Kristin Armstrong wins overall at Redlands Bicycle Classic

Twenty16-RideBiker put a stranglehold on the final stage of the Redlands Bicycle Classic on Sunday, delivering Leah Thomas to the Sunset Road Race win and securing the overall victory for Kristin Armstrong.

"It was amazing," Armstrong said of her team's effort throughout the day. "I think that our tactics played out. My team kept me really patient, and Leah is an awesome climber. In that original break she was the top rider until (fourth-placed Eri Yonamine] came up."

Thomas joined an early breakaway and then stayed out front with bridging riders Scotti Lechuga (Hagens Berman-Supermint) and Yonamine (Dare To Be Project) for the final lap before outsprinting the duo for the win in downtown Redlands.

"I just sat in all the way down because I didn't want to give them any extra time because the yellow jersey was our number-one goal," Thomas said. "With one k to I got on [Yonamine's] wheel because I was confident I could stay on the wheel in front of me. Then I just sprinted from the final corner."

Amy D Foundation's Mara Abbott, who started the day second overall, 33 seconds behind Armstrong, rode aggressively in the opening circuits but then appeared to back off and give in to the Twenty16 onslaught.

"The team was on the front so often, and we covered everything, and I actually think that discouraged Mara from going, because every time she did something my team was there to cover and to be with me," Armstrong said. "There were also rainy conditions and it got a little chilly. It was textbook."

The Sunset Road Race is notoriously selective. The peloton started in town and then rode uphill to the 10.4km Sunset circuit in the hills southwest of town. After nine trips around the swooping circuit, the survivors headed back to town for the finish, where there were time bonuses of 10, six and four seconds for the top three.

Abbott's Amy D Foundation team went straight to the front on the Sunset loop to try and isolate the Twenty16-RideBiker team leader. First it was Abby Mickey for the Amy D Foundation, then Abbott herself put the pressure on the front on the third lap to bring back small breakaway as the lead group was whittled down to about 30.

Rain started falling on the peloton with five laps of the Sunset loop remaining, adding another challenge to the already difficult loop. Rally Cycling's Kirsti Lay took the opportunity to slip off the front of the field, starting the sixth lap with a small gap on a chasing group of three that included Thomas and Jess Cerra of Twenty16, along with Lindsay Bayer of Hagens Berman-Supermint.

Lay, who started he day 4:40 off the overall lead, built her advantage to more than a minute during the next lap, while the chasers dangled about 25 seconds ahead of the field. With just two laps to go, Lay maintained half a minute on the chase group but her gap to the field grew to 2:30.

Thomas, Cerra and Bayer linked up with Lay near the end of the eighth lap, making a lead group of four with 1:40 on the field. In the peloton, Yonamine and Lechuga attacked the group, gaining a small gap and putting more pressure on Armstrong and her team. Abbott, meanwhile, was still biding her time in the group.

As the leaders started the final lap, Thomas attacked the breakaway and was able to ride away just as Lechuga and Yonamine were about to make contact.

"They pulled the cars, and that point I made a surge, because I wanted to get through as much of that climb as possible before they caught me," Thomas said. "I knew my legs would be a little tired and I wasn’t quite sure how much I'd have in them."

Lechuga and Yonamine made contact just as Thomas rode away, reshuffling the deck in the chase group. Yonamine immediately went to the front and set off after Thomas, dropping Bayer, Lay and Cerra. Lechuga and Yonamine quickly caught Thomas to form a new lead group of three.

The gap held at 1:10 as the three leaders approached the end of the Sunset loops and began heading for the finish in downtown Redlands.

"They caught me about 200 metres from the QOM," Thomas said. "And so I knew I just had a teeny bit more to climb with them and then I just got to sit on the rest of the way down."

From there it was an all-out effort for the line, where Thomas waited on Yonamine's wheel in the final kilometre’s and then jumped out of the last corner to take the win.

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