Tour of the Gila: Rice wins downtown criterium

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Hagens Berman Axeon's Michael Rice took out the stage 4 downtown Silver City criterium at the Tour of the Gila on Saturday, finishing off the work his team put in over the final laps, setting up the 22-year-old Australian to unleash his sprint. UnitedHelthcare's Lucas Sebastian Haedo finished second, with H&R Block's Marc-Antoine Nadon in third.

Race leader Rob Britton (Rally Cycling) finished safely in the bunch to maintain his overall lead going into the final stage.

This is Rice's second shot at the downtown criterium after he finished seventh behind teammate Christopher Blevins last year. The roles were reversed on Saturday as Blevins provide the final lead out for Rice and then finished fifth.

"We had a clear plan going into the day, and we executed it perfectly," Rice told Cycoingnews in the finishing straight. "The team took control the last two, two-and-a-half laps, and everyone really pulled their weight and really make my job easy."

The Hagens Berman Axeon team swarmed to the front in the finale and set a pace up the hill on the backside of the four-corner course during the final lap and split the peloton into multiple groups. The U23 development team riders never relinquished the front and dropped Rice off in perfect position.

"The boys got me to the last corner second wheel, and I just had to finish it off in the last 200 metres on the sprint," he said. "I think when the team rides like that, I put a little bit of pressure on myself to do the job for them. They work really hard, so it's a good day. I think we're all very happy.

Ian Garrison pulled on the front of the field for most of the final lap, and then Blevins took over as the final lead-out man.

"I just came off his wheel and then I think Christopher held on for fifth on the stage," Ride said. "I raced this last year and was top 10 last year, so I knew it would be a good day. The form is good, so I was really pleased to come away with the victory."

How it unfolded

The stage 4 downtown criterium in Silver City takes place on a 1.74km course that featured a short climb on the backside that gained 24.4 metres of elevation on each of the 40 laps.

Like the women's race earlier in the day, attacks flew fast and furiously up the hill over the 25-lap race, but none of the moves was able to gain any workable gap over the field. Bonus seconds of three, two and one second were up for grabs at three intermediate sprints with 30, 20 and 10 laps to go, spicing up the racing throughout the day.

The first intermediate sprint 10 laps into the race saw Silber Pro Cyclng's Pier Andre Cote take maximum points and time bonus ahead of Axeon's Sean Bennett and Blevins. The next test for the sprinters came 10 laps later, and this one went to Rally Cycling's Evan Huffman, who crossed the line ahead of Elevate KHS's James Piccoli and Jelly Belly-Maxxis rider Taylor Sheldon.

Aevolo's Alex Hoehn joined H&R Blocks Oliver Evans and Mobius Bridgelane's Brad Evans off the front for a short go, but the tri was pulled back after dangling just off the front for two laps.

With 10 laps remaining, Axeon's Bennett and Blevins claimed the top two places in the final intermediate sprint, with Silber's Nickolas Zukowsky crossing th line for third.

Frome there, Elevate-KHS riders massed at the front and drove up the pace for their sprinter Alfredo Rodrgiugez. The team controlled the front until three laps to go, when Silber took over briefly until the Axeon riders played their final cards, setting a field-splitting pace at the front and delivering Rice to victory.

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