March 19, 2007 (Visalia, California) – Charles Dionne (Colavita/Sutter Home) is slowly getting better, finishing the 64 km/57 lap Visalia Criterium at the Sequoia Classic in fifth place. Cuba’s Ivan Dominguez (Toyota United) won the crit, sharing the podium with team mates Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels.

“Toyota United team imposed their rhythm with 17 laps to go. At three laps from the finish, (the peloton) was going really fast! I thought that I could pass them in the third to last turn, but was unable to. So I prepared for the arrival of my team mate Alejandro Acton,” explained Dionne who finished just behind Acton.

“After my pneumonia last week, which knocked me out for about ten days, I am fairly happy with my race. Now we’re heading to the Redlands Classic. I have always had success there and hope that my strength comes back even more quickly,” he added.

Keven Lacombe (Volkswagen-Trek) finished eighth while Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast) finished 19th.

For full results visit www.sequoiaclassic.org