News: Tour of the Gila

British success in the Tour of the Gila as Gavin Dempster wins overall and Ireland’s Chris McGlinchey of British team Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK wins the final stage after second on stage 2

News: Tour of the Gila

With no racing on the real roads, E-Racing is now the focus for many teams and riders and in the USA’s The Tour of Gila Zwift event, Gavin Dempster won the overall and Ireland’s Chris McGlinchey of British team Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK won the final stage after finishing second on stage 2 and second in the Team Time Trial. He was third overall.

Picture: Tammy Brimner

It was that loss of 27 seconds in the Team Time Trial which proved costly for McGlinchey who is ranked number 1 on Zwift according to the Zwift Power Ranking but the Irish rider wasn’t able to close the gap on Dempster who’s team won the TTT and who only last week did a Q&A for VeloUK on e-racing (read it here )

Speaking to Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK team owner, Cherie Pridham, she says the team placed a lot of importance on the race which means it’s been a stressful weekend. Her team started the event down a rider because of illness and then one of the riders had ‘electrical mechanical’ issues during the race which it turns out are signal drop outs highlighting that even eRacing isn’t without its wifi challenges.

The race, says Chez, allowed teams to enter a minimum of 4 and maximum of eight riders and they were going to go with seven but one was ill so they ended up with six; Adam Kenway, Chris McGlinchey, Joey Walker, Mikey Mottram, Freddie Scheske and Joe Sutton. Overall, the team were second on stage 1, second on stage 2 with McGlinchey and then first on stage 3, again with McGlinchey who was third overall.

Picture: Tammy Brimner

“It has been one hell of a craic to do well in this race” says Cherie. “The team time trial was a bit of a challenge for us as we’d never done a team time trial on Zwift before. It was one of the biggest events on Zwift in terms of Zwift rankings and we had a wildcard entry along with Tor 2000 (another British team).”

“Chris is on incredible form and is probably the strongest he has been in his whole career just by looking at his numbers. We decided a few weeks ago to make the most of what is out there and Zwift is certainly out there in terms of prestige and Chris has taken to it like a duck to water.”

Picture: Tammy Brimner

“Massive credit to the lads for their effort as it wasn’t something we had done before. They all bought into it and took it on and did well. Joey was phenomenal at the bottom of the last climb. We went into it with a clear plan and they rode well. We had proper pre-stage briefings on Discord or Whatsapp and I am in contact with them for the entire race on Discord.”

“I sit there with a profile of the race which has the length of the climbs, percentages of gradient and so on as well as the live YouTube feed and I also log into Zwift and can follow one of the riders and that is the most accurate way of doing it. I think the live feed is around 200 to 400 metres behind the actual riding so I can say to the guys, there is a sprint in 3k and it’s quite accurate.”

Cherie’s team, Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK is making full use of the virtual world for not just regular races but also team rides. “We have a few weekly meetups. One is a Vitus only ride and then another where we invite sponsors and their associates to ride with the lads. So we are ‘seeing’ a fair bit of each other.”

That isn’t all the team are doing in the virtual cycling world as on Monday (today), they are also doing a charity ride in aid of their chosen charity, CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). “We are riding Everest which is eight and half times up Alpe d’Huez (8,850 meters of climbing). You ride from the bottom to the top, do a u-turn, and you have ten or twelve minutes to freewheel to recover etc and then you do it again. It was my idea that we do it for CALM, our team’s supported charity.”

The team’s Freddie Scheske, Adam Kenway (loves a good climb does Adam) and Joe Sutton will do the entire ride with team owner Cherie whilst some of the other riders will do a few ascents with her and she says that other people can do that too as long as they are following Cherie or the other riders on Zwift.

Zwift, like it is for many cyclists, is new to Cherie as it is for many of her riders. “The guys are still learning about it and so I am” says Cherie who adds she doesn’t think there will be a lot of normal racing this season. “I know Belgium have announced some pro kermesses in August but we don’t know how this travel quarantine is going to affect us all and we don’t know other than possibly Lincoln what other races we will have here”.

Good luck to Cherie and team in their Everest challenge and for future e-Races …

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Results – Tour of Gila (men)

GC
1 Gavin Dempster Saris + The Pros Closet
2 Ryan Larson Saris + The Pros Closet
3 Christopher McGlinchey Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK
4 Zach Gregg Project Echelon
5 Ben Thomas Team Tor 2000 | Kalas
6 Jordan Cheyne Elevate-Webiplex Pro Cycling
7 Mikey Mottram Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK
8 Cory Lockwood L39ION of LA
9 T. Twig E-Stallas
10 Matt Curbeau Saris + The Pros Closet

12. George Mills-Keeling
26. Olly Moors
42. Joey Walker, Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK
49. Joe Sutton, Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK
82. Freddie Scheske, Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK

Stage 1
1. Saris + The Pros Closet
2. Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK @ 27
3. Project Echelon @ 32
4. Team Tor 2000 @ 58

Stage 2
1 Holden Comeau Saris + The Pros Closet
2 Christopher McGlinchey Vitus Pro Cyclin p/b Brother UK
3 Austin Venhuizen Subaru Santa Monica)⚠️ Dropouts
4 Tyler Williams
5 Cormac McGeough Wildlife Generation)Gerard Cycles
6 Ryan Larson Saris + The Pros Closet
7 Alex Fraser-Maraun Red Truck
8 Gavin Dempster Saris + The Pros Closet
9 Olly Moors E-Stallas)RWPC
10 Tucker Wetmore Support Clean Sport
19. Mikey Mottram, Vitus Pro Cyclin p/b Brother UK
34. Joe Sutton, Vitus Pro Cyclin p/b Brother UK
38. Adam Kenway, Vitus Pro Cyclin p/b Brother UK
58. Freddie Scheske, Vitus Pro Cyclin p/b Brother UK
61. Joey Walker, Vitus Pro Cyclin p/b Brother UK

Stage 3
1 Christopher McGlinchey Vitus Pro Cyclingp/b Brother UK
2 Jordan Cheyne Elevate-Webiplex Pro
3 Ben Thomas Team Tor 2000 |
4 Gavin Dempster Saris + The Pros Closet
5 Pat Riddell Red Truck)Red Truck Racing
6 T. Twig E-Stallas
7 Wouter Zwart Landis-Trek)Landis-Trek
8 Ryan Larson Saris + The Pros Closet
9 Zach Gregg Project Echelon
16. Mikey Mottram, Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK
36. Joe Sutton, Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK
45. Joey Walker, Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK
65. Freddie Scheske, Vitus Pro Cycling p/b Brother UK