Alexis Magner and Cole Davis win round five of USA Crits in LaGrange

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Alexis Magner (L39ION of Los Angeles) and Cole Davis (Ribble Rebellin) won the pro divisions at the LaGrange Cycling Classic Saturday night. The LaGrange, Georgia races were the fifth of six stops in the USA Crits racing series, which concludes on May 25 at the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic in North Carolina.

It was the third victory in five starts at the USA Crits series for Magner, who has the overall individual lead for women with one race to go. It was a battle of L39ION of Los Angeles, DNA Pro Cycling and Goldman Sachs ETFs Racing teams on the four-corner criterium circuit, with turn three a 100-degree left-hand corner that needed a little more precision. 

“Kaitlyn [Rauwerda] and I rolled off the front unexpectedly. There had been several attacks at that point. Several several small breakaways. People kept bringing us back. All of a sudden, I looked back and we were off the front. We just rolled. We didn’t really talk to each other. She’s a really good rider. We just kept working,” Magner said at the finish.

While Magner won the sprint ahead of Kaitlyn Rauwerda (DNA Pro Cycling), L39ION’s Kendall Ryan took the third spot on the podium, holding off Ivanie Blondin of Goldman Sachs, who was fourth, and a trio of DNA riders in fifth through seventh, led by Rylee McMullin, then Owen and Holly Breck.

“For L39ION in general, we go for the race wins, and then the series wins are just a plus on top of that," said Magner. "But DNA had Harriet [Owen] up there and she’s been so consistent. She’s a big threat for the overall. Unfortunately, I’m not doing Winston-Salem, so I don’t know if I can hang on to the lead [in the series].”

That leaves DNA’s Owen with a chance to take away the top individual spot from Magner come May 25, as with a start in the Winston-Salem finale and a finish in 35th place or better she could make up the 55-point deficit. Owen is the current lap leader in the USA Crits series. Ryan sits in third place in the individual standings, with the Goldman Sachs ETF’s Racing duo of Blondin and Aubrey Drummond are in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Men's pro race

Davis attempted a solo move early in the race, but REIGN Storm Racing was wary of all moves by Ribble Rebellion riders. Then Michael Garrison (MGR p/b NICH SpeedClub) led the charge in the field to reel him back.

“I turned around and saw Michael [Garrison] on the front. And if you’re off the front and you see Michael on the front right behind you, you’re not going to make it,” said Davis of the former US men’s junior time trial national champion.

Eventually, Davis stayed with Garrison as well as Bryan Gomez (REIGN Storm Racing) and they lapped the field. Then he said everyone was ‘cooked’.

“It was a hard course. So we all just sat in and got a breather,” recounted Davis, the lone US rider on the British team. “The second winning move, I guess you say, came with three [laps] to go. My teammate, who was a lap down, and I went up the road together. Today feels like a lot of redemption for us."

He said the Rebellion team “played it poorly” when riders lapped the field at a race earlier in the week that was part of the Speed Week series and lost. This time he said the win was “redemption” for the miscue, with Matt Bostock securing fifth after leading Davis on the three laps to the finish. 

Bryan Gomez (REIGN Storm Racing) chased without any teammates to help for the last three laps and could not make the catch, and finished second. Garrison finished third in the field sprint ahead of Jeremiah Stoller (Nashville Local Cycling).

Alfredo Rodriguez (REIGN Storm Racing) has a slim 11-point lead over Roderyck Asconeguy Diaz (MC Cycling) in the USA Crits individual standings. Garrison is third overall, 198 points off the top.

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