In its first day of racing in Europe the Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing came out swinging at the FBD Insurance Ras on Sunday, with young rider Jesse Anthony capturing the King of the Mountain jersey and team sprinter Dominique Rollin taking fourth place on the stage.

On an uncharacteristically sunny day, the field set off from Naas after a brief morning transit from Dublin. Enthusiastic crowds assembled to greet the race as the riders took a neutralized parade ride through the village streets. Once outside of town, it didn't take long for the racing action to heat up. Covering an early break, Jesse Anthony found himself in a move that would prove decisive in the team's strong early showing.

Stage 1 featured three intermediate sprints with the only time bonuses of the entire stage race. The first came only 7.3 miles into the race and by the time it approached, Anthony was in a break with five other riders. Taking third in the sprint, Anthony gained a one-second time bonus. The collective effort of the breakaway riders racing for the intermediate sprint helped solidify their lead advantage over the field.

As the race approached the day's only KOM summit, and final intermediate time bonus on top of "The Cut," the breakaway had stretched its lead to 1:30 on the field. With approximately 600 meters to the summit, Danish rider Thomas Japp attacked without response. Moments later, Kodak Gallery's Anthony launched a strong move from the rear of the breakaway group and rode away on the edge of the 10-foot wide hillside road. Anthony motored past Japp and was chased by Ricardo Van der Velde of the Dutch Rabobank Team. Anthony crested the climb with a comfortable gap, won the KOM points and collected a three second time bonus.

Not far after the bottom of the mountain's descent, the breakaway's advantage grew to its largest of the day at over three minutes. Not wanting to find itself fighting to regain lost time, American squad Kelly Benefit Strategies moved riders to the front of the main field and began a chase that would ultimately catch the breakaway within the final ten miles.

As the pace increased and the field of 145 riders sped into the final six miles of the finishing circuit in Templemore, the Kodak Gallery team moved to the front and dictated the pace. The race ended in a group sprint that saw riders surge seven-wide across the entire finishing stretch. In the end, Mart Ojavee of the Estonia Kalev Chocolate Team crossed the line first. Less than a bike length separated Ojavee from Dominique Rollin who was Kodak Gallery's highest placed rider in fourth.

After the race, team director, Kurt Stockton shared his thoughts on the day.

"Thanks to great preparation and a strong group of riders, the whole day went very smoothly,” Stockton said. “The guys rode exactly as they needed to on unfamiliar, narrow roads and with a field of riders they don't know. We are excited to see Jesse in the KOM Jersey and to have our riders sitting so well in the overall.”

Monday’s stage 2 will find the race negotiating the roads of central Ireland as the racers heads west from the village of Templemore to Loughrea, in Galway County.

Versus to air Jittery Joe’s Pro Cycling Team Documentary
One Of A Kind Films has inked a deal with Versus Television (formally Outdoor Life Network) to air a one-hour TV documentary following the Jittery Joe’s Professional Cycling Team from their training camp in San Diego through the Tour of Georgia and the Athens Twilight Criterium.

The documentary will focus on the ups and downs of a small professional cycling team traveling on the North American race circuit and is hosted by race announcer and VeloNews.TV personality Dave Towle.

“When I started this project I had no idea how amazing it would be”, said Myles Berman from One Of A Kind Productions, “These guys love their job and it really shows.”“This is a huge deal for our team and for our riders,” said Micah Rice, general manager of Jittery Joe’s. “We are very excited to be a part of such an exciting and professionally done project like this.”

The program is scheduled to air on Versus on Sunday, June 10th at 3:30pm EST.

Dominguez KO’d out of Tri Peaks
The enthusiasm of placing three Toyota-United riders in the top 10 on the opening stage of the Tri-Peaks Challenge was dampened on Thursday by a bizarre crash that occurred after the finish line that knocked top sprinter Ivan Dominguez out of the race.

Dominguez crashed about 200 meters after finishing the stage. He told Toyota-United team director Kirk Willett he didn’t remember making contact with anyone, only that his front wheel suddenly went sideways, propelling him over the handlebars.

“He basically dropped like a ton of bricks on his back,” Willett said.

A trip to the hospital for X-rays and a CAT scan revealed no broken bones. But Dominguez, already a winner of eight races this season, decided not to start Friday’s stage.

“He’s lucky nothing is broken,” Willett said. “Hopefully, it will be one of those things where a week from now he’ll be OK.”

Dominguez was finishing with a group of riders who came in about six minutes down from the leaders, which included Toyota-United’s Chris Baldwin, Caleb Manion and Justin England. Those three were part of a breakaway group of 12 that escaped with about 10 miles to go before the finishing climb to Mt. Magazine Lodge.

Though Toyota-United looked to Baldwin to take the overall victory, in the end it was Jelly Belly’s Redlands Classic overall winner Andy Bajadali who was first up the final climb up Mt. Nebo on Sunday, taking the stage win and general classification by just five seconds that were earned based on time bonuses. Webcor Builders’ Amber Rais won the overall after winning three stages, including the stage 4 time trial.

Look for a complete report from Tri-Peaks in the forthcoming issue of VeloNews.

TRI-PEAKS CHALLENGE
RUSSELLVILLE, AR. MAY 17-20
MEN
1. Andy Bajadali, Jelly Belly, 10:45:44
2. Chris Baldwin Toyota-United, at 0:05
3. Aaron Tuckerman, Rubicon, at 0:20
4. Frank Pipp, Health Net-Maxxis, at 0:26
5. Predag Prokic (Srb), AEG-Toshiba-JetNetwork, at 0:49
6. Karl Menzies (Aus) Health Net-Maxxis, at 1:25
7. Caleb Manion (Aus), Toyota-United, at 1:31
8. Matt White, Fiordifrutta, at 2:01
9. Jorge Martinez (Col) CAICO, at 2:36
10. Justin England, Toyota-United, at 4:38WOMEN
1. Amber Rais, Webcor Builders 10:33:31
2. Betina Hold (Can), Cheerwine, at 0:47
3 Chrissy Ruiter, Cheerwine, at 0:56
4. Katheryn Curi, Webcor Builders, at 1:08
5. Rachel Heal (GB) Webcor Builders, at 1:58
6. Alex Wrubleski (Can), Colavita-Sutter Home, at 1:59
7. Leigh Hobson (Can), Cheerwine, at 2:11
8. Tiffany Cromwell (Aus), Colavita-Sutter Home, at 2:58
9. Andrea Dvorak, Colavita-Sutter Home, at 3:24
10. Brooke Ourada (NZ), Cheerwine, at 3:34STAGE WINNERS
STAGE 1 (MT. MAGAZINE ROAD RACE): Tuckerman; Rais
STAGE 2 (FORT DOUGLAS ROAD RACE): Brice Jones (Jelly Belly); Rais
STAGE 3 (ATU CRITERIUM): Ivan Stevic (Srb), Toyota-United; Rochelle Gilmore (Aus), Menikini-Specialized
STAGE 4 (TIME TRIAL): Menzies; Rais
STAGE 5 (MT. NEBO ROAD RACE): Bajaldali; Hold.