Castillo takes crash-marred Redlands criterium sprint

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The finish of Saturday evening's Redlands Bicycle Classic stage 4 criterium proved the old adage that the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.

Silber Pro Cycling came into the final corner of the 90-minute race with riders perfectly positioned to fight for the win, but when Kris Dahl clipped a pedal and went down hard, the resulting pile-up provided KHS-Maxxis rider Ulises Castillo with an uncontested romp to the line.

Castillo went into the final corner in the first position with Dahl on his wheel, Holowesko-Citadel's Travis McCabe in the third spot and Silber's Elliot Doyle tucked in next. Dahl's fall sent McCabe over his bars and onto the tarmac while Doyle and Team Illuminate's Edwin Avilla slipped past to claim second and third, respectively.

"He just took the corner too hot," McCabe said of the crash. "If you watch the replay he just lost his front wheel in that last corner. He just slid right out and I flipped over him, and that was pretty much it. I had a couple bikes go into me, but that's bike racing; stuff happens. I just hope everyone is alright. It was a pretty nasty crash."

Most of the riders involved in the melee were OK, but one rider was transported by ambulance to a local hospital, Dahl injured his ankle and Silber's Matteo Dal-Cin, who started the day just two seconds off the overall lead of Janier Acevedo (Team Jamis), injured his hand, although Silber director Gord Fraser said Dal-Cin will likely start Sunday's Sunset Road Race.

At first glance, Castillo's win might look like a result of circumstance, but the 24-year-old from nearby Beaumont, California worked hard for his lead spot through the final turn and was not there by accident.

"This is why I take all the corners in the first position," Castillo told Cyclingnews in the finishing straight after the stage.

The KHS rider said he started to sprint with six corners remaining on the highly technical nine-corner course, and he took the lead with four corners remaining.

"After I heard the crash I went as hard as I could," he said.

The penultimate stage at Redlands looked as if it might be raced in the rain, with threatening clouds hovering over downtown Redlands for most of the day, but the precipitation held off until just two laps remained. The rain didn't cause the crash, however, as Dahl's misstep on the final turn was most likely due to the excitement and nerves of a hotly contested finale.

"You can go through that corner 60 times, but the last time is going to be different," said Fraser, who as a top sprinter in his own career is no stranger to adrenaline-fueled finishes.

The 1.6km course in the heart of Redlands is notoriously difficult to navigate, with multiple turns approaching 180 degrees. Despite aggressive racing and multiple attempts by groups of riders to escape the bunch, the Jamis team of race leader Acevdeo kept things in check and none of the moves was able to gain more than few seconds before being reeled back in.

The race for victory came down to the final lap, where the crash sealed the fate of Silber's lead out and McCabe's good positioning in favour of Castillo's opportunistic effort to be the first rider through the final turn.

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