April 11/15 23:54 pm - Redlands Bicycle Classic: Men Stage 4 results

Posted by Editoress on 04/11/15
 

Silber Report - Redlands Stage 4

Silber Pro Cycling team director Gord Fraser reports on Stage 4 [Saturday] of the Redlands Classic:

The criterium in Redlands is one of the most technical and demanding crits in the US, and with GC time bonuses on offer it usually bodes well for an aggressive race. We brought Alexander Ray [ARay] onto Silber Pro Cycling for exactly this type of race. Our versatile Kiwi has been scrapping it on the US criterium circuit for a couple of years now, and I was looking forward to his prowess on display. I was even confident enough to post on Silber Pro Cycling's Facebook page pre-race that Aray was going to put on a show, and indeed he did.

The Hincapie team were the first to launch attacks with ARay in each tentative move during the first 20 minutes of the race. It would take a few breaks for a move to stick but eventually six riders made the move of the day, with ARay flying the distinctive orange for our team up front. Both Smartstop and Hincapie missed the move and were unsuccessful in bridging riders across the gap, while Optum finally took control to set pace for their two GC leaders, Michael Woods and the yellow-clad Phil Gaimon.

Optum really feathered the gap professionally, not too concerned about bringing back the break but going hard enough to keep their leaders from being swarmed by some of the peloton's sprinter-type riders. The gap would hold for about an hour at around 30 seconds. Even a crash within the break wouldn't curtail the cohesion up front and the two crashed riders would regain the leaders after their free lap.

Finally Jelly Belly took control with 2 laps to go and immediately took 10 seconds off the advantage. This was going to be close.

I was confident that Aray could pull it off, and his disappointment was palpable after the race. His positioning was poor in the all-important final corners and he would come away with a 4th place. Meanwhile Silber's Elliott Doyle was protected well by his teammates in the peloton and would run 2nd in the bunch sprint to finish 7th on the stage. It was a good day for us going into the last stage tomorrow [Sunday].

Aray and the rest of Silber Pro Cycling will regroup and race the legendary Sunset loop to conclude Redlands and our California swing. It has been a block of time that's galvanized our team as a group–both riders and staff alike.

Results from the fourth stage of Redlands Bicycle Classic, in Redlands, California