REDLANDS, California (April 16, 2023) — Skylar Schneider made it two for two, out-sprinting Marlies Mejias of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24 for the win in the final stage at the 37th Annual Redlands Bicycle Classic. Schneider’s sister Samantha, a decorated sprinter in her own right, rounded the podium for third.

The L39ion of Los Angeles duo had been part of a select group that split the field early on, establishing a solid advantage. Emily Ehrlich joined the move for Twenty24, keeping tabs on any attempted moves by the GC favorites, entering the downtown circuits to secure her first overall victory at Redlands.

“It was awesome, the whole team was spectacular,” Ehrlich said. “We were playing defense, its what we had to do.”

L39ion meanwhile were not a threat for the overall, allowing them the freedom of opportunity. The team began another spectacular day of racing on this final stage in Downtown Redlands, confident of another solid result.

“The race was brutal, it was my first time doing it. Every year I hear how hard it is and how iconic,” Skylar said at the finish. “Not only the climb, but you have to be really focused because it’s such a fast downhill.”

Both sisters Sam and Skylar, are known for their strength in sprinting, with Sam having had so much success on the crit scene for many years and Skylar getting experience racing on the WorldTour. Redlands was the first race of the season for L39ion and Skylar’s debut at Redlands with the first chance of the year to test her sprint.

“We had numbers coming into the circuit, Skylar wanted to win it so we set it up,” Sam added. “She got the job done so it’s always a good idea when it happens.”

“I think it came down to good teamwork,” Skylar said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a crit or a road race, the team cohesion is a big advantage for us so we’ll try and keep the momentum going.”

There was a lot of action happening throughout the day from kilometer zero. The stage did not have a neutral zone rollout, where riders usually have a chance to stretch their legs before the battle begins. Instead, it was full gas from the whistle. The sprint points classification was also very close, with only 3 points seperating Holly Breck of DNA Pro Cycling and Rylee McMullen of Instafund Racing. Breck held an 8-point lead on McMullen at the start of the day. In the end, it was Twenty24 racing to the finish to celebrate.

“Whenever they attacked we were up there so it was perfect,” Ehrlich said. “It’s the biggest win of my racing career. I have only been racing seriously for three or four seasons, but this is everybody’s win. The whole team was amazing.”

Marcela Prieto (Patobike) had been 39-seconds down at the start. Once the front group was established, it became very difficult for any attacks to stick with so many GC contenders in the group. The Mexican GC contender would finish second overall. Melisa Rollins remained in third to complete the podium for Twenty24.

There had been four QOM intermediate points, and valuable sprint points as well. Nadia Gontova (Red Truck) was six points down on Kathleen Abadie (Fount Cycling) in the QOM competition. Gontova was sitting in the top five on GC and was focused on the overall, allowing Abadie to secure enough points to confirm her win in the queen of the mountains classification.

In the battle for the green points classification, the race was really tight. McMullen was trailing Breck by 3-points at the start of the day. Both had made the GC selection group, but after Breck’s efforts to secure the jersey on Saturday, the DNA rider lost contact in the last few laps.

The battled heated up so that announcers and officials alike were checking their math to see who would don the final green jersey to secure its victory. Breck was dropped in the final two laps, losing valuable time as the gap continued to increase. Breck dug deep; crossing the line having left everything she had on the road to win the green sprint leaders classification by only two points.

Caitlin Howell of Terun Elite missed the early move and would lose the Best Amateur jersey for Terun Elite in doing so. Alia Shafi scooped it up white racing in the GC select group, working for her team leader fighting for the QOM, Kathleen Abadie.

Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24 also secured the overall team classification of the Redlands Classic to close the first chapter of stage racing on the North American circuit for 2023.

WOMEN’S OVERALL GC

REDLANDS, California (April 14, 2023) — 

Women’s Race

Emily Ehrlich led the charge for Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24, taking the victory in 20:10 at the Redlands Bicycle Classic Route 66 time trial for stage 3. Her teammates, Melisa Rollins was second with a time of 20:25, followed by Laurel Quiñones in 20:39. All three have been training under the guidance of multi-time Olympic Time Trial Champion Kristen Armstrong.

“They made my day!” Armstrong said in a message posted on Instagram.

The sun had made its return Friday, but brought wind gusts along with it. Temperatures continued to hover around the mid 50’s making for another cool day of racing in Southern California. Alyssa Sarkisov of DC Devo Racing Academy directed by Lex Albrecht had been in the hot seat for some time, with a time of 21:13. She would end up 8th on the stage in the end.

Sarkisov’s time held until the last group of riders began to roll in. Sky Schneider of L39ion of Los Angeles came close with 21:16, but it was Emily Newsom racing for ROXO that began the slew of time changes with 20:58 before Team Twenty24 upset their changes to take the stage.

Twenty24’s sweep marks the second stage win for the long-time development team managed by Nicola Cramner. Ehrlich would finish with enough time to inch ever so close to the overall GC, hovering behind Marcela Prieto of Patobike who finished 15th with only a 2-second gap in yellow.

“You never expect to win but you hope for it,” Ehrlich said. “I love the TT, I’ve been working on it so much so I’ve been hyping it up. There’s so many positive feelings I have; I was just leaving it out there.”

“We came out here a few days ago to recon the course which helped,” Quiñones added. “It’s been so helpful having Kristin sharing tips and tricks. I’m still new to racing so it fells like every time I work out it’s a learning experience.”

The battle for the overall continues, between Patobike, Twenty24, and DNA Pro Cycling who remain within striking distance. Prieto was happily surprised after learning she had moved into the GC lead.

“The race was very hard, with the cross winds,” Prieto said. “I went with my TT bike which was a good decision. I learned I had secured the jersey shortly after finished, I was so happy. It’s going to be difficult to defend, tomorrow we have the crit and then Sunset Loop, but we will do our best to remain in yellow.”

Men’s Race

Tyler Stites blazed through the Route 66 time trial course to win stage 3 for a second year running. The Project Echelon rider finished in a time of 17:43, only 4 seconds slower than he had finished on the same course last season. Toronto Hustle’s Matteo Dal-Cin had come through the line only minutes before in 17:51 for second place. Toby Røed racing for Above and Beyond Cancer this season finished in third and was the last rider to finish under the 18-minute mark.

“It was good; I love this course, it’s fast and good pavement,” Stites said. “Zack (Gregg) and Stephen (Vogel) are really smart TT guys, they told me some tips for the pacing so I listened to them. The pacing was a lot different than last year. The wind was a completely different direction. It was a similar time, but a very different effort.”

Gregg had been in the hot seat for most of the day, being part of the first group of riders out of the start house. He finished in 18:06, a time that held for a big part of the race until Dal-Cin came in. The yellow jersey at the start of the day, Ricky Arnopol would finish in 18:18 in 13th place on the stage. The effort would keep him on the podium, handing yellow over to his teammate Stites with a 9-second lead heading into Saturday’s crit.

“It’s going to be tough, hopefully the crit won’t be too tough to defend,” Stites said. “Sunset I’d say is the queen stage of the race. It’s really hard to defend but I think between Ricky and me high up on GC, I think that will help. We’ll give it our best shot.”

AJ August came in 7th on the stage in 18:10, another stellar performance from the Hot Tubes Development team rider. August continues to have a solid ride at Redlands, as he hone’s his road racing skills coming from an impressive junior cross background.

“This is my third full season on the road, I grew up doing cyclocross,” August said, a past junior USA national cyclocross champion and Koppenbergcross winner. “I think the skill sets I got from cross really help me on the road. The cold and the wet felt right at home yesterday.”

The 17-year-old has moved up to third only 12 seconds down on GC, and 34 seconds ahead of Robin Carpenter (L39ion of Los Angeles) in fourth.

“It was really windy; I think everyone was struggling with it. I haven’t had too much time on the TT this year so to do a solid ride, I was pretty happy.”

Downtown Redland’s Stage 4 will be one for the sprinters in the bunch. The men will race the criterium in the late afternoon following the pro women, before it all comes down to Sunset Loop on Sunday.

YUCAIPA, California (April 13, 2023) — Red Truck Racing’s Nadia Gontova emerged from the fog to take the victory on Oak Glen Thursday. The Canadian was in disbelief at the finish racing in her debut at Redlands Bicycle Classic. Patobike’s Marcela Prieto had been closing the gap in the final meters, continuing to inch closer to the overall coming in second on the stage, and sits 14 seconds behind Gontova. Prieto’s Colombian teammate Lorena Villamizar was third.

“There was another rider who attacked, I was able to follow and look back and I had a gap,” Gontova said. “I knew everyone was going to be hurting on the climb so I just decided to keep it going to see if I could pull off the win. I wasn’t expecting this at all. There was a chaser who was closing the gap at the end. I knew the fog would make the chase a little tougher so I think it worked in my favor.”

The stage had begun with a slight delay after the men’s race had started late due to last minute safety checks out on course. The cold and windy conditions made an already challenging course even harder. Marlies Mejias of Blue Ridge Twenty24 had a tough day after her effort in winning the opening stage. She would lose over two minutes at the end and her GC chances. Her teammates, Melisa Rollins and Laurel Quiñones took up the fight for the team finishing 5th and 6th respectfully on the stage.

DNA Pro Cycling’s Shayna Powless finished in fourth after working hard for her teammate and GC leader, Anet Barrera who ended 8th on the line. The team had planned to ride really aggressive, staying near the front making sure they would not miss any key moves. Teammate Holly Breck was first to attack out of the gate, hoping to help establish a break though like in the men’s race, she would end up out front solo for some time. The gap she maintained allowed her to notch key sprint points, landing her in the green jersey at days end.

“Overall, I think our team did really well,” Powless said. “I think we did a good job riding together. Holly crushed it, getting valuable sprint points so that was good.

“Going into the final climb, the plan was for Anet (Barrera), Kaitlyn (Rauwerda), and I to try and set a good tempo, covering things if we needed to help Anet up the climb. The group whittled down once we hit it. I took over the front and kept a solid tempo at threshold pace for as long as I could with Anet on my wheel.”

Barrera would be one of the first to launch an attack up Oak Glen, with Powless remaining with what remained of the group to cover any counter attacks. The move reduced the group down to a handful of riders, including Gontova and the Patobike duo. The trio would eventually respond to Barrera closing the gap, before Barrera lost contact.

“We came prepared, hoping to come out with good results,” Lorena Villamizar said. “We knew these three days would be very hard. Today’s stage was very complicated with the cold and the rain, so we were nervous. We rode cautiously so not to crash since Marcela had crashed the day before. The idea was to finish today’s race healthy and in good form.”

The GC remains tight heading into the decisive time trial. Gontova has a lead of only 14 seconds ahead of Prieto, and close to a minute over Villamizar. Both Blue Ridge Twenty24 and DNA Pro Cycling are nipping at their heels, all within striking distance ahead of the TT.