The Dalles, OR – A day after having the yellow jersey of race leader and teammate Morgan Schmitt handed to him by the race officials, Marc de Maar made no mistake today that he deserved to wear it.

The Dutchman bombed through the challenging 18-mile Scenic Gorge time trial course in 44:06, finishing 0:14 ahead of Paul Mach (Bissell), with whom he’d come into the TT tied on time.

“I definitely had a good ride today,” de Maar said. “It’s a very hard course, very hilly and not a lot of flat sections. It’s a hard course to keep a rhythm on. I was up at 7 this morning with Gord (Fraser) to see the course, which helped.”

De Maar, who noted that he’d gotten sick following the Tour of California, said that he’s been getting progressively stronger every day at Hood.

“I didn’t feel too good for the prologue,” he said, “but I felt a bit better for the criterium. Yesterday I felt pretty good, and I really felt like I could win today and it worked out.”

De Maar noted that he and the rest of the team felt bad for Schmitt after he lost the lead yesterday when he was assessed a 0:20 penalty for what race officials deemed excessive drafting following a wheel change.

“We were on the front setting tempo when he flatted,” de Maar said. “We sat up and waited for him. Even if he had been another two minutes getting back on we’d have waited for him, and we were setting tempo up the last climb, too. The penalty didn’t seem appropriate. After taking the jersey, Morgan was feeling very motivated, and it’s not good that it ended up like that.”

But with the jersey now firmly on de Maar’s shoulders, the Team can put that behind them and get on with the task of defending the lead for the final two stages. Saturday offers up the queen stage of the race, the Wy’East Road Race. Though only 92 miles long, the stage ends with a 35-mile, 4,500-foot march up to the Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort. The last two of those miles ramp up over 10%.

“We haven’t made a race plan yet for tomorrow, but I want to try and win the stage again,” de Maar said. “The uphill finish is good for me, and I want to get a bit more time on Mach before the criterium if I can.”