Mineral Wells Stage One

Fayetteville all over again... that was the feeling after stage one of the 40+ at Mineral Wells. Like Fayetteville, it was wet, it was windy and it was a little cold. And like Fayetteville, it was McKinney Velo's Chris Powers in a knock down drag out battle with Joe's pro Bikes Allen Abel for the GC lead. As this results sheet shows, Abel took the first stage 50 mile road race win, but thanks to some KOM points, CP sat 1st on GC. Stage two, a 6 mile TT was to follow about 5:00 this afternoon, and then it's another 50 miles Sunday. The biggest difference between Mineral Wells and Fayetteville? At MW, CP has more help. At Fayetteville, Team MV had only three: CP, Marco 'Joules' Corsi and Brownie. At MW, Team MV has the Bros' Burke x 3 (Patrick ('Bling'), Patrick Timothy and Timothy), Jeff Fene, Seabass (Brad Price), CP and Oz (Steve Weber). But then Joe's has a strong team too, as does OKC Velo. It's shaping up to be another battle royale (with cheese).