Neben and Day win Redlands prologues

Former time trial world champion Amber Neben (Dare To Be-BMW-Bianchi) flew into the 2010 National Racing Calendar Thursday with the prologue win at the Redlands Bicycle Classic ahead of Mara Abbott (Peanut Butter & Co.-Twenty12) and Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia).

In the men’s race, Ben Day (Fly V Australia) started last and finished with the only time able to upset a Jelly Belly-Kenda one-two. Jelly Belly teammates Carter Jones and Kiel Reijnen finished second and third to upset the pre-race favorites.

The 3.1-mile prologue course climbed from the outskirts of Redlands onto the Sunset Loop circuit that riders will see again, in reverse, during Sunday’s queen stage. A series of short, low-angle ramps led riders to the base of the daunting climb of Wabash Street and Sunset Drive, high above the city.

A Good Guest
Neben stormed back from a difficult off-season that began with a fracture, and subsequent surgery, in her left hand caused by a crash at the world championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, and was later turned upside-down with the dissolution of her trade team. The two-time Redlands overall winner appeared strong and controlled as she floated up the 19-plus-percent grades over the final 1.5 miles.

“I can’t complain because I won. I didn’t feel as good as I’ve felt here in the past,” said Neben. “The last five minutes of the race is so hard. You’re just fully maxed out and you feel everything — the lactic acid in the legs and the head. You’re just thinking about getting to the next point and the next point and so on.”

Neben distanced Abbott and Stevens by 15.97 and 21.54 seconds, respectively. Stevens’ teammate, and overall winner at San Dimas last week, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, landed dangerously close to the lead in fourth, 29.31 seconds behind Neben and 1.64 seconds ahead of 2009 NRC overall champion Alison Powers (Vera Bradley Foundation).

Neben’s Dare To Be-BMW-Bianchi teammates will get a quick education in defending an overall lead in the big leagues Friday. Neben was looking forward to enjoying the rest of the weekend, regardless of her results, and building race fitness ahead of her return to Europe with the U.S. national team.

“It’s to be determined, to be honest with you,” said Neben of her fitness. “It’s a good early season test and regardless of what happens, the efforts and getting the systems going, it’s good to ride hard and suffer.”
Same Day, Different Week
The men got off at 12:10 P.M. with Eric Boily (Spidertech-Planet Energy) setting the early standard. Reijnen was the 67th rider to roll out of the start house and after flying up the closing pitches he sat for a half hour in the race leader’s hot seat.

While heavy hitters like 2007 Tour of California prologue runner up Jason Donald (Bahati Foundation) could not match Reijnen’s result, his neo-pro teammate Jones, who joined Jelly Belly-Kenda from the Waste Management development program this year, topped out on Sunset with the race lead.

“I rolled over the line and was barely coherent,” said Jones. “Someone told me I had the fastest time and I was like, ‘Jesus.’”

With a ten-minute ride through traffic to the start from atop Sunset Drive, there was barely time for Jones to reach his team van before Day stormed across the line with the day’s definitive time. The win marked a repeat victory — Day’s second in two weeks after he won the opening time trial at San Dimas and his second Redlands prologue in a row — and was confirmation for the Aussie that his early season fitness is better than ever.

“Coming in as one of the favorites and knowing that my form lends itself to this course, I kind of needed to win and that made me a little bit nervous,” said Day. “I think I controlled that well and used it to my advantage.”

Day pointed to the middle portion of the course, which paralleled I-10 over a series of false flats, as the key to his win. “Everyone goes hard up the climb. The section along the highway is really important,” said Day. “I knew I couldn’t be complacent there saving up for the climb.”

At the end of the day, Jones and Day both reflected on their results in the NRC opener.

“That was something special,” said Day. “I’m pretty stoked right now.”

Jones will don the KOM jersey for Friday’s stage.

“It’s pretty numbing. It still hasn’t sunk in,” said Jones. “It’ll probably be tonight in bed and I’ll think, ‘Oh crap, I’m getting a jersey tomorrow.’”

Tight GC Heads to Beaumont
The top of the men’s leaderboard is crowded after the prologue. Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare-Maxxis), Ben Jacques-Maynes, Paul Mach and Jeremy Vennell (all Bissell), Will Routley (Jelly Belly-Kenda) and Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home) each sit within 20 seconds of the race lead. With 61 riders within one minute of Day, Friday’s Beaumont stage should be explosive.

Since its inclusion in 2008 as a replacement for the traditional Oak Glen route, the stage 1 Beaumont Road Race has proven to be decisive. Santiago Botero, Louder and Teutenburg each won the stage en route to overall wins.

The circuit sees an update this year with the addition of the Banning Bench KOM just 9.6 miles into the first lap. The 4.5-mile climb tops out at just 5-percent grade and should loosen the legs up without pushing many riders out of the bunch. With the chance for strong, unpredictable winds and hard racing, the Beaumont stage is always ripe for a breakaway win. On the women’s side, Teutenberg and Stevens will likely try early to put the HTC-Columbia stamp on the race early; however, the strongest and most well balanced women’s peloton in recent memory will likely neutralize any moves that do not include the GC players for most teams.

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

Brian Holcombe

Brian Holcombe is the editor of VeloNews.com. 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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