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Defending champion Tyler Stites (Venture Echelon Racing) took the uphill dash victory within the opening stage in Highlands for the thirty eighth version of Redlands Bicycle Traditional.
Tom Williams (Thriva-SRCT) was second whereas Stephen Bassett (Denver Disruptors) positioned third within the hilly 58.1-mile circuit race.
“It was good. I all the time beloved this course and I have been up there a few instances on the stage and by no means in a position to win. It is fairly difficult timing there on the hill, obtained to time it proper and I feel I lastly timed it proper this 12 months,” stated Stites, who completed second on this stage in 2022.
The boys’s subject confronted 20 laps of the two.8-mile course in sunny and scorching climate.
“I feel everybody is admittedly scorching, particularly in April. A whole lot of guys simply aren’t heat-adapted, and yeah, it was robust.”
The sphere was put below stress by the intermediate time bonus dash with Stites crossing the road first to grab the three-second time bonification forward of Owen Wright (CS Velo) and his teammate Scott McGill.
Kaler Marshall (Expeditors) attacked earlier than the third KOM of the day with six laps to go. 4 riders – Pablo Alarcon (Canel’s-Java), Tanner Ward (Williams Racing), Brooks Wienke (Aevolo), and Sam Boardman (Venture Echelon) – gave chase however all escapees had been reeled again with three laps later.
Stites additionally took the 10-second time bonus because the stage winner. Williams in is second place general, at seven seconds down and Bassett is third, at 9 seconds again, Brody McDonald (Aevolo) is fourth and Wright in fifth, at 13 and 14 seconds again respectively within the normal classification.
“Traditionally, this race has all the time been actually shut, however I do not know if these 10 seconds are going to do a lot this 12 months as a result of we’ve got an enormous mountain to climb tomorrow. I feel there shall be greater gaps.”
“Traditionally, this race has all the time been actually shut, however I do not know if these 10 seconds are going to do a lot this 12 months as a result of we’ve got an enormous mountain to climb tomorrow. I feel there shall be greater gaps.”
Racing continues on Thursday with an thrilling new mountain climb 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 on the San Bernardino Worldwide Airport, the lads will deal with 50.4 miles with two KOM places on Trek Onyx Summit Street Race.
Outcomes
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