2018 Tour of the Gila, Day 1
Straight forward day, typical Tour of the Gila opener. Started off fast and furious until the breakaway of the day rolled away. Keeping ourselves well hydrated and eating enough to have energy towards the finish was the key for the next few hours, thank you Hammer Nutrition. The Gateway Harley Davidson Trek Development Team did a great support job for Sean Gardner and Brett Wachtendorf. They were our contenders for the day and we did well and set them up in a good position turning into the climb. Though Sean Gardner was caught through some shuffling at the bottom of the climb he made a good pace up and finished in 21st place, and also as the best amateur of the day, check out the results. We are really happy we had no inconveniences as far as health and mechanical for the day. Everyone is motivated for the upcoming stages and looking forward to see what the next four days brings.
One of our teammates planning to race the Tour of Gila was having some wellness issues around Joe Martin so we asked Lionel Mawditt if he wanted to guest ride with the Team. Lionel had previously been a teammate with Joel Yates. Unfortunately yesterday we were turned down at registration and not allowed to have Lionel guest ride for us so he opted to do the Cat 1 / 2 Race for training purposes. Not to our surprise he won the stage today even though he was out numbered by the powerful Junior Lux Development Team. Way to go Lionel!!
