Stage 11a
After 10 stages of the 14 stage Tour of Cuba, Svein Tuft rode himself into the yellow jersey after ripping a 30 km time trial in 33:39 averaging 53.5 km/h. Tuft who started the stage with a 1:49 deficit now has a 33 second lead over defending champion Pedro Perez (Cuba). Tuft's time was 1:22 better than his closest competitor, Arnold Alcolea.
Stage 11b
With only 3 stages remaining the S-train needed to maintain yellow with a 5-man squad. Stage 11b was a 157km stage averaging 44km/hr on the same afternoon as the time trial making this the most grueling day of the entire stage race. The boys successfully defended the jersey by setting tempo on the front and keeping a close eye on their nearest competitors while conserving as much energy as possible. To ease some of the stress a small break of non-GC contenders was let go and by the end of Stage 11b the time gaps remained the same with Tuft in yellow. After a tough day in the saddle the team made the long transfer to their hotel arriving after 8:30pm feeling nervous about what was to come in Stage 12. "The Cubans will be riding as one tomorrow to bring Perez back into yellow" said Bruce Wenting, Symmetrics' road manager in Cuba. "Svein was amazing in the TT. He had to dig hard to put himself into yellow but the rest of the guys were just as awesome today holding the team at the front and riding like true professionals. We planned our race strategy perfectly so far. Our plan was to keep Svein in contention knowing we could take yellow in the TT. We just need to hold our own over the next few days and not get into any trouble."
Stage 12
The S-team entered stage 12 with only one goal in mind, to keep Tuft in yellow. "The boys did another great job of maintaining consistency and keeping Svein out of trouble." said Bruce Wenting. "Svein rolled in about 54 seconds back holding his own against the key contenders and maintaining his 33 second lead." At the end of stage 12 Symmetrics sits second in the team classification next to Cuba and Christian Meier sits second in the U23 classification. The final stage 13 is a 90 km circuit race that will be nothing short of fast and exciting. The Cubans are not going to go down without a battle. "This race is not over yet!" said Wenting from his hotel room in Cuba. "These Cubans ride as one and anything can happen. This is not the Tour de France where we ride the final stage drinking champagne. It will be hard race right to the finish and we are not considering it to be over just yet."
