August 4, 2004 - Toona

Fiordifrutta Top Amateur Team at The International Tour de Toona, July 26-31

Despite the loss of Mike Dietrich to a broken collarbone just one week before the start of Toona, a six-man Fiordifrutta squad put on a great show against the nation’s top professional teams. The team was lucky enough to have Jonathan Page rejoin the squad for these races. Page originally joined the team in 1999 and went on to ride for Prime Alliance in 2002 and win consecutive Elite National Cyclocross Champion titles in 2002 and 2003.

Shawn Milne, just back from a campaign with the US National team in Europe, posted the squad’s best prologue result with a 20th place finish, but things kept improving in the next stages. Page took 5th spot in a rainy stage 2 while Jon Hamblen and Phil Wong were both able to make the elite front group in stage 3’s 100 mile road race. Stage 4 saw another day for the sprinters with Page again showing his speed for 4th place. Stage 5 was another top finish for Page in 7th, but Milne and Hamblen begin to feel the effects of a nasty cold that was sweeping through the peleton.

The final stage six road race over 93 miles of hilly terrain, again saw Page win a small group sprint for 4th on the day, with strong rides by Wong and Peter Hult to keep Fiordifrutta high in the team classification. For the week, Fiordifrutta finished in 4th place, as the top amateur team and ahead of many pro teams. Wong, Page, and Hult finished in 12th, 15th, and 21st places respectively for the week.