Defending champion Tyler Stites (Project Echelon Racing) took the uphill sprint victory in the opening stage in Highlands for the 38th edition of Redlands Bicycle Classic.
Tom Williams (Thriva-SRCT) was second while Stephen Bassett (Denver Disruptors) placed third in the hilly 58.1-mile circuit race.
“It was good. I always loved this course and I’ve been up there a couple of times on the stage and never able to win. It’s pretty tricky timing there on the hill, got to time it right and I think I finally timed it right this year,” said Stites, who finished second on this stage in 2022.
The men’s field faced 20 laps of the 2.8-mile course in sunny and hot weather.
“I think everyone is really hot, especially in April. A lot of guys just aren’t heat-adapted, and yeah, it was tough.”
The field was put under pressure by the intermediate time bonus sprint with Stites crossing the line first to snatch the three-second time bonification ahead of Owen Wright (CS Velo) and his teammate Scott McGill.
With seven laps to go, Sam Boardman (Project Echelon Racing) took a solo flyer with a four-man chase group on his heels. Boardman would be joined by Kaler Marshall (Expeditors) and Tanner Ward (Williams Racing) off the front but the field came back together with one lap to go in preparation for a fast uphill finish.
The victory gives Stites the first leader’s jersey of the race, in his quest to win a third consecutive GC title at the longest-running stage race for men and women in the United States. The 26-year-old rider also claimed the KOM jersey. Stites also took the 10-second time bonus as the stage winner.
“Historically, this race has always been really close, but I don’t know if those 10 seconds are going to do much this year because we have a huge mountain to climb tomorrow. I think there will be bigger gaps.”
Racing continues on Thursday with an exciting new mountain climb at Onyx Summit, which had never been used as the finish for a pro bike race. The long ascent covers 33 miles with an average gradient of 3.9% before the summit finish crests at an elevation of 8,443 feet (2,573m). Beginning at the San Bernardino International Airport, the men will tackle 50.4 miles with two KOM locations on Trek Onyx Summit Road Race.
Results
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