American Criterium Cup: USPro crit champions Kendall Ryan and Lucas Bourgoyne scorch sprints to win in Utah

Kendall Ryan (L39ION of Los Angeles) and Lucas Bourgoyne (Cadence Cyclery p/b Encore Wire) both carried stars-and-stripes jerseys as USPro criterium national champions to victory at LHM l CC Utah Crits on Saturday night.

For Ryan, she went back-to-back with wins in the American Criterium Cup and held tight to her overall lead, holding off Aline Seitz and Rylee McMullen (Virginia's Blue Ridge TWENTY28) for the three-rider podium.

The second race of the series was a completely different setup than the Blue Dome District race at Tulsa Tough a week ago. This time, Ryan was the lone representative of L39ION, not having the help of Holly Breck or Laurel Rathburn, and fended off a barrage of moves from Kingdom Elite and Cynisca Cycling. Team tactics from a swarm of riders from Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28 never came to fruition as early crashes took down several of their riders.

With just 100 metres to go, Ryan opened her sprint. Five riders moved to the front of the field in the long finishing straight of the 1.2-mile course, and Ryan sailed clear for the win. Seitz took second and McMullen third, while Andrea Cyr (Fount Cycling Guild) took fourth and Ava Hachmann (Team Soundpony) fifth in the group.

“It kind of got dicey because of the last-minute move by Tess Edwards [Cynisca Cycling], but during the race, I tried not to do too much. I lit one match to see what would happen, but it stayed together the whole time," Ryan said Saturday in Sandy, Utah, after the race.

"Kingdom Elite did ride a really strong ride today and sent a few attacks way up the road, which did make me nervous, without any teammates. I have been racing in the humidity, and today it was so dry, I drank both my bottles, but yeah, it's a fun course and I am just happy to be out here.”

The event is part of two days of racing in Utah, now in its sixth edition. A new course was introduced this year for the ACC race, using a flat, L-shaped circuit with six corners around the Promenade Mall in Sandy.

“It’s a cool course, really fast, but the wind did a total 180 on us after I pre-rode this morning," Ryan added. "We had a tailwind finish instead of a headwind, so I had to rethink where I wanted to sit heading into the last corner."

The men’s race saw aggressive moves early, including Cadence Cyclery p/b Encore Wire, which failed to place a single rider in the top 10 at ACC's opening round in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Cadence Cyclery's Luke Fetzer launched a solo breakaway for almost 10 laps in the opening 30 minutes of the race, and then Bourgoyne and Richard Holec chased down counterattacks in the back half of the contest.

Like Ryan, Danny Summerhill was the lone rider for L39ION of Los Angeles, and he scooped up the intermediate sprint points. He managed to get into position to battle three riders from Cadence Cyclery, but finished one spot off the podium, behind second-placed Maurice Ballerstedt (Baller) and Brody McDonald (Golden State Blazers).

With Holec as the lead and Fetzer as the sweeper, Bourgoyne moved clear of Ballerstedt's wheel with 50 metres to go and took the victory.

“In the altitude and in the heat, everyone was really flat. Breakaways would look like they would get away, but after five minutes of effort, everyone was obliterated," Bourgoyne said about the early action.

“It made for a slow sprint as well because our team was a little spread out. We had Richard Holec come through with one to go. I couldn’t find Luke [Fetzer], but then I looked back and saw him dive bombing like a crazy man into turn one, and we were lined up from then on.”

The ACC moves to Wisconsin for the third of six races, competing June 28 at the Café Hollander Otto Wenz Downer Classic, part of the Kwik Trip Tour of America's Dairyland.

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