Phil Zajicek has every reason to be happy this week with perhaps the
best win of his career now firmly on the resume, not least due to the
fact that the guys he trounced to the line were none other than ProTour
teammates Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner.
Stage
5 of the Tour of the Gila is aptly named ‘Monster’, 170km and 2,800
meters (over 9,000 feet) of climbing is good enough reason for the name
to stick.
With a race profile resembling that of a jagged saw
tooth and two major climbs inside the last 50 k, it was always going to
be a case of last man standing wins. With 50 k remaining on the Cat 1
climb, Chris Horner (Mellow Johnny’s) forced the pace such that there
were only 6 left in contention over the top. It was a case of hang on
if you can as Armstrong, Horner and Leipheimer inflicted as much pain
as they could muster on the bunch.
Phil riding shot gun on the
Mellow Johnny’s train was riding himself onto the podium for the
overall and to the rarefied atmosphere of those bold enough to trade
punches with such cycling luminaries as Armstrong and Leipheimer and
come out on top.
“The last part of the final climb is severe as
you come into the finish it really kicks up. Levi was turning the
screws, I was on Armstrong’s wheel with Beyer (BMC) on Leipheimer’s
wheel. When Beyer lost contact, Lance must have been under some
pressure and yelled at Leipheimer to go! I attacked straight away and
was lucky enough to have timed it so that I immediately got away.” Said
Phil.
Phil went on to say, “beating Armstrong and Leipheimer
when they were giving it everything for the stage win is really special
and to finish on the podium with them is a highlight in my career”.
Zajicek
and his teammates raced Gila on the Edge 1.68 Tubular wheelset. "At The
Tour of the Gila I chose to use the Edge 68's. These wheels are
incredibly fast, light, and responsive. Equally comfortable flying down
a 60mph descent or accelerating away from Lance in the final 200m of an
uphill sprint."
Next stop for Team Fly V Australia is the Joe Martin stage race Fayetteville, Arkansas commencing on Thursday 7 May.