March 20, 2006 – Symmetrics Cycling’s newest recruit, Andrew Randell, is in Brazil with the team for the Volta de Ciclismo Internacional do Estado de São Paulo. This is the first of Symmetrics’ Brazilian campaign, and part of the team’s bid to win the 2006 UCI Americas Tour. The race is a nine-stage race against the best teams in South America, and includes several 200km + stages – set in the heat of Brazil. 6 riders from Symmetrics are racing the tour: Randell, Brad Fairall, Christian Meier, Eric Wohlberg, Jacob Erker and Marsh Cooper. Here’s what Andrew has to say about the first day of competition:

Day one of the Volta Ciclistica de Sao Paulo and the team acquitted themselves well. Today was a split stage with a 22km opening stage on the F1 circuit in Sao Paulo followed in the afternoon by an 88km road stage.

For several days before the Volta we were in Sao Paulo, one of the biggest cities in the world, and the only riding we were able to do was on a 2km circuit in a local park: it made for a lot of laps I tell you. It also wasn’t the best riding for our legs and the opening stage was a struggle for all of us as our legs were blocked from several days of pseudo riding in the park. The race only did five laps on the F1 circuit but we jammed the whole way. What was hard on us was the heat; one effort would put youin serious difficulty. Contesting the sprints for the points and mountains jersey the team was definitely put on the rivet. Nevertheless we did a good job putting together a lead-out for the mountains sprint, with Brad managing second. On the last lap we all struggled, but made it in one piece, toweled down and started to focus on the afternoon’s race.

No one on the team knew what their legs were going to be like, after having been so blocked in the morning, so we decided just to watch how the race would unfold and mark as many moves as possible. The race rolled down the highway, dead straight on a rolling road with a bit of a headwind. The constant rollers actually made for some tough racing with constant accelerations on each climb. In the end three riders got up the road without us in it, but the chase was on in the field. Up the road the guys in the break were doing an impressive ride, holding their margin at one minute for a long time. Running into the finish there were a couple of rollers and the race just went ballistic with the field strung-out single file. All the guys were there in the front as the gap to the leaders started to fall. Eric and Jake did an impressive amount of work to try and set me up for the sprint as we rushed into the finishing straight. Through all the bumping and banging I managed to hold my position but didn’t have the legs for the sprint and wasn’t able to come off the wheel. All in all a much better ride in the afternoon than we had been expecting. The team’s jamming and we’re just getting this thing rolling.

With 7 stages to go, Symmetrics’ Randell is 18th overall – so look for some shake-ups on the GC once the going gets tough.


Stage 1 РMarch 19: Ṣo Paulo, 21.5 km

Results

1 Hector Figueiras (Uru) Cesc/C.E São Caetano/Sundown 26.41
2 Nilceu Santos (Bra) Scott/Marcondes Cesar/Fadenp/SJC
3 Sebastian Cancio (Arg) Cesc/C.E São Caetano/Sundown
4 Pedro Soeiro (Por) Riberalves/Alcobaça
5 Fabielle Mota (Bra) Flamengo FC/São Lucas Saúde
6 Kleber Santos (Bra) Extra/Caloi/Suzano
7 Vladimir Smirnov (Ltu) Partzan/Bianchi
8 Alexander Gonzalez (Col) Caico Cycling Team
9 Marcos Novello (Bra) Memorial/Santos/Fupes/Giant/N.Caixa
10 Evandro Portela (Bra) Blumenau/DataRo/Pinarello
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30 Eric Wohlberg (USA) Symmetrics Cycling Team
41 Andrew Randell (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team
54 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team
80 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team
87 Marsh Cooper (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team
100 Bradley Fairall (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 0.40


Stage 2 — March 19: São Paulo, 110km

1. FIORILLI, Tiago Extra/Caloi/Suzano 01h58’47”-
2. CAMARGO, Armando Memorial/Santos/Fupes/Giant/N.Caixa 01h58’47”-
3. FIGUEIRAS, Hector Cesc/C.E São Caetano/Sundown 01h58’54”00h00’07”
4. SANTOS, Nilceu Scott/Marcondes Cesar/Fadenp/SJC 01h58’54”00h00’07”
5. SOEIRO, Pedro Riberalves/Alcobaça/Portugal01h58’54”00h00’07”
6. PAPP, Joseph Partzan/Bianchi/Itália01h58’54”00h00’07”
7. MOTA, Fabielle Flamengo FC/São Lucas Saúde 01h58’54”00h00’07”
8. SATTLER, Miguel Avaí FC/Florianópolis/Senac 01h58’54”00h00’07”
9. CARVALHO, Bruno Riberalves/Alcobaça/Portugal01h58’54”00h00’07”
10. TABANEZ, Bruno Flamengo FC/São Lucas Saúde 01h58’54”00h00’07”
———
11. RANDELL, Andrew Symmetrics Cycling Team/Canadá01h58’54”00h00’07”

54. ERKER, Jacob Symmetrics Cycling Team/Canadá 01h58’54” 00h00’07”
56. FAIRALL, Bradley Symmetrics Cycling Team/Canadá 01h58’54” 00h00’07”
71. WOHLBERG, Eric Symmetrics Cycling Team/Canadá01h58’54”00h00’07”
81. COOPER, Marsh Symmetrics Cycling Team/Canadá01h58’54”00h00’07”
84. MEIER, Christian Symmetrics Cycling Team/Canadá01h59’41”00h00’54”


http://www.symmetricscycling.com/team/andrewRandell.aspx