Mount Nebo State Park, Ark. — Glen Chadwick of Team Type 1 won his second consecutive stage of the inaugural Tour of Arkansas Friday to retain his overall lead.
Chadwick conquered the mountain top finish at Mount Nebo State Park by out-sprinting Predrag Prokic (Toshiba-Santo Professional Cycling Team presented by Herbalife) to finish the 98-mile (157.7 km) race in three hours, 59 minutes and 47 seconds.
Chadwick and Prokic left Team Type 1 teammate Moises Aldape and Michael Lange (Jelly Belly Pro Cycling) on the decisive climb, with the New Zealander winning the race by five seconds. Lange was third and Aldape fourth.
“Our guys put in a really good effort today and I didn’t want to let them down,” Chadwick said.
Chadwick’s back-to-back stage wins – a feat he also achieved in the Canadian Tour de Beauce stage race last year – puts him 25 seconds ahead of Prokic with two stages remaining. Team Type 1 also has two others in the top 10 overall: Aldape is fourth, 58 seconds behind, and Chris Jones is eighth, 1:28 behind.
“For sure I’m thinking about winning the race overall now,” Chadwick said. “We still have Moises and Chris a handful of seconds behind so they can always tag a good move and the lead could change. But I’m pretty keen to go all the way to the finish.”
Saturday’s 97-mile (156 km) race starts and finishes atop Arkansas’ tallest peak, Mount Magazine (2,753 feet) and features 6,600 feet of climbing. The 10-mile ascent of Mount Magazine features a continuous grade of six to eight percent.
Team Type 1 Sport Director Ed Beamon said the squad will be a little more protective of Chadwick’s lead than it was during Friday’s stage.
“There’s only a handful of guys we have to be worried about, but at some point, we’ll have to take responsibility for the stage,” Beamon said. “Hopefully, we can get another good effort out of Timothy (Hargrave) and Fabio (Calabria) again and take control of the race.”
Hargrave and Calabria, Team Type 1’s competitors with Type 1 diabetes in the race, played integral roles in both of Chadwick’s victories. On Friday, the pair combined with teammates Valeriy Kobzarenko and Ian MacGregor to successfully chase down Aaron Tuckerman (Jelly Belly), who gained a nearly three-minute advantage after attacking on the descent of the second climb.
Sunday’s final stage is the Celebrity Classic Criterium in historic Downtown Van Buren, Ark. The event begins at 8:30 a.m.
Photo: Courtesy Team Type 1 (Team Type 1's Glen Chadwick celebrates his victory atop Mount Nebo with runner-up Predrag Prokic (left) and Michael Lange (right)).
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