Meredith Miller (l) and Carlee Taylor make up half of the strong four-rider squad starting the SRAM Tour of the Gila tomorrow. Taylor, Carmen Small and Serena Sheridan bring form from their recent European stint to the race. Photo by Larry Rosa.

Pescadero, California – Team TIBCO/To the Top heads into one of the most challenging stage races on the calendar tomorrow with a four-rider roster led by Team Captain Meredith Miller and Carmen Small, along with Carlee Taylor and Serena Sheridan. The SRAM Tour of the Gila will offer up wind, climbs and unpredictable weather, along with strong competition from the rest of the women’s peloton.

“The wind, the altitude and the technicality all make this a challenging race,” said Team Manager/Directeur Sportif Lisa Hunt. “Thursday’s stage is difficult because it throws everything at the riders. It has climbs, it has technical descents. It’s windy. It has flats. It’s an all-arounder’s course. It can end in a selective group with a sprint finish. Carmen won the stage from a break last year.”

What the opening stage starts with respect to establishing a selection, the time trial tends to sort further.

“Wind can also play a significant factor on the time trial course,” Hunt said. “The strongest and bravest rider usually emerges on top. Both Carmen and Meredith are very good at time trials. They’ve done it a lot, and they’ve done it in windy conditions. Obviously, we’re going to be racing on the fastest bikes out there, with our Specialized Shivs. They’re incredibly fast bikes.”

The race’s final stage, the epic Gila Monster stage, has the potential to shake up the overall classification right to the end.

“Everything can change on that last day,” Miller said. “There will be a good sized group that comes to the bottom of the Gila monster together, and as the climb continues, that group just shatters. Traditionally, people will trickle in one by one.”

Along with racing with strength, Team TIBCO will also have to race with intelligence, given that they will be facing squads of six or eight riders.

“We’re going to have to be more patient and wait for the right opportunity and the right moves to go instead of being the ones initiating or being the ones on the offensive,” Miller said. “We’ll have to be a lot more attentive to what other teams are doing. We’ll look to play off others’ tactics instead of being the aggressors ourselves.”

Hunt echoed those thoughts, adding, “We don’t like to race that way. We like to race aggressively. Put the onus on other teams. But we will have to conserve. It doesn’t mean sitting in. It means keeping eyes open. Covering critical moves in the race.

“I think one of the things is that we have three riders who have just come off a European stint, and that’s made them stronger. Racing here on U.S. soil will be a great opportunity for them. It will be good. We’re small but mighty.”

For more information about the SRAM Tour of the Gila, visit www.tourofthegila.com.

Team TIBCO/To the Top for the SRAM Tour of the Gila
Meredith Miller, USA
Serena Sheridan, NZL
Carmen Small, USA
Carlee Taylor, AUS