Sho-Air Twenty20's Leah Thomas won the Tyrone time trial during stage 3 at the Tour of the Gila Friday, covering the 27km course in 38:27 to beat runner-Up and current race leader Tayler Wiles (UnitedHealthcare) by six seconds. Amy D Foundation's Julie Emmerman was third, 56 seconds back.
"Right at the beginning I knew that my legs felt really good, then it became a mental game of pushing up the hills and staying as aero as possible on the descents," said Thomas, whose win moves her up to second on GC. "It does take hard work and a little luck and everything came together today."
Thomas now trails Wiles by 27 seconds in the overall, with Wiles' teammate Ruth Winder in third, 1:13 back. Stage 3 was Wiles' second consecutive runner-up finish after coming second to Tibco's Lex Albrecht on stage 2 when she took the overall lead.
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"This is a really hard time trial," Wiles said. "I haven't done it in five years and that year I flatted, so I wanted to redeem myself. Before the race, I talked to my coach about a pacing strategy. I think I executed it pretty well. I may have gone a little too deep, because on the downhill before the finish I was just dying. I lost that top spot on the podium by five seconds, which hurts a little, but I'm really excited for the rest of the race, and we're really confident.”
Wiles also retains her lea dint he points competition, while Melinda McCutcheon (Visit Dallas DNA) leads the mountains classification and Winder sits comfortably in the lead of the best young rider competition.
The 2017 Tour of the Gila continues Saturday with the downtown Silver City Criterium.
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