Comment of the day, September 27, 2009:

@ 11:41am
By: Steve Magyera
Sun, 09/27/2009 – 5:22pm
First, I hang my head high on this win and every point that my team has earned throughout the season. We came from last place in 2008 and made some great efforts to get to the front this season. I invite any of you to come and ride with us, get to know me and my fellow teammates before getting so nasty. We are a decent, considerate, and competitive team.

My opinion is that your story is not well supported by facts nor probabilities.

Since you raised some interesting points in your post, let’s examine them. Summarized, i feel that your story is NOT what the pictures show and conflicts with what I know of my own position during the leadup to the sprint.

Coming down Harlem Hill, I was on the far LEFT side and was actually trying to get to the RIGHT side of the road where both Jim Andrello and Eutimio might be able to give me a leadout. The amount of riders on the right side was extreme and I decided that it was too risky to get mixed up with so many closely-spaced racers. Eutimio was NOT on my wheel at ANY time, not even close, but on the other side of the road. So, your story is incorrect on that point.

Next, have you examined the sprint pictures? Please look at all 4 in sequence. You can see that Eutimio and Leszek are approximately equal distance apart through the 4 picture sequence. How could Eutimio have slowed down then cut off a bunch of people and then sped up again to match Leszek’s speed in the sprint…and finish 4th no less?

Your assertion that Eutimio slowed down then does not make sense. How could he have slowed down and still placed 4th in the sprint while maintaining similar speed to the other racers in front and behind him?

Anyone can get cut off in a sprint. It happened to me in the Maltese race. I didn’t throw my bike, curse, or even raise my tone. I did address the person after the race and we talked about it. I wrote the experience off as chance and my own slow reaction in trying to negotiate around that rider.

Having crashed hard in April (35mph over the bars, stage 3 A.C. joint separation) and sat on the sidelines for 2 months, i am very much aware of dangers in our sport. I would never advocate a race tactic that could hurt a bunch of riders and friends like that. I like the people i train and race with.

I enjoy our sport and the friendships that I have made through it. Let’s take a minute to realize that we are all connected by our dedication to this sport and lets try to enjoy ourselves instead of creating anger, resentment, and hate.

Steve Magyera