Rowney gets maiden US win with Redlands success

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Field sprints ruled the day Friday at the Redlands Bicycle Classic as Bissell's Paddy Bevin and Specialized-Lululemon's Loren Rowney took the stage 1 wins in downtown Beaumont. Overall race leaders Phil Gaimon (Kenda/5-Hour Energy) and Megan Guarnier (Tibco to the Top) finished safely in their respective fields and held onto the yellow jerseys for at least another day.

Friday's 40-kilometre circuit, which started and finished in front of the Beaumont city hall, featured long, flat straightaways leading to and away from a short, punchy, winding climb through a wooded park on the edge of town. The men tackled five laps, while the women covered three.

A breakaway of four riders animated the men's race early, with Competitive Cyclist's Taylor Sheldon, Bontrager-Livestrong's Nathan Brown, Jelly Belly's Luis Davila and Wonderful Pistachio's Barrett Bertrand getting away on lap two and building a gap of 50 seconds as they headed for the KOM. Bertrand quickly fell off the lead group's pace, and by the time the remaining three reached the top of the climb, the gap was back down to about 10 and their capture looked assured. But the gap exploded again when Team Exergy's Andres Diaz bridged across and added new firepower to the breakaway. By the end of lap three the group had a gap of two minutes, and Diaz was the leader on the road.

Having none of it, Kenda, which had been on the front for most of the race, put the hammer down and brought the leaders back before the race reached Beaumont to start the final lap. That's when Kenda's Andy Jacques-Maynes and 2011 race winner Francsico Mancebo powered off the front of the field in a dangerous-but-short-lived move. The two leaders had 18 seconds on the field as they started the bell lap but were off the front for only a few miles before the bunch reeled them in and a field sprint looked inevitable.

Bissell took over the front of the peloton for the last kilometres of the race, controlling things and neutralizing any late fliers in hopes of keeping things together, providing Bevin with the opportunity to take his third stage win of the season. Mancebo tried to get away with about two kilometres to go, but again the move was short-lived, and the bunch swung around the final right-hander together.

Bevin hit the straightaway about five riders deep before surging past Freddie Rodriguez (Team Exergy) and Sean Sullivan (Elbowz Racing), building a lead of several bike lengths by the time he posted a one-armed salute as he crossed the finish line.

"I knew I had good legs and would be one of the fastest guys left for sure," Bevin said. "So the guys sold out from the top of the climb and pretty much rode once we hit the flats. They set me up for the finish in great position, and I finished it off for them, so it was a good day."

Bevin said that his final lead out man, Frank Pipp, got swarmed in the corner, but the slightly uphill finish into a headwind favored his strengths.

"It was just a matter of queuing up at that last corner and just letting her go," he said. "To put a W on the board is really satisfying. It's great to have the Bissell guys sell out for me, pretty much, and all I have to do is finish it off. It makes my day pretty easy."

Rodriguez notched one of his best finishes in some time, but the original plan was to lead out team sprinter Carlos Alzate. Rodriguez said some miscommunication between the two riders left Alzate, who ended up 13th, out of the running, so the three-time USPro champion jumped at the chance to get a result for the team.

"He passed me in the last corner and ended up going too early," Rodriguez said of Alzate. "So I wasn't expecting to sprint, and it just kind of happened. I saw that they were losing speed, so I said, 'You know what, I'm just going to have to re-accelerate.' It was a little too late, and I was in too big of a gear, and Bevin came buy a lot faster. So it was a good save but just a little bit too late."

The top of the general classification remained mostly unchanged. Bissell's Carter Jones, who started the day in fourth place, crashed on lap two and left the race with a concussion. Nate English, who started the day fifth overall, finished 15 seconds behind the field and dropped to 12th.

Juwi Solar's Julian Kyer remains in second, followed by Team Exergy's Morgan Schmitt, who sits another three seconds down. Andy Jacques-Maynes moved from seventh place up to fourth, just 15 seconds out off the lead, giving Kenda two riders in the top five.

Kenda director Frankie Andreu said the length of the race coming so early in the season was a challenge, but he was very happy with the squad's performance.

"We tried to save as many guys for as long as possible," he said. "The first lap was easy, and then the break went, so we just had to keep it under control."

Even with the breakaway riders taking virtual control of the GC, Andreu said the team never really felt threatened.

"You can be nervous for about three laps," he said. "But in the end you gotta know the fatigue on the guys in the break will take its toll and they'll come back, and that's what happened."

Although the early break didn't hold its advantage to the finish, Sheldon's and Davila's efforts paid off with classification jerseys, Davila earning the green sprinters garb and Sheldon, who crashed hard once he was back in the bunch and taking on bottles from the team car, grabbing the red KOM top.

Gaimon, of course, kept yellow and said the team would be back riding herd on the peloton over the next two days.

"We had the whole team left on the last lap, so I think everybody's going to take a little nap and be amazing again tomorrow," Gaimon said. "The guys proved themselves so well today that it's hard to worry about anything."

Rowney Times Sprint To Perfection For Maiden American Win

Loren Rowney waited until the last possible moment on the 300 meter finishing straight to edge Joelle Numainville (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) at the line. The Specialized-Lululemon rider said she had gone out too early during the lap two intermediate sprint at the start/finish, but by the finale at the end of lap three she had fine tuned her timing.

"We tried a lead out on the second intermediate sprint, and Katie (Colclough) took me into the last corner," she said. "I went a bit early and found that Joelle just got over the top of me. So the plan was to go a bit later and go from third wheel, but we got swamped, so I kind of took care of myself. The girls kept the pace high on the front, and I just waited for Joelle to go and got on her wheel."

The women's race started out fast and aggressive, with a lead group of only about 20 riders going over the first KOM together. Now and Novartis for MS rider Beth Newell got away early, but the move found little traction and she was soon back in the bunch. About 20 riders made it back to the front group to form a field of 41 riders starting the final lap.

Despite the frantic fights for the time bonuses during the intermediate sprints, the top of the overall standings changed only slightly. Prologue winner Megan Guarnier took the top three-second time bonus on the first intermediate sprint and got a one-second bonus on lap two, extending her lead over defending champion Amber Neben (Specialized-Lululemon) to 10 seconds. Alison Powers (Now and Novartis for MS) scored a two-second time bonus on lap one and remains in third, just 11 seconds off the leader's time. Kathryn Donovan (FCS-Rouse-Mr. Restore) is fourth, 15 seconds down. Exergy Twenty12's Andrea Dvorak is 17 seconds down in fifth.

Numainville earned the green sprinter's jersey for her day's efforts, while Optum-Kelly benefits teammate Jade Wilcoxson won both QOM sprints and now wears the green climber's jersey.

Guarnier said winning time bonuses was an important part of the team strategy for keeping the overall lead all the way through the Sunset Road Race on Sunday, and she hoped to gain more seconds during Saturday's stage 2 criterium.

"The team rode a great race," she said. "We knew we needed to be careful with the time bonuses, and we were hopefully going for the finish to gain more time. Because all of these seconds on the sprints and the finishes are really crucial to maintaining the lead and kind of cushioning it."

Saturday's stage 2 will see the women race for 60 minutes around the 1.6 kilometre criterium course in downtown Redlands. The men will race for 90 minutes.