Redlands: Naud wins, McCabe holds lead

Leah Kirchmann (Optum Pro Cycling) took her second consecutive stage win of the 2014 Redlands Bicycle Classic Saturday during the downtown criterium, collecting the maximum time bonuses on offer and adding to her advantage over UnitedHealthcare's Alison Powers going into Sunday's final stage.

In the men's race, Garneau Quebecor's Pierrick Naud won from an early breakaway that splintered late in the race but ultimately survived a chase from the sprinters' teams. The top of the general classification remained unchanged, with Team SmartStop's Travis McCabe leading Optum's Tom Zirbel by eight seconds and Will Routley by nine.

Breakaway steals the show

A group of three that formed about 15 minutes into the 90-minute men's race grew into eight as the race approached the half-hour mark. In the group were Naud and Jacob Kauffmann of Garneau Quebecor, Eloy Teruel of Jamis-Hagens Berman, Max Korus of Astellas Pro Cycling, Grabrial Baca of Elbowz Racing, Fabrizio Von Nacher of KHS-Maxxis, Bobby Lea of SoCal Cycling and Matt Chatalong of Marc Pro Strava. Sprint competition leader Nicholai Brochner (Bissell Development Team) was the last rider to bridge to the group, making it nine riders off the front.

The escapees cooperated well and built a gap of nearly a minute before Teruel attacked with about 20 minutes remaining. Lea countered first, followed by Kauffmann, Korus and Naud to form a new lead group of five with 10 laps to go.

With SmartStop having brought the gap down below 30 seconds, the 5-hour Energy-Maxxis team came forward to help with the chase. But the team gave up the front with about six laps to go and with the gap sitting at 22 seconds. Jamis took control next, possibly setting a false tempo for Teruel ahead in the breakaway; two laps later the gap to the leaders had grown to 26 seconds.

US pro road race champion Freddie Rodriguez led his Jelly Belly-Maxxis team to the front during the third-to-last lap, bringing the gap down to 16 seconds on the penultimate lap and to seven seconds when the field took the bell signifying one to go. But it was all too little too late, as the breakaway survived and Naud took the win on the line from Lea and Teruel.

With the breakaway grabbing the time bonuses, and the general classification contenders finishing safely in the field, little changed in the overall contest. McCabe still leads Zirbel and Routley. Hincapie Sportswear's Dion Smith is fourth, 16 seconds down. McCabe's teammate, Rob Britton, is fifth, 18 seconds off the lead.

Kirchmann unstoppable in stage 4

With enough time bonuses on offer to seriously shake up the general classification, Kirchmann and Powers carried their overall fight directly into Saturday's criterium, battling throughout the race for intermediate time bonuses and the 10, 6 and 4 second bumps that went to the top three at the finish.

The 60-minute race started out quickly with an early solo attack by Team Tibco's Sara Headley. The breakaway was short-lived as Kirchmann's Optum team rode the front of the pack, keeping the escape attempts in check.

Kirchmann and Powers got their first chance to renew the overall battle during an intermediate sprint about halfway through the race. UnitedHealthcare lined things out for Powers, who came out of the last corner with the lead but couldn't hold off Kirchmann's charge. The race leader grabbed the three-second bonus and added another second to her GC buffer over Powers, who collected a two-second bonus as the sprint's runner-up.

Several laps later, a small group formed off the front that included Tibco's Amanda Miller, Pinnacle-Reactor's Olivia Dillon, Specialized-lululemon's Joy McCullough and UnitedHealthcare's Cari Higgins. Optum immediately picked up the chase but let the escapees dangle just off the front until only six laps remained.

With the bunch back together, Optum maintained its place at the front until the UnitedHealthcare lead-out train, with Powers in tow, swarmed the front. The blue-and-white UHC train picked up the pace, hoping to put Powers over the finish line first for both the win and the big time bonus.

But Powers' lead-out train lacked the steam to take her all the way to the finish, and the familiar orange helmets of Optum assumed the front again with about half a lap remaining. Kirchmann was sitting third wheel with Powers just behind when the race leader attacked two corners from the finish. Powers immediately countered, and Kirchmann led the lead duo through the final two corners and onto the finishing straight.

Powers tried to come around Kirchamann for the win, but the the Optum rider was just too strong, easily holding off Powers for the win. Joanne Kiesanowski (Team Tibco) was third.

Despite starting the day nine seconds ahead of Powers and gaining five more seconds in time bonuses during the stage, Kirchmann now leads Powers by just 10 seconds in the official general classification results released after the race. Tibco's Lauren Stephens is listed as being 27 seconds back in third. Specialized-lululemon's Tayler Wiles got a one-second time bump during the criterium and is listed at 29 seconds back in fourth. Mara Abbott, who won the final stage at Redlands last year with a late solo move, is fifth, 58 seconds behind, according to the official results released after the stage.

Riding off into the Sunset

The 30th Redlands Bicycle Classic concludes Sunday with the the Sunset Road Race, which starts downtown on the same criterium course riders competed on Saturday night. The race heads out of town down several long, palm-lined boulevards before hitting the day's major challenge, the undulating and unforgiving 10.5 km Sunset Loop.

The men make 12 trips around the loop before heading back down to the criterium course for five finishing circuits. The women tackle the loop nine times before heading back into town. Time bonuses at the finish and at two intermediate sprints are once again on the line. The women race for 113 km in the morning. The men's 150 km race begins at 1:30 p.m. Three-time National Race Calendar winner Francisco Mancebo took the stage win and the overall on the final day last year with a solo move late in the race.

Full Results