Williams wins Uptown Minneapolis Criterium

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Justin Williams (Cylance-Cannondale Pro Cycling p/b Incycle) takes his second stage win at the North Star Grand Prix. Time bonuses rearranged the general classification. Brad Huff (Rally Cycling) took third on the stage and six-seconds of time bonus to take the yellow jersey from teammate Tom Zirbel.

Zirbel crashed with five laps to go but was awarded same-time as the peloton. Zirbel finishes the stage in third place overall. Bryan Gomez (Gateway Harley-Davidson Trek) sits in second place overall after claiming a 5-second time bonus for winning the first time bonus sprint.

The race started fast and strung out, as teams vied for early intermediate time and points sprints. Canyon Bicycles-Shimano-Specialized was a presence in every break of the active race. Erik Slack (Canyon Bicyles) was out in his third break before it finally stuck, and was awarded the Penn Cycle Most Aggressive Rider jersey for the stage.

Slack took off solo with 11 laps to go, and was eventually joined by Ulises Castillo (KHS-Maxxis-JLVelo) and Yannick Eckmann (North Memorial Health Care).

The race started with grey skies and the threat of a storm. With 10 laps to go the winds kicked up and light rain started to fall. Rally Cycling’s Danny Pate was seen leading yellow jersey Tom Zirbel at the front of the peloton.

At eight laps to go Cylance-Cannondale Pro Cycling p/b Incycle moved to the front to lead the chase. The gap between the breakaway wavered between six and 10 seconds the last four laps before finally catching the break after the fifth turn of the six-turn, 1.4km course.

Cyclance-Cannondale worked hard to bring back the break, but not too fast so as to be able to maintain control of the race.

Williams took off for the final sprint out of the final corner, betting on his skill as a sprinter and the cross-tail wind of the storm. Williams held his lead all the way to the finish.

Current National Criterium Champion Huff was left with no lead out team of his own, and surfed wheels the last lap of the race, relying on bike handling skills and experience to find the best line to race his way onto the podium and into the yellow jersey.

Williams extends his lead in the K’ul Chocolate Sprint Jersey competition. Gomez extends his lead in the LeMond Best Young Rider competition. Eric Thompson (Donkey Label) leads the Penn Cycle Best Amateur competition. Racing continues on Saturday with 97 miles of racing at the North Mankato Road Race

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