Clarke adds to Bahati win tally, Day keeps race lead

Hilton Clarke (Bahati Foundation) took another criterium victory when he outpaced teammates Jacob Keough and Andrew Pinfold (UnitedHealthcare) to the line at the City of Redlands Criterium on Saturday.

“The Bahati Foundation is a new team and it’s really exciting,” Clarke said. “The team is gelling together and it is great what Rahsaan Bahati is doing and exciting for all of us.

“UnitedHealthcare got on the front and I had Matt Rice and Jason Donald with me,” he said. “I was a little bit nervous about what their plan was, whether they were riding for Keough or Pinfold. Once Rory and Karl went with a lap to go, it didn’t matter because no one could move. I guarded my position through the chicane, backed off a bit and then really pushed through the last corner.”

Ben Day (Fly V Australia) will wear the yellow leader’s jersey into the third and final stage, the Beaver Medical Group Sunset Road Race. Day maintained a slim half second ahead of runner up Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) and a full second ahead of Will Routely (Jelly Belly) in third.

“The boys are riding very strongly and they’ve honored me the last couple of days with the sacrifice they are making for me,” Day said. “They are all talented bike riders that could be winning stages as well. Now it’s up to me to finish this race off tomorrow.

“It’s going to be an interesting stage,” he added. “There’s a lot to be played with the time bonuses and it is such an iconic and difficult stage to race anyway. There are going to be plenty o fireworks and every rider is going to do the best they can. I’m approaching the day as an important one and I would love to win the Redlands Bicycle Classic.”

Crowds cheered as the long line of 170 professional cyclists blazed around the 1.6-kilometre circuit. The course was technical, with 11 corners and a tricky chicane close to the finish line.

Will Duggan (Team Type 1) made the first move early on in the 90-minute race. He was followed by Anibal Borrajo (Jamis-Sutter Home), Kyle Wamsley (Bissell) and Sergio Hernandez (NOW-MS Society). Several riders tried to bridge across before the gap was shut down by leading team Fly V Australia.

Fly V Australia assumed its responsibility at the front of the field for the duration of the race. Its worker Jay Thomson happened to roll through during each intermediate sprint for points and by the end of the race he earned the event’s best sprinter jersey.

Danny Summerhill (Holowekso Partners) was the next to go with Cesar Grajales (Bahati Foundation), Cody O’Reilly (Bissell), and David Guttenplant (Mountain Khakis) in tow. The front of the field reshuffled several times before Alex Candelario (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Lucas Euser (SpiderTech) made a clean escape.

A potentially general classification changing point of the race came when the bell rang for the mid-race sprint for time bonuses. However Candelario and Euser rolled through taking the time, uncontested by the overall contenders. Eric Marcotte (Pista Palace) took a solo flyer for three laps. As soon as he returned, Hernandez and Andres Pereyra (Jamis-Sutter Home) were the next to go.

A large crash forced nearly 20 riders to enter the mechanic’s pit with 10 laps remaining. Riders blocked up in the crash included race leader Day and runner up Jacques-Maynes, Euser, Rob Britton (Bissell) and Marc De Maar (UnitedHealthcare), however all riders were given a free lap.

Fly V Australia’s fast-paced tempo was taken over by UnitedHealthcare with eight laps to go. The team pushed the speed to its maximum in pursuit of the stage win. Teams Bahati Foundation, Team Type 1, Jamis-Sutter Home pulled alongside but none were able to fully overtake the UnitedHealthcare train. Pinfold rounded the final corner first with Keough on his wheel, but Clarke made it around them at the line.

“Pinfold and I are a good combination and the way each of us sprints works really well together,” Keough said. “I was the guy for today but we timed everything perfect, the team road wonderfully, absolute perfection. Unfortunately, we were still dialing in our timing on when we hit it at the end. I needed a little more pop off Pinfold’s wheel.”

Cliff-Ryan sprints to criterium win in Redlands

Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita-Baci) captured her first win of the season at the City of Redlands Criterium. The Former United States of America Criterium Champion lead a nine-woman breakaway through the last half lap and converted her speed into a winning sprint ahead of TIBCO team-mates Joanne Keisanowski and Brooke Miller.

“This is awesome, I’m so happy,” Cliff-Ryan said. “It is the first win for me and the second for Colavita so we are off to a good start. Ina obviously wanted time and was working the break the whole time, luckily I got to sit in and sprint.”

Ina-Yoko Teutenberg (HTC-Columbia) provided the day’s highlight, moving into the overall race lead by 32 seconds ahead of Katharine Carroll (Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12) and 36 seconds ahead of the Rebecca Much (TIBCO).

Teutenberg started the stage 15 seconds behind former race leader Amber Neben (Dare To Be-BMW-Bianchi). She picked up the sole mid-race time bonus, before initiating a winning breakaway that gained more than a minute on the peloton which included the yellow jersey.

Teutenberg accumulated enough points during the criterium to take a commanding lead in the event’s best sprinter competition.

“It was all or nothing, it wasn’t for the stage win, it was to get as much time as possible ahead of the field,” Teutenberg said. “Now I don’t have to go for that first mountain sprint tomorrow.”

Some 100 women lined up in anticipation of one of the fastest criteriums in the country. The 1.6-kilometre circuit included 11 corners and a technical chicane, positioned approximately 500 metres from the finish line.

Kristen LaSasso (TIBCO) initiated the first breakaway of the 60-minute race and maintained a 15-second advantage for nearly 15 minutes. The peloton reeled her back in, prompting Webcor-Builders, HTC-Columbia and Colavita-Baci to launch several riders off the front.

When the mid-race time bonus bell rang HTC-Columbia rolled through with a team lead-out for Teutenberg. She took the bonus and a small gap in the field forced Neben to close it down. As soon as she made contact, Teutenberg went on the attack again.

“It was just about to close up and I gave it another try,” Teutenberg said. “Everyone was tired so that was the best time to go. It was a really good group.”

Of Teutenberg’s followers, TIBCO riders in Rebecca Much, Keisanowski and Miller worked with the German to expand the gap. Other riders in the break were Cliff-Ryan, Carroll, Joelle Numainville (Webcor-Builders) and Alexis Rhodes (Vera Bradley Foundation). Nichole Wangsgard (Roosters p/b Edge Composite) fell off pace with three laps to go.

“The break was perfect for us because we had three riders, two sprinters and I was high up on GC so we really wanted to work it,” said Much. “We wanted to get the stage win and we wanted to move closer to the overall.”

Back in the field Neben was isolated without team-mates as the peloton began to shatter into several groups. The breakaway gained more than one minute on the field and Neben was forced to watch the yellow jersey slide through her fingers. Team Vera Bradley Foundation put several riders on the front to help reduce some of the time for its overall contender and best climber Alison Powers.

“When it first formed it was Evelyn and Ina and as soon as I closed it, Ina went again and I had to kind of take my medicine one way or the other,” Neben said. “I felt like I was better off keeping the closest GC people near me and hoped that the other teams with GC riders would work.

“Mara Abbott is still in the race and they have a strong team so I was hoping they would come up and ride a little quicker than they did and Robin Farina’s team too,” she added. “For me, I would rather save my energy for tomorrow.”

Cliff-Ryan attacked the breakaway with half a lap to go and held her position at the front through the tight chicane. She was the first rider out of the final corner and sprinted to the line ahead of Keisanowksi and Miller.

The women’s peloton will contest what is arguably the most difficult race in the country at tomorrow’s Sunset Circuit Race. “With the horsepower in the race yesterday I was surprised to still have the jersey,” said Neben. “I got to keep it for the crit. I will race hard tomorrow and see what happens. Ina has a super strong team that can defend that but there are a few people left that want to race.”

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