Twas another big day for Slipstream-Chipotle, the new power of American cycling.

Slipstream set the fast time in the fourth two-team heat Thursday in the Team Time Trial at Road Atlanta, then waited for the big dogs of international cycling to take their best shots at ‘em.

“It was exhilarating, nerve-wracking,” Slipstream’s Lucas Euser said. “We were sitting on the bus getting the live updates. It was coming down to seconds. It was intense.”

First, though, a couple of U.S. domestic teams — Toyota United and BMC — nipped at Slipstream’s heals, both falling short (T-U by 24 seconds, BMC by 32) of Slipstream’s fast time of 19:36.86 for the 10-mile TTT — four times around the 2.5-mile auto racing road course.

Then, it was time for the heavy hitters — Astana and High Road — to take aim at Slipstream.

Astana, with U.S. national road race champ Levi Leipheimer driving the teal train, fell  just about 4 seconds short, finishing in 19:40.27. High Road, with Big George Hincapie taking big pulls at the front, fell a little more than 5 seconds short, finishing in 19:42.06.

So, Slipstream, which won the team title at the Tour of Missouri last year and the Tour of California this year, stood atop the podium Thursday afternoon as the top “team” in American cycling.

“Our team is about the strength of the collective and not the strength of the individual,” Slipstream director sportif Jonathan Vaughters said as he stood behind the podium. ”I think the team time trail is indicative … this is what we do.

“Do we have the strongest rider in this race? No. But do we have a group of guys that are willing to die for each other? Absolutely. That’s what made the difference today. Today wasn’t about talent, it wasn’t about raw ability, or anything else. Today was about best friends. They’re a better collective unit than other teams, and that’s why we won.”

Vaughters then added a short but telling, — and poetic — analysis of Slipstream’s performance at Road Atlanta.

“Less horsepower, more willpower,” he said.

Slipstream started the day missing one-eighth of its horsepower in Timmy Duggan, who suffered a severe concussion, plus a broken clavical and a broken scapula in a bad crash Wednesday in Stage 3. Duggan was in the ICU of an Athens, Ga., but reports overnight and Thursday morning were favorable and Vaughters said he expected Duggan to be released by Saturday.

But even without Duggan taking his pulls, the seven remaining Slipstream riders pushed around the track, burning out three riders to propel the remaining four to the line. (Under this TTT format, four riders had to finish together, with the fourth rider’s time applying to the team.)

2005 Tour de Georgia winner Tom Danielson, darkhorse G.C. contender Trent Lowe, U.S. time trial champ David Zabriskie and TT specialist Christian VandeVelde finished together, but the pulls taken by Danny Pate, Tyler Farrar and Euser were just as valuable in getting the top four to the line, which is symbolic of the Slipstream collective approach.

“That’s who we are; we’re extremely good as a team unit,” Euser said. “A lot of time people have a hard time understanding how this team works, the team dynamic. People always ask me that, ‘If one guy wins, how is it a team sport?’ Look at today. Seven of us went out, down one guy because of the crash yesterday, but we still pulled it off.

“We worked all day as a team unit, and we had it calculated down to the last pulls and the last things the guys had to do. We did it. The guys came through. You can’t exhibit more of a team dynamic than we did today. … We came here with that in mind, to win this event specifically.”

Astana was motoring, too, but the team suffered an unfortunate gap between its top four riders on the third of four circuits and had to slow down … or “stop,” in the words of Leipheimer.

“Two of us got a little spread out, and Chris (Horner) said, ‘You have to slow down,’” Leipheimer said. “We pretty much had to stop. … We lost a big chunk of time there.

“Three or four guys weren’t feeling it today. One guy’s shoulder is popping out … We just lost. No excuses. They beat us. They did their homework.”

In doing so, Slipstream appears to be well set for the next two stages, both mountain stages culminating Saturday in the climb to Brasstown Bald that should decide the overall winner.

Leipheimer is the clear favorite, though now he ranks sixth just 19 seconds behind overall leader Greg Henderson of High Road in the overall classification. Another High Road rider, Andre Greipel, is tied for second with four Slipstream riders — Danielson, Lowe, VandeVelde and Zabriskie.

Danielson previously won the TdG, but he’s been battling an injury and Lowe might be Slipstream’s best shot at the overall … Or VandeVelde, who finished second here last year and was third at the Tour of California this year.

“This puts us in an extremely good position for the overall win,” Euser said. “We’re ahead of the game right now. Everybody will have to play off us. They have to beat us now, you know what I mean?”

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