Redlands: McCabe takes Zirbel's race lead

Southern California may have experienced a few earthquakes and aftershocks as of late, but it was the the Beaumont Road Race on Friday that sent the biggest tremors through the Redlands Bicycle Classic general classification, shaking out two new overall leaders after a long day on the road.

Travis McCabe (Team SmartStop) took the sprint finish and enough time bonuses to knock previous leader Tom Zirbel (Optum Pro Cycling) out of the yellow jersey, while Leah Kirchmann took the stage win from a select group of GC contenders that had dropped previous race leader Alison Powers (UnitedHealthcare) on the final lap. She now leads Powers in the overall by nine seconds.

After steady rain on the first day and chilly mountain temperatures for the stage 2 time trial in Big Bear, the weather turned typically Southern Californian for Friday' road race, with morning clouds giving way to sunshine that heated things up nicely as the day wore on.

The course included multiple laps of the 38.8 km circuit through the valleys and canyons surrounding the city of Beaumont. A short climb through a county park on the northwest edge of the route led to the KOM and a quick descent, followed by strong winds that buffeted riders on several long straight sections leading back to the start/finish. The men raced five laps of the course for 194 km, while the women covered the loop three times for 113 km. Time bonuses were available at the stage finish and at two intermediate sprints during the race.

McCabe sprints into overall lead

Even on a four-plus-hour day, the fight for the yellow jersey took little time off in the mens' race. Zirbel started the day with a one-second lead over Optum teammate Will Routley and five seconds over McCabe, who started the fireworks early by taking the maximum three-second time bonus during the intermediate sprint at the end of the first lap. The move closed McCabe to within two seconds of Zirbel and within just one of Routley.

The next bonus would be taken up by a breakaway of 11 riders that formed on the third lap and survived until about 13 km remaining. To add a little excitement to the chase, the group included Jamis-Hagens Berman's Ben Jacques-Maynes, who was just 18 seconds behind Zirbel in the overall, and SmartStop's Mike Torckler, who was 39 seconds in arrears. The pair were the virtual leaders on the road when the gap exploded to more than five minutes with just two laps – about 80 km – remaining.

Bissell Development, 5-hour Energy/Kenda and Jelly Belly-Maxxis were also represented in the lead group, leaving Zirbel's Optum team to take up the chase by itself. Optum started getting help up front from Hincapie Sportswear on the final lap, while SmartStop, hoping to protect McCabe's podium spot, threw in as well. The gap started plummeting and was down to just 2:30 as the field took the bell for the start of the fifth-and-final lap.

Zirbel flatted early in the final lap but regained the group quickly, and the break's advantage continued in freefall. The peloton was all together before the climb through Bogart Park and the final KOM, where Jamis-Hagens Berman's Daniel Jaramillo captured the mountains jersey with a win.

A 50-rider lead peloton lined out for the sprint as the long straightaways led to a sharp right turn onto the finishing straight in front of Beaumont City Hall. McCabe out-kicked Hincapie's Ty Magner to take his second-ever National Race Calendar stage win and first overall lead in an NRC stage race.

The Team SmartStop rider now leads Zirbel in the general classification by five seconds. Routley is third, six seconds down.

Powers loses grip on yellow over final climb

The women rolled out of the start finish in front of Beaumont City hall about 10 minutes after the men for their three-lap race and had the same difficulty getting a break established. Powers' UnitedHealthcare team patrolled the front well to keep the other contenders or attackers in check.

Specialized-lululemon's Rabin Farina, Twenty16's Alkie Dragoo and Pinnacle-Predator's Anna Grace Christiensen got away briefly on the second lap but were captured quickly as the field didn;t appear to want to let anyone go. Specialized-lululemon's Karol Ann Canuel attacked the group and split the field in two, but the peloton was mostly back together when Kirchmann, who started the day 34 seconds behind Powers in the general classification, took the maximum time bonus for the intermediate sprint at the start of lap three.

Farina attacked again on the final lap, joined this time by Optum's Brianna Walle. But this move was also doomed as UnitedHealthcare's chase and the counter attacks behind quickly closed the gap.

The lead group containing all of the jerseys and potential overall contenders went into the climb leading to the KOM together, but a small group pulled away over the top.

The dangerous new selection included all the riders from the top six in GC except for Powers, and the riders had plenty of motivation to pour in the power. Kirchmann, Taylor Wiles (Specialized-lululemon), Lauren Stephens (Team Tibco), Mara Abbott (UnitedHealthcare) and Canuel joined Scotti Wilborne (Tibco) and Flavia Oliviera (Monster Media) on a frenetic run to the line as the GC riders pressed their ambitions all the way to the finish.

In the end it was Kirchmann who came away with the stage win, its 10-second time bonus for the winner and the overall lead. Stephens was second on the stage, and Wiles was third. Powers finished in the first chasing group, 29 seconds down on the leaders.

Kirchmann now leads Powers in the overall by nine seconds, Stephens by 16 and Wiles by 17. Abbott is till fifth, 49 seconds down.

The race continues Saturday afternoon with the stage 4 criterium on a unique 1.6km course in downtown Redlands. The nearly figure-eight route features two sweeping turns, some standard urban intersections and at least two angular corners that exceed 90 degrees. The slightly uphill run to the finish comes after a tight right-hander. Juan Jose Haedo of Jamis-Hagens Berman took the men's win last year, while Powers grabbed her third consecutive stage on her way to the 2013 overall win.

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