Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
40th Joe Martin kicks off
Silber Pro Cycling led by former race winner.
WINSLOW — Gord Fraser forgot his chair at the bottom of the hill.
So instead, the Silber Pro Cycling coach positioned his team’s Audi hatchback near the finish line and repeatedly honked the horn as his riders approached, hoping the sound would push them to a faster time. But another team, Rally Cycling, made even more noise to kick off the 40th Annual Joe Martin Stage Race at Devil’s Den State Park.
Rally riders took four of the top six spots during Thursday’s time trials, setting it up as the team to beat in the UCI Pro Men’s division. Adam de Vos led the way by covering the three-mile, uphill climb in nine minutes, 17 seconds. Silber still had a productive day with Nigel Ellsay coming in seventh and four finishers in the top 19 out of 196 entrants.
“Judging from our riders’ reactions at the top of the hill, they were hoping for better,” Fraser said. “It’s disappointing, but sometimes it’s a good reminder that you can’t rest on your laurels.
“We can turn that into motivation for (today) and race aggressively.”
The Joe Martin Stage Race is special stop for Fraser, a three-time Olympian who won the overall title here a decade ago. He competed just once more, winning a race in Vancouver, before his career coasted to a stop. With more than 200 career wins, the Ottawa native was inducted into the Canadian Cycling Hall of Fame in October.
“To be recognized for my body of work and legitimizing that as something that was worthy of induction is something was very humbling for me,” Fraser said.
Silber, which recently relocated its training warehouse from Milwaukee to Tucson, Ariz., has a young, but talented roster with riders such as up-and-comer Ellsay, 34-year-old veteran Ryan Roth and the team’s first American in Stephen Bassett, who’s from Knoxville, Tenn.
The group arrived in Fayetteville on Tuesday after a two-day trip from Tuscon. Sure, that much time on the road can serve as a “team bonding experience,” Fraser said, but sitting in a cramped van for an 18-hour road trip is not ideal for racers’ legs.
“A team our size, we’re always trying to pinch the pennies wherever we can,” Fraser said. “We’re super fortunate at Silber Pro Cycling that we have a new three-year commitment from Arthur Silber, but we’re always trying to augment and increase our budget, so we can fly into XNA instead of driving.”
Three of Silber’s athletes off of the 2016 team “graduated” to “bigger teams with bigger budgets,” Fraser said. Teams like Rally Racing and United Healthcare Pro Cycling “dwarf” Silber in terms of sponsorships, so riders leave for higher salaries and more opportunities to race.
“That’s the reality of where we are right now,” Fraser said. “Certainly we would like to have the budget to grow and be in sync with the development of the athletes and that’s why we’re always in search of sponsorships.”
Fraser believes Silber is on the correct path to close the funding gap on those teams after coming off one of the most successful seasons in Canada’s history with 26 team wins in 2016. He said he’s thrilled to be part of a team that’s at the “forefront” of the development of road racing in Canada and signed a three-year extension in October.
“Having Gord run the team has been key to our success over the past two years,” said team owner Scott McFarlane. “Gord’s direction has been great for our young riders, but his logistics have also helped our staff just come in and do their jobs in a supportive context. He and (Roth) are largely responsible for establishing a winning culture at Silber.”