Redlands Classic Stage Race - March 24-26, 2006
By Dan Vinson

This 2006 Redlands Classic Stage Race (UCI 2.2/NRC), known locally as "The Classic", was reduced this year to three stages including the new 1st Centennial Bank Time Trial, the infamous Beaver Medical Group Criterium, and the Sunset Loop Road Race. Unfortunately, former queen stage - the Oak Glen Road Race, had been eliminated thus taking several challenging and exciting miles away from this competition. On the bright side, however, was that the sun was out, the temperatures had risen, and we would stay dry for this stage race!

This year's classic would have 22 teams (168 riders), including 14 pro teams (106 pro riders), 8 amateur teams (62 amateur riders). Insert "gulp" here. My personal goal, while not feeling the best after having ridden in the rain the last couple of weeks, was to finish the race. Nearly every domestic pro team was represented in what would surely be a battle royal between the top teams.

Stage 1 - 1st Centennial Bank Time Trial (5 kilometers): This time trial, like all rides against the clock, would be painful. Having a bit of everything, it was a difficult course to gauge. The road started out flat to a gradual incline which led to the first turn and steep sprinter hill. Then you have a short descent, a quick left turn and ride on a false flat which continues to get steeper every pedal stroke Then, you hit the real climb which was about a kilometer of near vertical "fun" before leveling off for the finale. We would gain a total of 680 feet on the short course. The big talk was, "time trial bike, or no time trial bike?" "Disk or no disk?"

Prior to the start, all teams were informed that there would be a time cut for the time trial. Any rider finishing outside of 20% of the winner's time, would be eliminated. Quickly, the goal of several riders were to make it to stage 2. Despite all the climbing, I chose to ride my TT bike without the disk. I was one of the first riders to go off just after 12:00 noon. I started out conservatively, trying to save something for the climb. It didn't matter though - I didn't feel real good and hadn't much legs for the climb. I tried to pick it up towards the end and crossed the line in 11:09 - a humbling 116th place of 168 riders. That made me (in addition to velocity challenged today) the 31st amateur (of 62).

Now, the big names came out to play - and play they did! Nathan O'Neill (Health Net) set fire to the course to finish with a time of 9 minutes, 17.82 seconds! Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United Pro) was 2nd in 9 minutes, 29 seconds. Scott Moninger was 3rd with a time of 9 minutes, 37 seconds. Doing the calculations, anybody who finished outside of 11:09 (120% of 9:17.82) would be cut. Yikes - that was my time! So, apparently I made it by the rubber of my tubulars and there would be 116 starters the following day. Next up, stage 2!

Newsflash: The final results have just been posted and the powers that be (USA Cycling officials) apparently decided to impose a 30% time cut (as opposed to 20%), therefore allowing a whopping 162 riders to continue on to the stage 2 criterium.

Stage 2 - Beaver Medical Group Criterium (90 minutes): The course was a technical nine corner criterium with a slight uphill finishing straight. Typically, by the time the Classic criterium rolls around, there are around 100 to 140 riders left in contention. After the elimination escape yesterday, and without the Oak Glen Road Race to whittle down the field (and to tire the legs), this years' Redlands Classic criterium, with 162 riders, would probably be bigger than it's ever been in the past! Anybody who didn't make it at least 60 minutes of the 90 minute race would be time cut.

The plan was to get to the line early to secure a good start. I rolled to the line over twenty minutes before the blow of the whistle and half the field was already lined up - my teammates Victor Ayala and Kayle LeoGrande among them at the front. So much for my plan! The race was fast from the start. As we finished the first lap a $100 prime was called which continued the sprint off the line. I sat about mid-field the first half of the race while several big money primes were called which increased the speed even more. Several riders were dropped from the pack as Healthnet went to the front, set a fast pace, and controlled the race to protect O'Neill's G.C. lead. A few Navigator riders attacked but the pace of Healthnet was too high and nobody was able to get away.

After 60 minutes of racing, a general sigh of relief was heard from the back half of the field - everyone still in the race at this point would continue on to stage 3 of The Classic. With just over 10 laps to go I started to move up with the hopes I could help teammates Ayala and LeoGrande who had pretty good position up ahead. I was almost taken into a curb by a rider who took a bad line. Soon thereafter, 10 laps to go was called and I narrowly avoided the only real crash of the day, costing more positions.

With 6 laps to go a $250 prime was called and 5 to go was a sprint time bonus - both of which caused the field to stretch out single file and pop riders off the back. With 4 to go, gaps opened up which were impossible to close at that point, so we just rode fast tempo the last couple laps. Up ahead, Jelly Belly was taking control with 2 laps to go to lead out Brice Jones and Alex Candelario. However, Karl Menzies (Healthnet) was on their wheel and jumped with a few turns to go. Menzies took the victory with Brice Jones (Jelly Belly) taking 2nd and Vassili Davidenko (Navigators) rounding out the top three. My teammate Victor Ayala (Kahala LaGrange) was close behind and sprinted to a solid 6th place and was the first amateur to cross the line. Nathan O'Neill (Healthnet) retained the leaders jersey.

Stage 3 - The Sunset Loop Road Race (142 kilometers): The course consisted of two laps of the criterium course followed by a 8 kilometer (5 mile) gradual climb (500 foot elevation gain) to the Sunset Loop. Once we arrived at the 10.1 kilometer (6.3 mile) Sunset Loop, we would hit the 4 kilometer (2.5 mile) climb which started out fairly steep, but then leveled out with the occasional kicker. At the top was the feed zone. Finally, we had some real fast and technical descending before hitting Garden Street just before the climbing began again. Each of the 12 laps had about 600 feet of climbing for a total of over 7000 feet of climbing during the race.

Two kilometers into the race was the first time bonus of the day - so there was no warm-up! Then, it was a constant reshuffling of position as every rider tried to move up at the same time before hitting the first climb (and KOM bonus) on the circuit. Already going fast, Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United Pro) attacked the climb, which was covered by Healthnet, and the field immediately began to explode with riders cracking all over the place. I managed a decent position and made it over the first climb with the lead group which was about 90-100 riders of the 150 or so who were together just 10 kilometers earlier. We tore down the descent and before I knew it we were climbing again. It didn't slow down! Chris Baldwin attacked again, forming a small breakaway, and the pack shrunk again as we flew up the climb in pursuit! The third lap was similar with Healthnet now on the front keeping the breakaway close. I was gapped out for a while but managed to catch back on and stay with the leaders.

Lap 4, a third into the race, was my breaking point as I lost contact with the 60-70 leaders about half way up the climb. At the feed zone they were barely in sight, but as my team manager yelled, "they are right there!", it didn't matter if they were 35 seconds or 35 minutes because at about that time I was doing about 35 watts. A couple of us just rode tempo the 5th lap and recovered from the previous efforts. About half way through the race I was surprised when a group of around 50 riders caught me from behind. At first it wasn't too hard to sit in, but then realized that this group was still "chasing", although we were about 6 or 7 minutes behind the leaders already. Up ahead, the breakaway being led by Baldwin reached a maximum advantage of 1 minute, 30 seconds, and were being chased by Healthnet.

By lap 8 (4 to go), the lead group was not much more than about 30 riders. They chased the break whose advantage had been reduced to 30 seconds. With accelerations coming from the lead group, it was not long before the breakaway was caught with about 3 laps to go. Back in our "chase" group, the speed remained steady as we caught riders who were dropped from the front. We also began leaving behind many who fell off the pace and our group began to shrink.

As the final battles were being waged up front, our group cruised the last lap and a half. Up front, it was Toyota-United Pro with J.J. Haedo who took the stage victory, with Brice Jones (Jelly Belly) and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada), 2nd and 3rd, respectively. My teammate, Marco Rios (Kahala LaGrange), placed 13th, the highest amateur, and ended 23rd G.C. Rolling in with our group about 17 minutes behind the leaders, I placed 54th (12th amateur) on the stage and ended up 62nd G.C. (15th amateur). Healthnet did an excellent job defending with Nathan O'Neill taking home the overall victory. Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United Pro) was 2nd, while Scott Moninger (Healthnet) maintained his 3rd place in the overall G.C.

As one of the top 10 most competitive and difficult races in the United States, the Redlands Classic Stage Race did not disappoint in 2006. Although many riders would like to see the return of races such as the Oak Glen Road Race and other former courses, a great field battled it out for three days straight with the strongest man, Nathan O'Neill, ending up on top. Until the next race,

Dan Vinson