Stage 1 - Highlands Circuit Race <--Strava activity link
The Squad:
Chris Horner - Twitter
Chad Beyer - Twitter
Evan Murphy - Twitter - Instagram
Matthew Jeannes - Twitter
Michael Olheiser - Twitter - Instagram
Nolan Tankersly - Instagram
Thomas Vaubourzeix - Twitter
20 laps of a 2.8 mile circuit kicked of the 2016 Redlands Cycling Classic. It was brutally hot out there and it definitely took its toll on the field, with time gaps opening everywhere and some people losing some serious time on the short circuit race. The neutral rolled on to the last corner of the course and up the large finishing hill where the finish / KOM line was located, a right down a big open descent led into a neighborhood that we wound through before opening back up to the feed zone and the final climb. With 200 riders the course could string and bunch depending on where you were.
Chris Horner - Twitter
Chad Beyer - Twitter
Evan Murphy - Twitter - Instagram
Matthew Jeannes - Twitter
Michael Olheiser - Twitter - Instagram
Nolan Tankersly - Instagram
Thomas Vaubourzeix - Twitter
20 laps of a 2.8 mile circuit kicked of the 2016 Redlands Cycling Classic. It was brutally hot out there and it definitely took its toll on the field, with time gaps opening everywhere and some people losing some serious time on the short circuit race. The neutral rolled on to the last corner of the course and up the large finishing hill where the finish / KOM line was located, a right down a big open descent led into a neighborhood that we wound through before opening back up to the feed zone and the final climb. With 200 riders the course could string and bunch depending on where you were.
Our plan was to get some representation in the break to get some media attention, prove we belonged, and ensure we didn't have to help bring the breakaway back. In years past the race has been incredibly hard, but this year the break went early and the pace settled as the group extended their lead up to 3.5 minutes. Thomas did a great job sneaking in the break allowing us to relax in the field and wait for the fun to start. It was surprisingly easy as the break continued to add to its lead. Eventually with about 8 laps to go Hincapie came to the front and the breaks lead whittled away, but not by much. As the laps ticked down others, including Rally and Jelly Belly, helped with the chase but even with the break exploding a Jamis rider still had 1:30 with one lap to go and would hold it to the line.
In the meantime the guys rode well, staying together, protecting each other, and keeping it safe. On the first lap there were at least two big crashes and during the middle of the race a moto ended up in the peloton through a dangerous corner. Fortunately no crashes there and our team stayed safe. Coming out of the final corner Jelly Belly was leading the sprint as I grouped together with Chad, Evan, and Mike Olheiser to contest the field sprint for second. Mike gave a great pull overtaking Jelly Belly and dropping me at the foot of the climb, I stomped on the gas as hard as I could to give Chad a launching point and he came around about a quarter of the way up as Evan, sweeping, eased off on the pedals creating a big gap. Unfortunately we probably needed one more guy before Chad and he faded coming up to the line to take 7th overall on the day.
Overall a good day, represented in the break, and contesting the field sprint. Chad is our first guy in the GC, with Chris not too far behind. I lost about 1:00 after my effort but still sit close enough to move up with the Oak Glen Mountain Top finish tomorrow and a good time trial on Friday. After the scorcher today I think most people will be relieved at the cooling temps for the rest of the week, but personally, I liked the attrition the heat caused.
Tomorrow we take off at 9:40, you can follow the race from the team twitter or @RedlandsClassic.
Overall a good day, represented in the break, and contesting the field sprint. Chad is our first guy in the GC, with Chris not too far behind. I lost about 1:00 after my effort but still sit close enough to move up with the Oak Glen Mountain Top finish tomorrow and a good time trial on Friday. After the scorcher today I think most people will be relieved at the cooling temps for the rest of the week, but personally, I liked the attrition the heat caused.
Tomorrow we take off at 9:40, you can follow the race from the team twitter or @RedlandsClassic.
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Stage 2 - Yucaipa Road Race
Stage 2 brought significantly cooler temperatures hover in the mid 60s and low 70s possibly allowing for some more aggressive racing. The 90 mile course included 6 laps of a circuit, first down wide-open 4 lane roads before turning to the right and gradually making our way back to the start. On the final lap we turned left instead of right and headed up Oak Glen Rd., a little 8.6km cat 2 climb that averaged about 7%. At the beginning groups of 2-6 seemed to keep rolling up the road until about 20-25 guys comprised the "breakaway" of the day. The pace settled relatively quickly and I got in to the groove of surfing the peloton down the climb to hold position and settling in for the tempo climb back to the top of the roller coaster. By lap 3 or 4, most of the guys from the "breakaway" were caught by the field leaving 5 guys off the front in the true break of the day. We had Evan in the huge break, but no representation in the group of five. The break gained up to 3:30 minutes but Jamis and Jelly Belly kept the leash tight and turned the screws slightly in the last two laps.
Meanwhile we relaxed, ate food and stayed hydrated until real racing began on the last lap. The lead in to the climb was more relaxed than expected but that caused some fighting for position with so many bodies and everyone wanted to be ready for the change of pace to come. Evan and Matt did a great job sheltering me from the wind and keeping me toward the front. As we turned left onto the climb I was positioned a little ways back but Mike Olheiser gradually took me to the front and I settled in behind Chris, 4th wheel. The tempo really didn't change much as we continued the climb, again making sure a lot of people were still around. Our expectation was that Acevedo or Lachlan Morton or another big hitter would strike out from 4-5km and ride away from everyone, but it just didn't happen. With 3km to go everyone was stilling looking at each other with the remainder of the break dangling up ahead. At 2.5km Chad Beyer attacked and got a solid lead, Chris and I tried to relax the tempo of the lead group and give him a shot. Chad gave it a heck of an effort and continued to pull away with no one chasing. A couple flatter pitches in the last 3km hurt his chances and a few good pulls brought back Chad within sight of the line. A moment or two of hesitation and he might stayed away for a win. Chris finished at the front of the lead group and after trying to cover a big attack late I cracked and finished just off the lead group. At the end of the day Chad moved up to 4th Overall, +:15, Chris is 8th at +:27, and I'm 32nd at +1:17. The 7.1 Time Trial tomorrow will definitely have a huge affect on the final results. Sunday will suit Chad and Chris well so if they stay close we'll get to take a good crack at moving them up on to the Podium by Sunday Evening, but that's a long way away for now.
Stage 3 - Greenspot Time Trial
The Time Trial is fairly simple and uninteresting to report on. A hard day before should mean tired legs for many of the races and an opportunity to move up the GC. The day brought a drizzle turning in to a steady rain as the day
wore on. 7.1 hard miles awaited with a mostly uphill grind until the turnaround point and a ripping fast drive back to the finish. Chad will admit the time trial isn't his specialty but we hoped for a solid ride to keep him close prior to the Sunday's Sunset RR which suits him well. Mike Olheiser and I were looking for good results in a day that should suit us. In the end there was no hiding in the Time Trial and we didn't have the legs. In the morning the legs felt good but by 3km I was hurting and really struggled on the second "climb" and lost most of my time there, I recovered a bit and actually hung in on the return home, but that bad 2km to the turnaround really hurt me, costing almost 30s over the winner (according to Strava), oooff. A day I was hoping for a top 5 or 10 turned in to a bad day, +:48 in 31st. Mike didn't fair much better +:39s in 22nd. Chad had a mechanical issue and limped home well back, losing hope for a high overall finish. We had two really good days, setting us up well if we could get through the TT, but we dropped the ball. No excuses just not a good day. The short TT has not treated us well this year but the guys have always been there when it's a long hard race. We'll have to put today behind us and prepare for the crit tomorrow and Sunday's famous Sunset Road Race that will favor our abilities more. It's not good to lose that Top 10 GC place, something we really wanted to have this week, but now it's back to work to make something special happen on the loops around Redlands in the next couple of days.
For this interested the next two days should have complete live video feeds of the races. Tomorrow's criterium starts at 4:30 (7:30 E.T.) and the Sunset Road Race on Sunday is at 2:00 (5:00 E.T.). The feed can be found on cyclingtips.com.
For this interested the next two days should have complete live video feeds of the races. Tomorrow's criterium starts at 4:30 (7:30 E.T.) and the Sunset Road Race on Sunday is at 2:00 (5:00 E.T.). The feed can be found on cyclingtips.com.
Stage 4 - City of Redlands Criterium
A bad stage 3 meant we are looking for some good to come out of the last 2 stages. That being said I think most of us are looking toward Sunday's hard 94 mile Sunset RR to do some damage. We've built a good team here at Lupus Racing, but a team meant for stage racing, not criteriums. When a crit shows up in a stage race we try to play our hand the best we can but we but we also know where we sit. Our hope was to protect Chris, get in a break, and see if we couldn't group at the pointy end of the race toward the finish and set up Nolan or Evan. Getting to the line 20 minutes early apparently wasn't early enough placing most of our guys in the back at the start. From the gun the race was strung out in a single file line making it brutally hard to move up. 1 long straight led in to 9 quick turns, each turn a chance to lose a spot, and the long straight at 30-35mph wasn't an easy place to move forward. I spent the race moving up constantly anywhere I could, but I have a lot to learn in crit racing and how to corner and defend position effectively and I got as close as 30 wheels from the front as we saw 5 laps to go. About the same time the rain started falling and I focused on getting home, knowing we weren't organized like we desired I played it safe and cruised home, avoiding a couple crashes and getting home on the same time.
With that being said tomorrow is a hard 94 mile race, our bread and butter, and you can expect some fire works from me and the guys. We go off at 2:00pm (EST) and again the race will have a live feed from cyclingtips.com. Check it out and look for us out front, it's the last day to get a big result and I think we're all sick of being close.
With that being said tomorrow is a hard 94 mile race, our bread and butter, and you can expect some fire works from me and the guys. We go off at 2:00pm (EST) and again the race will have a live feed from cyclingtips.com. Check it out and look for us out front, it's the last day to get a big result and I think we're all sick of being close.
Stage 5 - Sunset Road Race
The final day of Redlands brings the hardest and most famous stage of the race, the Sunset Road Race. Mention that name to any American professional in the last 25 years and they'll have a story to tell you for sure. I've been looking forward to Sunset since the beginning of the year and was looking forward to taking a good crack on the course, an ~15 minute loop, up Sunset Road, across the top, and down through the neighborhood on some beautiful twisting roads. The race was shortened a lap after a delayed start but still provided 10 hard laps to shake things out. Our plan was to be aggressive and get up the road and allow Chris to follow the big GC players as needed. The race began with 2 short laps of the Criterium course and up the hill to the loop. I jumped in a couple early moves before we turned on to the circuit and came into the lap about 20-25th wheel. After a couple short turns someone left a gap and 15 guys rolled away, no attack, just rolled away. I never even saw it, I was a little gassed, but not sure what happened. As we climbed the hill Jamis took control and I followed 1 or 2 more moves to bridge but didn’t get anywhere. Some moves did make it and the group swelled to 20-25 without any of our guys in it.
There were some important people up there but Jamis controlled the pace in the peloton and kept the break on a tight leash. Each time up the hill we could see them. It was tempting to jump across but it was so close you don’t want to put that big effort in just before the peloton catches and a re-shuffle occurs that you can’t follow. Chris and Chad kept telling me to relax and follow, positioned if something moved. Eventually a Jamis guy jumped and I asked Chris if I could follow, he said if I had the legs, and off I went. It wasn’t a free ride across though as I didn’t get a draft until I made it to the break. The climb is steep then rolls, then another steeper patch before the feed zone and the beginning of the descent. I got to the group right as it kicked again and held on for dear life until the feed zone reprieve. Right as we got to the feed zone the break began to splinter with Silber driving the break with the 2nd placed GC rider in the group. I was a hurting from bridging but tried to grab a wheel and get across, unfortunately the legs ran out of steam. I thought I was saved as Acevedo, the yellow jersey wearer, came past me with a teammate and the break within a hairs breath away, but they didn’t drive it.
As it turned down the hill Silber drove the break and Acevedo and his teammate didn’t, next thing I new the break was gone down the hill, without us represented. A huge mistake, but with the entire Jamis team protecting the yellow jersey we thought it was best to let them control and bring the group back, if they wanted to win Redlands, they had to bring it back. They spent the remaining laps chasing as hard as they could and losing guys in the process, by the end Acevedo was chasing by himself, at which point it was bad news. With 3 laps to go I started to attack again in hopes of getting a few guys to bridge or at least get up the road as the peloton’s firepower diminished and hopefully lost interest in chasing and could salvage something. In the end no one was getting away and we just rolled in to the finish, eventually over 2:00 down on the Silber led break. In the end it was a tough day for the Lupus Racing Team, we weren’t aggressive enough early and lost a gamble banking on Jamis to be able to control the race. It was a great ride by Silber and Matteo Dal-Cine to be aggressive and rip the jersey away from Jamis.
I was unsure how to play the race as it unfolded and learned a lot from the experience. It wasn’t the way I, or the team, wanted to finish the weekend but it brings an even further motivation to prove we can race at win in this field. We rode great the first 2 days and executed the plan to perfection, faltered a little bit in the time trial that I wanted to really show up for. The criterium isn’t necessarily our forte but Sunset should have been great for us but some lack of aggression and reliance on Jamis cost us. For now it’s time to reset, I’ll head to Joe Martin with a slightly different group of riders before beginning the big block with Gila, US Pro and Winston Salem, Philly, Saugeny, and Beauce (2 UCI stage races in Canada). Phew, the racing is coming fast now. Here we go.