Toyota Life Articles
Dominguez Wins Inaugural WCSN USA CRIT Final
Las Vegas — In a season punctuated by flawless teamwork, Ivan Dominguez ultimately was on his own when it came time to deliver a victory.
The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team rider dramatically chased down Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefit Strategies presented by Medifast) on the final lap, then out-sprinted him to the line to win the WCSN USA CRITS Finals Thursday night under the lights in Las Vegas. The victory was Dominguez’s 15th of the season – a career-best – and the 38th of the season for Toyota-United.
"This feels great,” Dominguez told the estimated crowd of 20,000 that gathered under the lights to watch the inaugural edition of the race. “All the guys are very happy. This has been a great year.”
But before the 60 km (37-mile) race outside the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, Dominguez was downplaying his chances.
"Before today, (I considered) the Tour of Missouri my last ride,” he said. “I was sitting at home, doing nothing. Then I went to the show (Interbike) today and a lot of people were saying they put money on me. I said, ‘Dude, you should ask for your money back because I don’t think I’m going to win.’ This is a dangerous race.”
The perils of racing 60 laps on a flat, sweeping, six-turn course that was set up in a parking lot was illustrated several times. In the Bicycling Magazine Industry Cup race that preceded the pro men’s event, a massive pile-up disrupted the final lap. About a half-hour later, the pro men’s race instantly became a crash-fest, with Toyota-United’s Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia one of the victims on the opening lap. The first turn was particularly treacherous, with more than a half-dozen separate crashes taking down riders.
Dominguez, though, avoided the mayhem and was in position to follow Gilbert when he attacked through the start/finish line with a lap to go. Behind them, an immediate gap opened up when a rider lost control in the first turn.
“I thought I would wait because he (Gilbert) was taking too many chances in the turns and I preferred to keep it safe,” Dominguez said. “Coming into the second to- last turn, I caught him and he took me to the finish. He was tired.”
Dominguez didn’t even have to get out of the saddle while Gilbert held on to finish second, just ahead of his teammate, Dave McCook.
Besides Dominguez, only two of Toyota-United’s six starters finished the race: Justin England was 41st and Heath Blackgrove was 61st.
