Michael Grabinger said he had a lucky day because he avoided crashes and flat tires to win his first El Tour de Tucson.
But he gave much of the credit to his two teammates, who helped him after they dealt with their own bike problems in Saturday's 109-mile race.
Grabinger won in 4 hours, 15 minutes and 53 seconds. He was followed by David Salomon of Obregon, Sonora (4:16.01) and Alexi Martinez of Ventura, Calif., (4:16:28).
First-timer Alex Wrubleski was just a few minutes behind at 4:19:09. The Canadian blew away the women's field as Boulder, Colo., resident Suzanne Sonye was second (4:33:20) and Gina Aubrey of Corona del Mar, Calif., was third (4:33:30).
Grabinger's teammate, Doug Loveday, who was third in last year's El Tour and won the 1991 race, broke his front wheel when he hit a curb at the first river crossing. He rode his damaged bike back about 10 miles to the start line, filled his car with gas, found a map and brought water to Grabinger and teammate Brian Forbes at the 70- and 100-mile marks.
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"He gave me two bottles of water I wouldn't have had otherwise," Grabinger said. "That might have been the race right there. If I wouldn't have had those, I might not have had been strong enough for the finish."
Loveday fed them a mixture of Coke, UltraFuel and water — a concoction Grabinger called "really sweet" — and later gave them Gatorade.
"I figured if I couldn't help the team on the bike, I could at least feed them, make an impact that way," said Loveday, co-founder of team Rideclean and team manager of Grand Canyon Racing, of which Grabinger is a member.
Forbes, 34, said he worked hard to get back into the race after he fixed two early flat tires. No longer aiming to win, Forbes helped Grabinger, a 29-year-old Flagstaff resident, claim the title by allowing Grabinger to draft.
He also improved the pace of the front group so Grabinger could sit back and do less work by not allowing other front-runners to draft. Forbes made a move with about 35 miles to go, breaking from other cyclists and taking Grabinger with him.
"He sacrificed himself for me," Grabinger said. "I owe him so much for it. I was drafting off him to save energy."
With five miles left, Forbes told Grabinger he was exhausted. Grabinger, with energy to spare, spent the rest of the race trading drafting positions withSalomon, a top pro from Mexico, every 30 seconds.
For the final mile, Grabinger took a five-second lead and expected Salomon to overtake him. That never happened.
Grabinger is relatively new to road racing. The Jamestown, N.D., native competed in triathlons for five years, getting his start with a U.S. Army triathlon team in Stuttgart, Germany, because he said, "they forced me to run and I had a bike and I was in Europe and you have to bike in Europe. It's the thing to do, and the triathlon is huge in Europe."
He eventually achieved professional status before deciding to focus on cycling.
"I kind of got discouraged after doing a couple races realizing the gap between the established professionals and myself was still significant, but in the bike portion I was right there, usually doing a little better than the professionals," he said.
Grabinger has been road racing for about a year.
"That gives you an idea of how much talent he has," Loveday said. "He started in Category 5. Right now, he's a legit Category 1 if he jumps through all the hoops and fills out all the papers, and he hopes to go pro."
The El Tour course — even the two dry river crossings that forced him to dismount his bike and run — impressed Grabinger.
The top female finisher, 22-year-old Wrubleski of Regina, Saskatchewan, also was racing in her first El Tour. Her time of 4:19.09, smashed the women's course record of 4:22.30. Two-time defending champion Sonye was the runner-up.
Wrubleski said she has been training in Tucson for two weeks and will stay through December to benefit from the warm weather and the cycling community.
"It's always fun racing with guys," said Wrubleski, a pro who is the Canadian national time trail champion.
"I tried staying near the front," she said. "I liked the rolling hills of the course because you could see the front of the pack."
