Ivan Dominguez Not Racing CSC, Lancaster, Philly, Etc.

Ivan Dominguez of Toyota-United won't race the CSC Invitational and the entire Commerce Bank “Triple Crown of Cycling” series.

He had been Toyota-United’s most successful racer this season, winning eight races. But he crashed and bruised his back and ribs when he flipped over the handlebars after crossing the finish line in Stage 1 of the Tri-Peaks Challenge.

“It has really bothered me the way I crashed,” Dominguez said Friday. “If I crashed going into the last turn or going for it in the sprint, I’d expect something like that. But this was while I was rolling in at the back of the group after the finish. I’m still trying to figure out what happened.”

Dominguez said he expects to resume training next week but might not be able to start racing again for some time.

“It’s a very frustrating situation, but like I said to my teammates, I want to make sure I heal the injury the way I’m supposed to,” Dominguez said. “I don’t want to crash again and make it worse.”

With Dominguez out, Toyota-United will look to Ivan Stevic and Henk Vogels to be the designated team leaders for the four races over the next nine days. Stevic was third at the CSC Invitational in 2005 while Vogels has won in Philadelphia (in 2000). The rest of Toyota-United’s roster for the series will be Jose Manuel Garcia, Caleb Manion, Sean Sullivan and 2005 USPRO Road Champion Chris Wherry. The rest of the Toyota-United team is competing in the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic in Oregon through Sunday.