Van Uden scores victory at Redlands criterium

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Roman Van Uden (Pure Black Racing) took a solo victory from a crash-filled final of the Redlands Bicycle Classic stage two City of Redlands Downtown Criterium on Saturday evening. The young sprinter made it to the line ahead of a bunch sprint led by Ken Hanson (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda) in second and Australian National Criterium Champion Jonathan Cantwell (V Australia) in third.

"I was trying to escape off the front to get sprint points," Van Uden said. "I figured with the last break there was a good chance to get it with another sprint coming up. We stayed ahead, tried to relax and calm the nerves down so I could time it right. I hit the last two hair pins pretty hard and had a clear gap when I looked back coming out of them."

Francisco Mancebo (RealCyclist.com) narrowly held on to his overall race lead heading into the Beaver Medical Group Sunset Road Race 150.5kms on a challenging 10kms circuit. The Spaniard is leading by several tenths of a second ahead of Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) who moved into a near-tie after winning the mid-race sprint for three seconds. Mancebo placed second, earning the two seconds he needed. Officials went to the prologue results, which Mancebo won, to break the tie. Chris Baldwin (Juwi-Solar) is in third place.

"Tomorrow will be hard but it is also similar to today with all the time bonuses," Mancebo said. "I would like to win tomorrow but there are several riders who can do well on that circuit. My teammates are a little tired but I think they will be OK tomorrow."

Van Uden is currently leading the sprint competition after picking up several additional points during the evening's criterium. Phil Gaimon (Kenda/5-hour Energy) is leading the King of the Mountain (KOM) competition heading into the final stage.

The Pro-Cat 1 men's field started with a quick pace heading into the first intermediate sprint for points won by Van Uden. A breakaway of four riders set sail that included Van Uden, Luca Damiani (Kenda/5-hour Energy), Jay Thompson (Bissell) and Carlos Alzate (Team Exergy). Successful bridgers included Mike Friendman (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth), Sean Mazich (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda), Eric Barlavev (Team Exergy) and Alex Howe (Kenda/5-hour Energy).

Fourth placed in the overall, Andres Diaz (Team Exergy) rode to the mechanic's pit with a mechanical and was denied a free lap by race officials who sent him back on course to chase the peloton. He chased for multiple laps before eventually being pulled from the race. Race officials reinstated him into fourth place overall following the stage.

Van Uden picked up a second set of sprint points ahead of a reshuffled breakaway that included Alzate, Damiani, Howe, Friedman, Barlavev along with new riders Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home) and Bernie Sulzberger (V Australia). Thompson dropped out of the breakaway to help his Bissell teammates assume the head of the peloton in pursuit of the intermediate time bonus.

The field caught much of the breakaway heading into the next points sprint, located directly one lap ahead of the time bonus sprint. Mancebo mistakenly sprinted for the points and placed second, hoping that he had acquired valuable seconds. Bissell set up Jacques-Maynes to take full three seconds bonus on the following sprint ahead of Mancebo who earned two seconds, enough to tie each other in the overall classification.

"I heard the bell and I just thought that was the sprint for time bonuses," Mancebo said. "But, it turned out the time bonus was on the next lap. I stayed near the front and tried to sprint again and got second."

Bissell assumed its position at the front of the peloton until roughly 15 laps to go when Van Uden and his teammate Shem Rodger (Pure Black racing) escaped off the front of the field together. The pair was later joined by Mike Creed (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth).

With five laps to go, the break was brought back igniting another series of attacks led by Jesse Anthony (Kelly Benefit Strategies-OptumHealth)followed by threatening GC contenders Andy Jacques-Maynes (Bissell), Tyler Wren (Jamis-Sutter Home), Sergio Hernandez (Jelly Belly p/b Kenda) along with Howe and Van Uden.

A crash in the breakaway on the last lap caused the riders to lose its momentum and Van Uden, who was leading the small group, continued on in pursuit of the stage win. The remaining breakaway riders were swallowed up during the bunch kick to the line won by Hanson, who placed second on the stage, and Cantwell in third.

"I had a good sprint and I've always wanted to win this crit or definitely get on the podium," Cantwell said. "The guys were motivated today to look after me. It was a lot faster than previous years. With a lot of guys riding strong and the amount of crashes today, getting third was good result for me."

Cliff-Ryan unbeatable in women's sprint

Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita Forno D'Asolo) nabbed her second consecutive sprint victory at the Redlands Bicycle Classic stage two City of Redlands Downtown Criterium on Saturday afternoon. She won the stage one bunch sprint in similar fashion, but this time outpaced Jen Purcel (Danbury Audi) in second and Chloe Hosking (HTC-Highroad) in third.

"It is a great feeling," Cliff-Ryan said. "I've never done this before in the NRC and the team was awesome. We were at the front and coming down to the finish and they were protecting me. Cath [Cheatley] did a monster lead-out once again and it was an awesome stage win."

With no change in the general classification, Amber Neben (HTC-Highroad) leads the race heading into the third and final stage at the Beaver Medical Group Sunset Road Race 109.6kms held on a grueling 10kms circuit. Erinne Willock (TIBCO-To the Top) moved into second place, 11 seconds back after capturing two-seconds in time bonuses. Neben's teammate Evelyn Stevens slid into third place because of gaps that opened up at the finish line, an additional five seconds back.

Amanda Miller (HTC-Highroad) is currently the leader of the Queen of the Mountain (QOM) competition which will resume on the Sunset loop. Christina Gokey-Smith (Rouse Bicycles) furthered her lead in the Sprint competition thanks to her teammate Robin Farina for helping picking up several point sprints during the day's criterium.

Peanut Butter & Co Twenty 12 showed a strong presence at the front of the field from the gun along with Colavita Forno D'Asolo, TIBCO-To the Top and HTC-Highroad. Gokey Smith took a full helping of points at the first intermediate sprint zone. Kristin McGrath (Peanut Butter & Co Twenty 12) and Andrea Dvorak (Colavita Forno D'Asolo) rolled through the next prime sprint at the front of the field.

Canadian UCI Juvederm had a strong presence at the front of the field waiting patiently for an opportunistic breakaway to set sail. "We don't have someone high enough in GC so we figured that something might happen after the time bonus," said rider Anne Guzman. "We wanted to be right up there either making the break or being in the break. We wanted to learn how to win, how to position ourselves and our riders were trying to stay up at the front and be right in the action."

Farina nabbed full points at the second sprint followed by her teammate Gokey-Smith. On the next lap, Hosking picked up full three time bonus seconds in order to protect her GC leader Neben. She was followed Willock who closed in on second place in the overall by picking up two additional seconds, and her teammate Carmen Small who earned one second.

"I'm disappointed not to win but as a team we are very happy," Hosking said. "We want to win the overall so it was important to protect Amber. She is still in yellow and Evelyn is still in second so we go into tomorrow in a good position. It all comes down to our GC leaders tomorrow and I am confident that they can pull it off."

The race wound up in the last half with attacks coming from Peanut Butter & Co Twenty 12, Juvederm, TIBCO-To the Top. Colavita Forno D'Asolo reacted to many of the attacks in an effort to hold the field together for its sprinter Cliff-Ryan in the eventual bunch kick. Kristin Armstrong (Peanut Butter & Co Twenty 12) lead the field with a fast-paced tempo through the bell lap.

"My riders were covering attacks and making sure they were in the line up to make sure that nothing went," Cliff-Ryan said. "We have a good chance with Andrea tomorrow for the GC depending on how the race goes and how her legs are feeling and so we wanted to make sure that we were there and ready to jump on everything after those sprints."

Cheatley lead the field through the final corner with Purcel on her wheel followed by Cliff-Ryan, who got a jump on the sprint leaving Purcel and Hosking for second and third place respectively.

"Once again Lindsay Myers was there with me and our team were all riding great," said Purcel who place third the previous day. "On the last lap Myers was with me and then I kept my eye on the stronger teams. I was watching Colavita and made sure to be top three in the last two turns."

"I had that moment in the last corner where I felt like I should have jumped and I hesitated for a split second and that's when Theresa went," she said. "Kudos to her because it was a beautiful sprint. I'm happy with getting two podiums this week so far."

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