Clarke, Cliff-Ryan win Redlands criterium

Hilton Clarke (Bahati Foundation) marked his return to U.S. racing Saturday with a win in the stage 2 criterium at the Redlands Bicycle Classic. Clarke came around  UnitedHealthcare’s Andrew Pinfold and Jake Keough on the outside of the final corner and accelerated over the final 200 meters to take the win by a bike length.

Ben Day (Fly V Australia) retained his .65-second advantage over Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) headed into Sunday’s queen stage on the Sunset Loop.

In the women’s race, Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita-Baci) won the sprint out of a breakaway that included new overall leader Ina-Yoko Teutenberg and a cadre of Tibco riders.

Amber Neben (Dare To Be-BMW-Bianchi) missed the definitive move and surrendered her lead to Teutenberg, who picked up the full intermediate time bonus and more than one minute at the finish.

Temps turned up
Sunscreen and ice socks replaced leg warmers and full-finger gloves Saturday in Redlands. Temperatures were in the 60s when the women started at 2:30 p.m. and crept into the 70s by the time the men rolled at 4:30 p.m.

With a tight GC and an intermediate time bonus on the line at the halfway point of the 60-minute women’s criterium, the leaders’ teams controlled the front of the race tightly over the opening laps. Attack after attack came from the group, but the peloton was gruppo compatto with 35 minutes remaining and HTC-Columbia lined up on the point to deliver Teutenberg to the time bonus sprint.

Overall leader Neben worked to close a gap that formed as Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia) led Teutenberg out for the sprint. When Teutenberg countered, the race-changing breakaway formed.

“The team did a really good lead out for the sprint – it was really fast. Then came a counter-attack and we kept riding,” said Teutenberg. “I saw that people were just about to close up and I just thought I’d give it another try to go because everybody was tired and that’s just the best time to try and go off the front.”

Teutenberg found allies in the break with Rebecca Much, who trailed Neben by 50 seconds after stage 1, jumping into the move with Tibco teammates Joanne Kiesanowski and Brooke Miller. The foursome largely drove the break over the remaining half hour, pushing their gap out consistently to nearly one minute with three laps remaining.

Meanwhile, Colavita-Baci, HTC-Columbia, Tibco and Vera Bradley riders supplanted Neben on the front of the peloton and disrupted the chase over the second half of the race.

“I was hoping that the other teams like Mara (Abbott) and the Twenty12 team, they’re still in the race and they’ve got a strong team, so I was hoping they would come up and ride a little quicker than they did – and Robin Farrina’s (Vera Bradley) team too,” said Neben. “It is what it is and tomorrow’s another day.”

More than a stage win
Teutenberg dialed up the pace with three laps to go, guttering the break in the lead-in to the start/finish.

“At that point it wasn’t for the stage win, it was about trying to get as much time as possible out of the field because it was really opening up over the last five laps,” said Teutenberg.

Cliff-Ryan, who sat quietly in the slipstream of the GC riders in the break all day, opened her sprint as the group rolled out of the final corner and onto the 200-meter finishing straight.

“We knew (Teutenberg) wanted time today and I was marking Ina,” said Cliff-Ryan. “I luckily got to sit in and wait for the sprint because I’m not going for overall and it worked out awesome.”

Although they worked exhaustively in the break to build the time gap with Teutenberg, Kiesanowski and Miller topped off their efforts with second and third on the stage.

With the break’s 1:12 advantage at the line and the three-second intermediate time bonus, Teutenberg moved into the yellow jersey, 32 and 39 seconds ahead of breakaway mates Katharine Carroll (Peanut Butter & Co.) and Much, respectively. Neben fell to seventh overall, 1:01 down headed into  Sunday’s final stage.

While surprised, Teutenberg was satisfied that the break was able to take so much time on the field and looked forward to aggressive racing on Sunday. “I was surprised we got that much (time) again,” said Teutenberg. “A lot of attacks (tomorrow). It’s going to be just like the crit, only uphill.”

Packed house for the men’s pack
By the time the men clipped in, the crowds along the course at the start had ballooned to three deep on the barriers. Day’s Fly V Australia mates immediately found the front of the peloton, where they stayed for the next 80 minutes.

Davide Frattini (Team Type 1), Tyler Wren (Jamis-Sutter Home), Alex Candelario (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Lucas Euser (Spidertech-Planet Energy) each gave a go at piecing together a successful break in the first 30 minutes. The most promising move formed when Wil Dugan (Team Type 1) and Sergio Hernandez (NOW-MS Society) rolled away and were joined a lap later by Kyle Wamsley (Bissell). The move was only able to take a 25-second lead and was neutralized after five laps.

The peloton was all together with nine laps to go when the UnitedHealthcare train took over from the Aussies. Jason Donald and Matt Rice (Bahati Foundation) joined in the lead-out to keep the pace high and a split happened 30 riders from the front when a group of riders crashed on the two-way turn with eight laps to go. The UHC/Bahati lead-out kept the coals hot over the final laps and Karl Menzies (UnitedHealthcare) dropped Pinfold and Keough off before the final corner.

“(UHC) really had the manpower going into the last corner, but the only mistake they did was they guarded the last corner and I took the last corner really wide and much better and had a really good line out of it,” said Clarke.

Clarke came out of the corner on the wide line at full stick and mashed the gears up the slight incline to the line, taking the win by a bike length over Keough. Pinfold finished third while Mike Friedman (Jelly Belly-Kenda) and Alejandro Borrajo (Jamis-Sutter Home) rounded out the top five.

“I guess I shine here in America through these crits,” said Clarke. “It means a lot. I think this team has really come together well and we have some really good riders. With Rahsaan pushing the message of the foundation, the guys are really up and we’re meshing really well.”

Day finished in the bunch to maintain his .65-second lead over Jacques-Maynes. Eleven riders will take the start Sunday within 30 seconds of the Day. Of those eleven riders, Jelly Belly-Kenda and UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis each have three, while Bissell has four. Day and Jamis-Sutter Home’s Luis Amaran are the only freelancers of those top-placed riders.

Onto the queen stage
The bulk of Sunday’s main event, the Beaver Medical Group Sunset Road Race, follows a 6.5-mile circuit near Redlands that features more than 500 vertical feet of climbing per lap. The men will face the circuit 12 times for a total of more than 6,000 feet of climbing, while the women repeat the loop nine times.

Only the elite should remain on the front when the peloton returns to downtown Redlands for the finish on Saturday’s criterium course. In 2009, the men’s race saw just 21 riders make it onto the finishing circuit. The usual protagonists should feature, though the strong all-arounders, like 2008 winner Borrajo and Brad White (UnitedHealthcare), most often finish the Sunset stage off while the climbers battle for GC position.

The same holds for the women’s finish. Eventual NRC champion Alison Powers ripped away from the leaders in the descent to the finish in 2009. While Powers is holding her fitness for later in the season this year, teammate Alexis Rhodes or Wrubleski could steal a win ahead of riders likely driving the pace earlier in the day in the hunt for the overall.

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FILED UNDER: News / Race Report / Road TAGS: Redlands Bicycle Classic

Brian Holcombe

Brian Holcombe is the managing editor of Velo Magazine. Holcombe joined VeloNews in 2009 following years spent introducing students to whitewater kayaking and working in avalanche control, among other more risky ventures. His graduate work in communications at the University of Denver focuses on innovation and digital media management. Holcombe is a CSU Ram fan and proud parent and has been accused of attacking too much on the VN lunch ride. Follow him on Twitter @FCBrian.

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