Mara Roldan (Cynisca Biking) took out the opening stage of the thirty eighth Redlands Bicycle Traditional, profitable the hilly Highlands Circuit in a bunch dash.
The Canadian out-paced Maeghan Easler (DNA Professional Biking) and Alia Shafi (Fount Biking Information) to assert the victory by just a few bike lengths within the uphill dash of the 39.2-mile race.
“We’re all the time going for the win, however I stunned myself somewhat bit at the moment, I struggled with some illness coming at the moment, so I used to be like somewhat bit anxious about my preparation, however we’ve a strong workforce,” Roldan mentioned after the stage.
“We had a optimistic mindset and everybody actually gave it the whole lot. So, I am actually pleased. I could not be extra happy with the workforce at the moment.”
One of many largest girls’s professional fields in years for the ladies’s stage race, greater than 130 riders on 21 groups took the beginning beneath sunny skies and heat temperatures hovering across the 80°F mark. Assaults peppered the race however the discipline stayed collectively on the 14 laps of the two.8-mile course.
Roldan and her workforce stayed protected and quiet within the discipline ready for the ultimate push to the road, and the anticipated accelerations which didn’t occur.
“I used to be fairly stunned truthfully as a result of not lots of people went laborious on the second to final nook, I all the time anticipating them to go actually laborious. They began to maneuver down the descent.
“After which as we bought into the chicane, Claire [Windsor] got here up, actually positioned me effectively in the direction of the entrance of the pack. We used some good communication and simply in the direction of the underside right here, she gave it the whole lot to get me to the entrance and he or she mentioned, go and I simply went, I type of used the opposite workforce’s wheel somewhat bit after which simply gave the whole lot up the climb.”
The victory offers Roldan the primary chief’s jersey of the race.
Racing continues on Thursday with an thrilling new mountain climb for stage 2 at Onyx Summit, which had by no means been used because the end for a professional bike race. The lengthy ascent covers 33 miles with a mean gradient of three.9% earlier than the summit end crests at an elevation of 8,443 ft (2,573m). Starting in San Bernardino, the ladies will deal with 40 miles with two QOM places on Trek Onyx Summit Street Race.
“I believe it is gonna be fascinating with that large climb [on stage 2], however we’ve loads of competitors this yr and I am excited to see the place it mixes up and good luck to everyone on the market,” Shafi commented.
Outcomes
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