McLane Pacific Downtown Grand Prix March 5, 2005 50 laps (or 40 miles around a .8 mile circuit) in downtown Merced, California. Flat, wide and fast. Today began the 2005 racing season officially as all the big US teams arrived in a surprisingly warm downtown Merced for a grand kick-off! Here out West we went straight from winter-like rain to summer-like sun, and with a 2:50pm start time, the Pro field was well-warmed up before they even started! In the last 5-6 years the field of US cyclists grow tremendously to what is now a very deep talent pool. Euro-style! This year even Discovery's Antonio Cruz and Navigator's Marty Nothstein and Vassili Davidenko were on hand to add some excitement to the Pro race. The McGuire-Landale contingent consisted of: Erik Saunders, Mike Taylor, Rahsaan Bahati, Colin Beardsley, Matt Dubberley, Zac Walker, Geoff Rapaport, Devon Vigus, Pat Dunaway and Roman Kilun. Tim Chase and Chappy Wood (Team doctor) were there to work out any last minutes aches and pains and Charlie Moore (McGuire Real Estate) was there to cheer and support not only his Pro & Elite teams, but also to partake in a little of the racing fun himself! The colorful peloton was off in a blaze in the unseasonably warm sunshine and the race is starting out very fast! Matt Dubberley treated us to some fine entertainment by powering off the front for a lap or two. This guy is a motor. Some guy from Endeavor (who's team kits look a little too much like ours do) shot off the front. The race announcer made a comment about how he's "not a known threat" and so he was allowed to escape from the field. But wait a minute! Someone in the peloton decided to follow and it’s none other than McGuire-Langdale’s very own Matt Dubberley! As the laps ticked away, the race got faster and faster. Mike Taylor, true to form, gave a monster pull off the front of the field to pull back a break for a lap...followed shortly thereafter by strongman Erik Saunders to give it a go and powered off the front. Then the Colavita-Bolla train took off and showed us that they were in fine form this year. Impressively so. But when you've got perhaps the fastest, strongest finisher in North America on your team, as well as a super deep and strong team like Healthnet, it's not hard to predict the final. Gord Fraser and his Healthnet crew finished things off with a decisive sprint to the line, with Colavita taking the 2nd and 3rd place spots on the podium. 18 Rahsaan Bahati 25 Erik Saunders 44 Roman Kilun 69 Zachary Walker