O'Neill opens Mt. Hood with TT win
Hood River, OR - Initial results from the opening stage of the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic showed that Devon Vigus or California Giant Strawberries out-dueled eight-time Australian national time trial champion Nathan O'Neill of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis in the opening three-mile prologue . The result was a shock to most, including the victor himself as well as O'Neill, who was shown to have placed 2nd, 12 seconds behind Vigus.
O'Neill and his teammates were understandably surprised, too. "I averaged 518 watts (for the prologue) and he beat me by 12 seconds?" O'Neill told Cycling News.
However, unfortunately for Vigus, his stay in the race's lead was short-lived. According to Health Net Presented by Maxxis assistant directeur sportif Mike Tamayo, just a few minutes before the start of the second stage this morning, race officials clarified a start time error that resulted in Vigus finishing 12 seconds ahead of O'Neill in the prologue.
With the correction made, O'Neill took his rightful place in the leader's jersey at the start of the stage, eight seconds ahead of Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health).
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Official Results