Rhim and Rivera take Redlands criterium wins

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Brendan Rhim (Cal Giant-Specialized) and Coryn Rivera (UnitedHealthcare) took the wins Saturday at the stage 4 criterium of the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Phil Gaimon (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies) held onto his general classification lead despite a crash in the closing laps of the men’s race, while Mara Abbott (LA Sweat) finished safely in the women's field to maintain her overall lead.

Rhim won from a five-rider breakaway group that initially started with six before a crash knocked Chris Riekert (Mike’s Bikes-Equator Coffees) out of the lead group. Others in the group included Jamis-Hagens Berman's Luis Amaran, who finished second, Ulises Castillo (KHS-Maxxis), who finished third, Alexander Ray (Silber Pro Cycling) and Peter Disera (H&R Block).

It was the late-race crash of Gaimon, however, that stirred the pot and caused a bit of controversy after he was awarded the same time as the pack despite going down with several other riders, including Chris Horner (Airgas-Safeway), just two corners before seeing five laps to go.

"I think I just biffed it," Gaimon said."It was the corner we'd done a hundred times. It was tight, and people were kind of fighting and it was tense. I think I just kind of lost my back wheel there."

USA Cycling's rules for criteriums say riders who crash in the final 8km will get the same time as the group they were in. But Gaimon's crash occurred just before they saw five to go. Officials' decision to award Gaimon and the others the same time as the main field caused some consternation among multiple directors.

"The rules say you get a free lap and you get back into the bike race," said Jelly Belly-Maxxis director Matty White, whose rider Gavin Mannion is currently second overall, 31 seconds behind Gaimon.

"I'm not having a go at Optum or [Optum director] Jonas Carney, and I'd hate to take the jersey this way, but rules are rules, and USA Cycling needs to question it. They need to look at it. That's all," White said.

Chief official Phil Miller told Cyclingnews that the crashed riders were entitled to a free lap, but after the 8km to go mark had passed [with five laps remaining] it was too late to put them back into the race.

"The way the rule works right now -- and it's been changed in the last couple of years -- in a stage race we normally have an accommodation that's made in the last 3km; a criterium is different," Miller said. "Now the 3km rule that puts the rider back in at their time if they have a mishap extends all the way back to 8km to go.

"There was no way we could have put all the riders back in before the free lap ended," Miller said. "They all qualified for a free lap, but we can't put them back into the race after we hit the 8km. So they get the field time and they're placed at the back of the field they came from, but they get the time of that field.

"I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about how the rule was changed," Miller said. "There was a time when the three-lap would end and there were 4km where they were just in utter jeopardy. That's why the rule was changed. If something happened late in the race, no one had to get back into the race, they just get that time and that’s that.

"They all qualified for a free lap, but we are precluded from putting them back in because it's too late."

While Gaimon and the others made their way back to their team vehicles in the parking lot, the confusion in the main field reaped huge dividends for the remaining breakaway riders as a gap that had been whittled down to 20 seconds shot back up again.

Rhim and the rest were able to stay away to the finish, where the 20-year-old from Norwich, Vermont, outsprinted his break companions for the biggest win of his career.

"We were definitely slowing down and everyone was looking at each other," Rhim said of the last lap. "Everyone stopped riding and looked around, so I pretty much took the reins from about four corners to go and just led it out because I knew I had to be the first one through the last corners. And that was it."

Gaimon now carries a 31 second lead over Mannion into the final day's Sunset Loop road race. Cal Giant's Adrien Costa is third, 38 seconds back, followed by Gaimon's teammate Mike Woods, who is 56 seconds in arrears along with Gregory Brenes (Jamis-Hagens Berman). Four-time winner Horner is eighth, 1:08 behind Gaimon.

UHC's Blue Train delivers in downtown Redlands

UnitedHealthcare continued to show its sprinting class this season with a dominant display in the women's race, where Rivera and teammate Alexis Ryan opened a gap near the end of the final lap to finish first and second ahead of Canadian criterium champion Leah Kirchman (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies).

"My team did an awesome leadout, textbook, as they usually do," said Rivera, the US crit champ. "It was good to pull off the win for the girls. They worked hard today to keep it together and led me out for a big lead."

The women's race on the technical nine-corner course in downtown Redlands came down to the final laps intact as breakaway attempts were immediately nullified throughout the 60 minute event.

UnitedHealthcare, Optum and Tibco did the lion's share of pacesetting leading up to the finale, where UnitedHealthcare's "Blue Train" took over with just a couple lap remaining.

"We were going to start our leadout on the last lap, but we weren't being challenged so we started a lap early and it worked to our advantage,"Ryan said. "We were able to take all the lines we wanted and go exactly the speed we wanted. I took it from probably three corners to go and railed the turns, and the two of us got a huge gap. We came into the last turn and I sprinted as hard as I could and Coryn was the only one who came around me. That was a pretty cool feeling."

Kirchman praised UnitedHealthcare's organisation throughout the race, saying they were all together on the last lap, while she positioned herself just behind the team's leadout train.

"I was sitting behind them on Coryn's wheel with [Brianna Walle]," Kirchman said. "I tried to jump them with a few corners to go, but we just didn't have enough people up there to really go through, and so I had to settle for third in the sprint."

Rivera said she knew her team had the win locked up as they headed into the second-to-last corner.

"I didn't look back because I knew we were clear and we had great speed and no one was trying to come past me or anything," Rivera said. "It was just a matter of doing our jobs, executing and going all out of the last corner. It's the first stage win for the team here, and hopefully we do well tomorrow to set up Katie Hall for the win."

Abbott now leads the overall by 22 seconds over Amber Neben (Visit Dallas-Noise4Good) and 40 seconds over Allie Dragoo (Twenty16-ShoAir). Hall is fourth, 1:19 off Abbott's pace.

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