Sutherland, Armstrong crowned SRAM Tour of the Gila champions

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The young Bontrager Livestrong Team proved they are a force to be reckoned with on the concluding Gila Monster stage of SRAM Tour of the Gila, with Lawson Craddock and Ian Boswell convincingly taking first and second respectively on the brutal 170.1 kilometer course containing 2.8km of climbing.

The race action came just 13km into the race. A well-represented break of 21 riders, that included Chad Beyer (Competitive Cyclist), formed after the first bonus sprint, quickly gaining almost six minutes on the peloton as they headed up the first Category 2 climb of the day up to Anderson Vista.

With UnitedHealthcare controlling the pace at the front of the field for race leader Rory Sutherland, the breakaway fractured as they tackled the steep ascent. With the challenging gradient and distance visibly wearing on the break, Beyer attacked and Craddock followed. The duo rode away from the rest of the remaining seven in the break, swiftly putting 30 seconds into their chasers as they began the twisting Cat 2 climb up Wild Horse Mesa.

Exploding out of the chase group at the 140km mark, multiple junior national champion Boswell was the only rider out of the chase group to join to Beyer and Craddock.

"I was hurting a little with about 20 km to go, so when Ian came up I took it easy," Craddock said. "Having two guys against one was a huge advantage. Everything worked out perfectly today."

With the finish in sight, Craddock and Boswell, cranked up the tempo, and rode away from a struggling Beyer, allowing the teammates enough time to celebrate crossing the line together.

"We all worked great all weekend, and we capped it off with a win, it's just incredible," Craddock said. "I'm speechless; this is a huge morale-booster for California. We have something to prove there."

Joe Dombrowski (Bontrager-Livestrong), winner of the U26 Young Rider Jersey agreed, and said their powerful showing at the Tour of the Gila confirms team is ready for the Tour of California.

"I think a lot of people were casting doubt on our ability to ride in a race like California, but I think if you look at the field here and you look at the riders here, it proves we deserve an invite to a race like that and I really do think we can make a mark on the race."

GC winner Rory Sutherland (United Healthcare) remained relaxed throughout the whole race, confident in his team's ability to keep him in the jersey, even though Beyer brought down his GC time by a mere 15 seconds.

"Everyone of the guys did a killer job today," he told Cyclingnews. "The reason I love racing here is because people actually race. I have some fantastic teammates who are good at thinking on their feet and go ‘okay, I need to make it to the bottom of the climb' and they make it and try and limit the losses. It worked out pretty well."

Armstrong dominates SRAM Tour of the Gila

Kristin Armstrong (Exergy TWENTY12) was unmatched at this year's SRAM Tour of the Gila, winning the overall title by six minutes 45 seconds over Optum's Carmen Small.

At the beginning of today's final Gila Monster stage, featuring 1.7 kilometers of climbing over 115.5km, Exergy was sitting with a comfortable lead on overall GC, so their game plan was to help Tayler Wiles reclaim the young rider's jersey from Colavita's Jasmine Glaesser, who had moved up to first after the time trial.

After the first KOM, around 13km into the race, a break of seven rode off the front which included Wiles, Anna Barensfield (Optum), and Kathryn Donovan (Rouse). Three of the seven were absorbed back into the pack before the first climb and, once they hit the base of the climb, Armstrong left the pack and bridged up to Wiles and Donovan.

"We had a nice cushion on GC. We wouldn't have minded if the break got up the road, Exergy's Andrea Dvorak said. "The plan was to control the race from the back. It's actually easier to let the break go up the road and just ride tempo as opposed to covering attacks and moves."

Part B of that plan, according to Dvorak, was to get 23-year-old Tayler Wiles (Exergy) up the road. She was just a couple seconds out of the Best Young Rider's Jersey and sitting 10th overall.

Exergy's plan was successful, and, after a few unsuccessful moves, Wiles made it up the road with about six other riders.

"Colavita had the Best Young Rider Jersey so they actually did a lot of work keeping the gap at a minimum which was really nice for us," Dvorak told Cyclingnews. "Almost to the base of the climb."

Then, Armstrong set a strong tempo, setting up Dvorak to attack. She went up the road, but managed to take Small (Optum) with her who was second on GC.

"The worry wasn't so much, 'oh my gosh Carmen is going to make up six minutes on Armstrong.' It was okay, we knew NOW and Novartis would respond."

Dvorak sat up and Powers (NOW and Novartis) brought the group back together. Immediately, Armstrong counter-attacked and bridged up to her teammate Wiles, who was working with Kathryn Donovan (Rouse) and Olivia Dillon (NOW and Novartis).

"She looked back, saw that our group was closing in on them and decided to go. She was never seen again and obviously won with about a two-minute gap. The rest of us rejoined, I think there was a group of about 12."

On the last descent, Powers and Small put their superior descending skills to use, finishing second and third, almost two minutes behind Armstrong.

Team Exergy's overall success at the Gila is a huge motivator going into the Exergy Tour at the end of May. Dvorak told Cyclingnews that racing for one of the best cyclists in the world is an honor and creates a team atmosphere that is unmatched.

"I've been fortunate enough in the past few years to race with people who deliver," Dvorak said. "It's much more motivating to lay everything down when you know 100 per cent that person is going to take what you did to the finish. It's pretty cool."

Photos to come!

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