Giro d'Grafton: Alfredo Rodriguez moves into American Crit Cup lead with Wisconsin victory

Skylar Schneider (L39ION of Los Angeles) and Alfredo Rodriguez (Miami Nights) won the pro races at Tour d’Grafton on Saturday. The Wisconsin criterium is the third stop in the week-long KwikTrip Tour of America’s Dairyland and a new addition to the 10-race American Criterium Cup series. 

Rodriguez vaulted to top spot in the men’s ACC overall standings with the victory, jumping past previous leader Danny Summerhill (American Cycling), who finished 14th. Summerhill, who retained the sprint lead in the ACC, was second overall between Miami Nights pair Rodriguez and Bryan Gomez.

Samantha Schneider joined her sister and L39ION of Los Angeles teammate on the podium with a one-two punch in the Tour d’Grafton, boosting Samantha from ninth to third overall in the summer-long American Criterium Cup individual standings. Andrea Cyr (Miami Nights) finished sixth to maintain her overall ACC lead on the fourth stop of the series. Her teammate Paola Muñoz remained second overall with her fourth-placed finish on Saturday night.

In the ACC sprint competition, Kim Lucie (DNA Pro Cycling) continued in the lead, with Erica Zaveta (Denver Disruptors) in second and Rachel Plessing (ButcherBox Cycling p/b LOOK) in third.

The field in the women’s race Saturday night was whittled down from 42 to 32 riders as a series of attacks throughout the 75 minutes of racing on a six-turn course led to attrition and heavy legs. On home turf in the Badger State, the Schneider sisters were led to the line by Kendall Ryan, wearing the US Pro criterium national champion’s jersey. The Wisconsin-based duo held off Harriet Owen (DNA Pro Cycling) at the line for the win. 

The men’s pro race also saw multiple attacks at the front in the first half of the race, with Automatic-ABUS Racing’s Thomas Gibbons and Nic Carter snagging mid-race sprint bonus points. Then a trio of riders finally escaped - Kody Bäbler (Above + Beyond Cancer p/b Bike World) with 19-year-olds Oliver Watson-Palmer (Mitoq NZ Cycling Project) and Preston Eye (Work Hard Be Humble cycling) - but with under 10 laps to go they were pulled back into the 70-rider bunch.

Rodriguez hit the line for the win, his Miami Nights teammate Gomez edging Florenz Knauer (54X11) for second place. The American Cycling duo of Jaime Castañeda and Robert Sierra trailed in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Round five of the American Criterium Cup resumes in three weeks at the 36th annual Boise Twilight Criterium in Idaho on July 9. The event will offer a livestream via Outside Watch, the pro women racing 70 minutes beginning at 6:30 p..m. MST followed by the pro men at approximately 8:05 p.m. MST.

Results

Pro Women's results provided by Tour of America's Dairyland - click here

Pro Men's results powered by FirstCycling