, there was plenty of stress.

Adam Pierzga (Gillette Fusion Guadaloupe) slipped away from a late break of five riders to take the solo win by 21 seconds, with Arman Kamyshev (Team Kazakhstan) taking the following four-man sprint in front of Olivier Curier (Club Region Guadaloupe). Ablay Shgaipov (Team Kazakhstan) was able to recover enough from his earlier breakaway to claim the group gallop for sixtth place, 42 seconds off the winner’s pace.

I was feeling much better and worked with Jaime Gandara to tuck in and hold our positions without getting spit out, although there were some long hard accelerations that definitely made me want to quit. As many of the race finishes have, we finished right in the center of town — which is great for building fanfare and generating crowds, but adds to the frenzy. The wide boulevards we came in on turned super-narrow, and we had three sharp, unexpected corners in the final kilometer. One tall rider on the far left of the course hit a truck’s mirror with his head while going full-speed and caused a pile up behind. Ten Speed Drive teammates Gandara, Garrett White, Justin Maka, Pavel Stulchek and I all managed to hang in there with the main lead group at 42 seconds down on the day. 35 of the day’s 119 starters weren’t so lucky and lost time to the main group on the stage.

We stayed at a cool hotel, off the beaten path —literally, it was a dirt road — in San Francisco de Macoris, a really cool town where the residents seemed excited about the bike race coming through. We had big, dorm-style rooms for the team, but also such niceties as a swimming pool and wifi! It’s a shame that we don’t have the time or energy to see more of the places we’re passing through — by the time we finish, it’s time for food, recovery and to try to get some work done. During the race, it’s hard to take much in other than the wheels, bodies and hole-laden roads around us. The downtown finishes allow for an hour of interaction with locals, at least, which has been one of the highlights of the adventure.

Some more fun facts:

• An interview with the team was just featured on Dominican national television. It mostly consisted of Gandara flirting with the newscaster, who’s the daughter of one of the Vuelta’s UCI officials here.

• My Czech teammate Pavel has been chatting quite a bit with the Kazakhs. Turns out they’re in the midst of a six-month racing stint on the road which started in Ecuador, came here, and will continue to Belgium, Portugal and throughout Europe before they finally get back home in May.

FILED UNDER: News / No Spoil / Race Report / Road TAGS: Vuelta Independencia