Gregorio Vega (Team Tecos) won his second consecutive stage of La Vuelta de Bisbee on Saturday morning, then finished eighth in the afternoon’s time trial to hold a 21-second lead going into Sunday’s final stage, the Tombstone Road Race.

In women’s racing, Marisa Russell (Procon-FNBA) won the Sulphur Springs Road Race and Kelly McDonald (Touchstone Climbing) the Warren Time Trial; McDonald took the yellow jersey from Chloe Forsman (Luna).

Vega, wearing the leader’s yellow jersey after winning the opening Mule Pass Time Trial on Friday, crossed the line on Saturday just ahead of a handful of riders led by 21-year-old Kiel Reijnen Team Waste Management). Karl Bordine (Team 5 Star) finished third.

“We had good speed the whole course so we tried to keep the goal — keep Gregorio in the lead. So we’re happy he won,” Muñoz said after the hard-fought 79-mile race. “Gregorio is a special climber so we’re going to try to win king of the mountain.”

Tecos surrounds the race leader during the Sulphur Springs Road Race.

Photo: Mason Ibas

Added Vega: “The whole team is partners and that’s really important. Thanks to the whole team — they really worked hard.”

Team Tecos couldn’t get the hat trick in the afternoon’s 8.3-mile time trial — that went to Ryan Blicken (Landis-Trek) with Reijnen second again at nine seconds back and Mark Aasmundstad (RideClean) third at 11 seconds. That left Vega in the leader’s jersey with a 21-second advantage over Carlos Lopez (P&S Specialized) and 37 seconds over teammate Lopez.

Reijnen, the best-placed American in fourth at 39 seconds back, was hopeful that the day’s efforts had taken a little something out of the Guadalajara-based Team Tecos.

“They’re all definitely climbers,” he said. “The flat course, the hard wind — that’s not their style. After that stage, they’ll have a lot of guys who are pretty toast. ...

“We didn’t expect Tecos to take as much control as they did. They didn’t need to go to the front, but they did and that worked to our advantage. They’ve probably got four guys with nothing left in the tank. But they did their job — they protected the yellow jersey.”

Reijnen will have his work cut out for him in Sunday’s 87.2-mile Tombstone Road Race, which finishes with the Mule Pass climb. But he will have the backing of a large team. With about 10 riders apiece, Waste Management and Tecos are the best-represented units in the men’s pro field.

Women’s race: a change at the top

Kelly McDonald (Touchstone Climbing) time trials into the yellow jersey.

Photo: Mason Ibas

McDonald’s victory in the Warren Time Trial saw her strip the yellow jersey from Forsman; she takes an 18-second lead over teammate Maria Monic going into Sunday’s finale, with Forsman 46 seconds down in third.

The morning’s 45.8-mile road stage saw a 13-rider bunch fight it out at the line. Winner Russell, who outkicked Forsman and McDonald, said the race took a while to get going, “then it really went hard.”

Forsman found Russell something of a surprise.

“I was at the front with a couple of Touchstone riders who were up in the G.C.,” Forsman said. “They put in a couple of attacks. I challenged a couple of those attacks. Marissa attacked with a little more than 200 meters to go. I was able to jump on her wheel, but I wasn’t able to pass.”