Redlands: Axeon's Rice wins stage 3

Australian Michael Rice (Axeon Hagens Berman) took the uphill sprint victory Friday during stage 3 at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, out-kicking stage 2 winner and overall leader TJ Eisenhart (Holowesko-Citadel) in the long drag up Baseline Road.

Eisenhart added to his overall lead with a six-second time bonus heading into Saturday's downtown Redlands criterium.

The stage 3 Highland circuit race consisted of 20 laps around a 4.5km suburban loop that featured a swooping-fast descent and short, steep climb through the start finish.

Rice dedicated the win to his teammate Chad Young, who died from injuries sustained in a crash last month at the Tour of the Gila.

"It has been a real emotional week," Rice said. "A tough week for everyone. Not just in the team, but I think in cycling in general. So it was really nice to get the win for Chad today. He was a very close friend of mine, actually, so it definitely means a lot.

"The support for Chad has been enormous. It just goes to show how good of a person he was."

The race started with an intermediate sprint at the end of the first lap, and a group of seven used the opportunity to open up a gap on the rest of the field. In the group was Alex Cataford (UnitedHealthcare), Rob Squire (Canyon Bicycles), Chad Beyer (Canyon Bicycles), Michael Sheehan (Jelly Belly-Maxxis), James Fouché (Mobius Futures), Gera Medina (Stork CCN) and Lachlan Norris (UnitedHealthcare).

The group built a gap of 1:15 over several laps as Alex Cohen (Elevate-KHS) and Gage Hecht (Aevolo) attempted to bridge. The chasers made the catch with nine to go to form a lead group of nine leaders..

The gap hovered at just over a minute for several laps until Eisenhart's Holowesko team rode to shut it down. The gap came down precipitously over the ensuing laps, and the race was back together as the peloton took the bell for the final lap, setting up the sprint finish and Rice's victory.

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