Denver Disruptors master Miami Beach opener for NCL Cup lead

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The Denver Disruptors dominated the Miami Beach Invitational on Saturday in Florida to take the first lead in the National Cycling League’s four-race criterium series, scoring 138 total points. The Miami Nights posted 93 points, good for second place in the standings. 

Texas Roadhouse Cycling made noise in the men’s race with 23 points and boosted their overall position with co-ed partners Goldman Sachs ETFS to finish in third place, 13 points ahead of the Foundation Cycling (men) and CCB-Alpine Carbon p/b LLG (women) pairing.

The Denver Disruptors are now the only team among the 10 invited squads in the NCL Cup which could bank the $700,000 cash prize for the Quadruple Crown, a sweep of all four national events. All teams remain eligible for the Triple Crown, a $100,000 prize for one team winning three events.

Miami Beach women's race

The field of 10 women’s team opened the full-on 25-lap sprint contest, with points earned on each lap for the top three riders, riding in a clockwise direction on a one-mile, four-corner course in the heart of Miami Beach under bright, blue skies late Saturday afternoon. 

Team Roxo Racing earned a front-row placement from winning a qualifier virtual event on Friday, but straight away, any advantage at the start line melted away in hot 90-degree Fahrenheit temperatures and the pulverising power put out by the Denver Disruptors and Miami Nights.

Tactics to maximise an advantage with fresh riders on pit stops and substitutions came into play for the huge lead generated by the Disruptor women, led by former WorldTour veteran Leah Kirchmann. She completed all 25 circuits and amassed the majority of points for her team, almost a third of 69 scored, but said they made the most of the new rules.

"Our strategy was to use our collective strength as a team to score consistent points throughout the race. We were strategic with substitutions that allowed us to put fresh riders into the race at key moments to score points for the team. We also wanted to set up the men's team to start with a points advantage. We actually scored an equal number in the end in our races which is a fun statistic and shows our team strength," she said about each squad posting 69 points for the balanced attack.

“We were always in the front and in control of what was happening in the race. Our coach, Svein [Tuft], also offered useful coaching tactically. It was a fun venue to be racing right along South Beach in Miami, with lots of people out to cheer! The course itself was fairly straightforward and very fast, which favoured fast sprints.”

Relentless speed and the heat wore down many of the competitors, as many of the women’s riders on the smaller unified teams seemed to struggle in positioning fresh legs and keep the Disruptors and Nights from scooping up points.

Team Roxo Racing was a surprise not to make an impact in the women’s race. Along with its men’s partner team Voler Factory Racing, Roxo Racing had started on the front row of the criteriums, having won virtual races on Friday night for the grid placement advantage, but only took a single point on Saturday. The combo team went first to worst and finished in 10th place.

Miami Beach men's race

The men’s race was a reflection of the women’s as the sun set behind the neon lights and electric crowd along Ocean Drive - the Disruptors continued to pile on the points. 

With six laps remaining for the men, the frantic action subdued as Colombians Bryan Gomez (Miami Nights) and Juan Arango (Denver Disruptors) stretched out a gap to the main field, the Disruptors holding a 120 to 84-point advantage at that point and clearly on their way to victory. 

The men of Kelly Benefits Cycling, who joined with Primeau Vélo Racing (women), were active for 10 points, but Texas Roadhouse Cycling adjusted their strategy during the 25 laps to move up in the standings.

“Our guys thought this was one of the most exciting and challenging races they’ve participated in, and the environment was electric. Racing for points on every lap really changed the dynamic, and that format made the race much safer,” Justin Kirk (Texas Roadhouse) said after the race. 

“We had a strategy entering the race, and it was constantly evolving as the race played out. I was watching the scoreboard each lap, and once I saw that we moved into third place, we made some strategy adjustments in the last 10 laps to secure our position.”

It was a final card to launch Zach Berend from the peloton on the final lap, and Texas Roadhouse took the nine bonus points in the last sprint to push them to 23 points. Combined with 9 points from the women, Berend’s haul put Texas Roadhouse and Goldman Sachs ETFS Racing into third place, headed to stop number two in Atlanta on May 14.

“Coming into the race, we knew the beginning would be crazy with everyone going all out for the early points, so we knew we had to be there but also make sure to save something for the second half,” Riley Sheehan said after his Disruptors men’s team matched the women’s points total. 

“The course on paper looked super simple, but it was super important not to sprint too early each lap since you could burn too much energy doing too long of a sprint. With the long back straight, we also had to be careful attacking solo since it was easy to fry the legs before the finish line.”

Check out the Cyclingnews deep dive into the structure and scoring of the 2023 NCL Cup, which offers a $1 million total prize purse.