Jelly Belly's Chodroff just gets nipped

Working all day in a breakaway paid off for Fly V Australia’s Phil Zajicek, who grabbed the overall win at the Tucson Bicycle Classic by a single second over Jonathan Chodroff (Jelly Belly-Kenda).

After the pro men’s field was neutralized on stage 2, Zajicek went into the third and final day of TBC 11 seconds down on Chodroff. Wind and punchy racing made for a hard day on the hilly circuit, which the pro men tackled eight times.

“It was aggressive racing from the start and after two laps I got off with six others,” Zajicek said. “I was feeling great from the start and rode hard to keep the gap to the chasing field. The gap hovered between 20-30 seconds the majority of the race; on the final lap I was left on the front alone to ride to the finish. Crossing the line I knew it would be close to have enough time to Chodroff.”

Indeed, it was close — Zajicek cross the line exactly 12 seconds ahead of Chodroff’s group to take the overall win.

Although some of his Fly V Australia teammates were racing in California this weekend, Zajicek opted to stick around his hometown for TBC.