March 16th, 2008 – Kemzeke, East-Flanders, Belgium

Our fourth race so far, the 44th Omloop van het Waasland-Kemzeke, the same town where Eddy Merckx rode his last cycling race.  The team did very well in a difficult 191 km race.  Five men finished in the peloton in a bunch sprint finish. Only 103 guys finished out of 200 starters.  Buck had a bad luck with a flat in early cobblestones section and did not have a chance to come back.  Joël was not quite in the game and did not finish.  Ryan who has been riding really well since the beginning of our European project had some mechanical on last lap.  Therefore he was cautious and took any risk at the final.  For the third year in a row, the Belgian Nico Eeckhout of team Topsport Vlaanderen won the finishing sprint after four hours fifteen minutes at an average of 44,941km/h.  It is our team best showing so far with solid progress.  Most of all finished among the peloton.  Few mistakes on results have been published.  The correct finish result for our riders is:

• 26th Mark Walters
• 49th Mark Pozniak
• 82nd Ryan Roth
• 89th Dan Timmerman
• 98th Dustin MacBurnie

Tomorrow is the Big Day!  Our last race in Belgium is the Nokere Koerse UCI 1.1.  The team will be racing against Pro Tour teams such as the two local teams Quick Step and Silence Lotto and also Rabobank, AG2R, High Road, and many others.  This is a big test for the team before the Tour de Normandie.  For tomorrow forecast, it will continue to be inclement weather: 7°C high with chance of hail and rain showers.

Thank you for all your support!
Sincerely
Josée