2 Flat Tires Deflate Tomac in Cycling Championships

John Tomac of Chatsworth fell victim to two flat tires Thursday and finished 45th in the men’s road race in the U. S. National Cycling Championships.

Tomac, 21, who fell and finished ninth in last week’s time trials, never led in the 100.5-mile race and was never within a minute of Rishi Grewal of Boulder, Colo., who won the race in 4 hours, 5 minutes, 47 seconds. Tomac, who suffered one of the flat tires with 10 laps remaining, finished in 4:08:20.

Despite the setback, Tomac was selected to compete Aug. 26-27 in the World Cycling championships in Chambery, France.

In the women’s road race, Maureen Manley of Thousand Oaks finished seventh in the 50.25-mile race with a time of 2:18.40.

Grewal, 22, the younger brother of Alexi Grewal, the 1984 Olympic road race gold medalist, shook off Greg McNeil of Ojai with 2 1/2 laps remaining and cruised to a 13-second victory.

McNeil, who took the lead from Grewal with less than 12 of the hilly and winding 3.35-mile circuits remaining, was passed in the waning yards by another teammate, James Urbonas, of Boulder. Urbonas was timed in 4:06:00. McNeil was third, four seconds behind Urbonas.

The women’s race was won by Juliana Furtado, 22, of Boulder, a former member of the U. S. national ski team who began cycling less than two years ago. Furtado posted a time of 2:17:06.

“It was luck,” Furtado said. “I was waiting for the pack to catch me. But I was pacing myself well. Still, I barely made it up the final hill.”