News
Team Type 1's Megias Third On Tour of Utah Stage 1
August 19, 2010
Salt Lake City – Javier Megias capped an impressive day for Team Type 1 Wednesday at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah by winning the field sprint for third place on Stage 1.
Megias scored his best finish since a runner-up placing at the Tour de Beauce in June and his fourth top 10 performance of the season when he blazed across the line 26 seconds behind stage winner David Tanner (Fly V Australia).
Megias has lived with Type 1 diabetes for more than a dozen years and joins Team Type 1 teammate Fabio Calabria as the only riders in the field who have Type 1 diabetes.
Team Type 1 Founder and CEO Phil Southerland said Wednesday's accomplishment was set up by the motivation to do well in what will be the team's final U.S. stage race of the year.
"I did a three-hour ride with Javier on Saturday and he said he was feeling good," Southerland said. "This is a phenomenal result for a guy with Type 1 diabetes at a major stage race. It's tremendous for Team Type 1, for our sponsors and the diabetes world for him to be on the podium at the Tour of Utah."
Megias' performance was preceded by Team Type 1 putting three riders – Davide Frattini, Chris Jones and Valeriy Kobzarenko – in one of the day's main breakaways. Frattini was the most active and part of a small group that fought it out on the penultimate climb of the 85-mile (137 km) race that finished with a fast downhill run-in to Salt Lake City.
"Davide was in all the moves today," Team Type 1 Director Sportif Vassili Davidenko said. "I think he spent a little bit more (energy) on the climb up Big Mountain and just cramped up near the top. But he was feeling good after that because he recovered to help Javier."
Five Team Type 1 riders were among the 49 who finished in the lead group. In addition to Megias, Scott Stewart was seventh, Jones was 16th, Frattini was 25th and Kobzarenko placed 47th.
Megias credited good teamwork for setting him up for the sprint. Helped by a four-second time bonus, the Spaniard moved up to 20th overall, one spot behind Frattini. Both are 54 seconds off the lead of yellow jersey-wearer Alex Dowsett (Trek-LIVESTRONG).
"I spoke to Kobzarenko and Davide about getting me in position for the sprint in the last kilometer," Megias said. "Basically, once I went over the climb, we started talking about the sprint situation since the gap was coming down. I was really confident because they were there to help me out."
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