2008 LINKS RESULTS
Prologue
The Wall
Stairway
Team Time Trial
Hill Climb
Mike's Revenge
Epilogue
Team Standings
Overall
(GC)

TEAMS
American Flyers

Big Ring Wraiths

Kokomo Cycling and Fitness

Majestic Moose

Time Lords

Flying Squirrels

LINKS PAGE

2007 TOP TEN

Larry Barnhart  1st

Francis Manfred 2nd

Clark Griffin 3rd

Ryan Hulce 4th

Roxane Burrous 5th

Ron Moore 6th

Jeff Bell 7th

Geana Moore 8th

Adam Cloud 9th

Greg Tackett 10th

2007 Tour de Schwinn History Page

2007 Year 4

By this time the Tour had become like an old hat, no it was not comfy but it did fit well and smelled bad (at least some of the riders). Again changes were made to the courses and there were several rider changes too. As for the courses a good deal of them were turned around which meant instead of all that climbing of past years the rider would be going down hill alot more. However this was not as helpful as some had hoped since the Velodyne does not have a motor to push the riders down hill the descents were not as real. But there was still some fast time put in this year and some weaknesses exposed. The most notable change in  riders were  the fact that we had 6 new rookies,  a total of 3 women riders(one rookie) and 3 returning champions from previous TdS's. The tour was once again hard fought with several personal best achieved and some personal worst. In the end strategy won out and gave the victory to an old vet. So how did it go? Well you should have watched last year and you would know  but here is a little recap for you anyways.

THE START STAGE 1 : PROLGOUE
The Prologue was a familar course with just .1 mile added to it (to go with the 4.7 theme Mike cooked up). So with 4.7 miles of riding done by each of our 20 riders things looked like this. From top to Bottom(with team)

So once again Francis was in yellow after the prologue and the teams were set.

STAGE 2 THE WALL
The wall stage this year looked to be easier then years past however looks were deceiving  . This course was 1 mile long and six laps for a total of a 6 mile race. The climb which usually was .2 miles each lap at 8% had been changed to a 1% grade but was now .6 mile then .2 mile for 4%. Sounds tame enough but it took it toll on the rides quickly. The stage was won by Sue Barnhart followed by Geana Moore and Ryan Hulce. In the GC Francis remained in 1st , Clark Griffin moved to 2nd and Markus slipped to 3rd. Also Roxane Burrous creeped up to 4th.

STAGE 3 THE STAIRWAY.
The stairway was your basic course like in years past with flat up flat up flat up theme. 4% was all but the last climb which hit a bit harder at 7% which at the end of over 6 miles of riding tested the riders just a bit.  Andrew Maibaum had one of his best races ever on this course this year and took the stage. Geane Moore continued to show she was here to compete by taking her second 2nd place in a row. Larry Barnhart started his strategic move by coming in 3rd which moved him into 3rd on the GC. Francis was still in 1st and Clark just behind in 2nd. Roxane kept 4th spot but Markus dropped to 8th.

STAGE 4 TEAM TIME TRIAL
The Big Ring Wraiths took this stage led by Roxane Burrous who after the stage ended up in 2nd on GC. The American Flyers came in second which gave Clark Griffin enough of push to take over the GC led.  The KCF team was in 3rd which dropped their forerunner Larry Barnhart to 5th place but it was clear that he was not going as fast as he could have on this ride, perhaps saving something for later in the race and letting his team just pull him along (his plan or just a bad day). 4th on the stage was the TL team led by Francis this less then stellar performance from his team dropped Francis to 3rd in the GC, one other note on this team Troy Clear abandoned the race prior to the start and Dean Dahlquist was allowed to take over for him. Last on the stage was the Majestic Moose team. Team Captain Markus Neageli continued to slip down the GC ranks but fellow Moose Adam Cloud was able to hold onto his 6th place ranking (for now at least). So with things once again shuffled up we left the flats behind and hit the real climbs  oh wait make that descending.

STAGE 5 THE HILL CLIMB (downwards style)
This year the course was turned around and no longer heading for the clouds. With the Team Time Trial moving things around nicely there was starting be some talk of a winner this year and no one seemed to have any good reason why one person would win over another. So it was mostly just idle talk. Larry Barnhart recovered from his bad time trial and won the stage (might have been his plan along) which vaulted him into the GC leaders jersey while Francis Manfred took second in both the stage and the GC. Clark Griffin jumped on the band wagon as grab 3rd in both stage and GC giving us a 1,2 3 in both stage and GC something not done except the prologue in any tour. It quickly became a 3 man tour. The 3 leaders had distance themselves from the rest of the field and were ready to battle it out to the end.

STAGE 6 MIKE'S REVENGE.
Once again the longest stage of the tour but like most the other courses this year a kindler gentler Revenge from Mike. Shawn Leonard won the stage but after falling to 20th in  the GC on the Hill Climb his chances in the tour were well gone. Ryan Hulce who came in 2nd on the stage moved to the 4th spot in GC making him the closest to our 3 leaders but still far enough back to not be a real threat. So what of the top 3 guys?  Nothing changed was still 1 2 3  Larry, Francis and Clark was looking like Francis had a chance to take the win which he had been chasing for 4 years now. However he had to beat Larry in the Epilogue with enough time to do it? Or would it be Clark that raced pass both of the other two and take the win? The BABC message board was ripe with opinions , everything from this was Francis's year to the Rookie Ryan Hulce was going to surprise everyone and steal victory from the leaders. It would all come down to the last stage.

STAGE 7 EPILOGUE
This race was done in time trial style with the last place rider off first and the first place rider off last. Larry Barnhart had a lot of waiting to do, however he was really only interested in what Ryan, Clark and Francis did.  Tony Landrum came out and set the time to beat (in the handicap which is all we cared about anyways). His time held up until Geana Moore rode ( in 13th spot) then Tony had the second best time which is how it ended up. Geana then Tony, showing he had something left Shawn Leonard nabbed 3rd place. Francis put in a good time as well as did Clark but neither one made enough time up on Larry to take the win from him. So Larry was crowned the 2008 TdS Champion.

List of riders by teams with placing

Tour History