American Criterium Cup: Skylar Schneider and Dario Rapps win series openers for elite riders at Saint Francis Tulsa Tough

Skylar Schneider (L39ION of Los Angeles) and Dario Rapps (DCC) won the opening races of Saint Francis Tulsa Tough on Friday night at the Blue Dome Criterium in Oklahoma and took the first leader's jerseys for the American Criterium Cup series.

The women's contest saw Caldera Medical x Aurea Racing control the peloton on the eight-corner course in Tulsa, Oklahoma, positioning for team leader and USPro criterium champion Kendall Ryan. After a mid-race sprint won by Caldera's Yarely Salazar, L39ION's Schneider made multiple attacks, countered by Caldera's Laurel Rathbun.

It came down to the final lap, with the bright red jerseys of Caldera Medical x Aurea Racing launching early for Ryan, with still half a lap to go. Schneider was in fourth position through the final corner and accelerated up to Ryan for a photo finish, the Wisconsin native winning with a perfectly-timed bike throw. Ryan went second and Aline Seitz (HigherDOSE l Renova) third.

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“I really didn’t believe it, it was so close in the end…I heard my mom screaming so that was the extra bike throw.

"This was the night I was most worried about, minimizing the damage in the overall," she said about starting the weekend of racing with the individual lead in the one-day race series.

The men's race was rampant with attacks as the sun set for the evening and the laps were illuminated by streetlights. With 10 laps to go, Foundation New York took over the pacemaking for Bryan Gomez and Jordan Parra.

The lead-out train of Foundation NY was disrupted with two laps to go with attacks by Lucas Bourgoyne (Team Cadence Cyclery pb Waldo Racing) and Rapps, accelerating simultaneously and causing contact. Bourgoyne lost momentum, but Rapps peeled off for a second consecutive victory in the Blue Dome Criterium.

Gomez and Parra would finish two-three for Foundation New York, while Bourgoyne went fourth ahead of Justin Williams (L39ION of Los Angeles).

“There was a lot of pressure on our shoulders, we came such a long way. And already…we felt that we can be at the very front. And now we are just so happy," Rapps told organisers, saying his team did all the work. "I didn’t have to go in the wind even one time, just the last 200 metres.”

The next stop of the American Criterium Cup will be June 27 at Café Hollander Otto Wenz Downer Classic presented by ISCorp in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, part of Tour of America's Dairyland.

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