It was a fantastic day in San Diego with perfect weather for the Red Trolley Classic. The 2015 edition of the Red Trolley Classic was held at Qualcomm Stadium and wasn’t your typical parking lot criterium. The venue provided a nice view of the Stadium and Red Trolley cars traveling above the course intermittently throughout the race. In addition, the venue was open and offered great viewing of the entire race for spectators and it seemed like the racers liked the course, as well.
The Pro 1/2 race had a strong contingent of riders lined up on the start line, which consisted of many riders that raced in the tough Boulevard Road Race the day before. The layout of the course made for a super fast race that required almost constant pedaling, so there was not much resting or many places to catch your breath and there was constant attacking for most of the day. However, most breaks that went up the road were short lived, as you could see them on the course the whole time. It was like chasing rabbits all day.
This race showed who had early season form and those riders were sticking their nose in the wind whenever they had the chance. The Teams that were aggressive were KHS-Maxxis-JL Velo, Spy-Giant-Ride pb GQ-6, California Giant Cycling, SoCalCycling.com and PAA/Empire Bikes along with a few other teams that had fewer numbers. However, this couldn’t stop the Team’s from being aggressive and showing their strength during the day.
Heading towards the last few laps of the race, Ben Wolfe (California Giant Cycling) and Fabrizio Vonnacher (KHS-Maxxis-JL Velo) escaped the peloton and worked hard together to stay out front with a hard charging pack chasing from behind for the winning move with Vonnacher outsprinting Wolfe for the win. It was good to see SoCalCycling.com have another consistent showing with Zane Torre finishing 6th.
In the women’s race, Denise Mueller took the win ahead of Colleen Gullick (Riptide Cycling) in 2nd and Shelby Reynolds (SC Velo).
Report by Frank Sarate, SoCalCycling.com
Above Photo – Pro 1/2 Podium – L-R – Ben Wolfe (California Giant Cycling), Fabrizio Vonnacher (KHS-Maxxis-JL Velo), Eric Anderson (Spy-Giant- Ride pb GQ-6)
Photo by Christy Nicholson / EchelonDesignPhoto.com