Coming into mid-January, the Ontario Icebreaker Grand Prix is traditionally the first SoCal Race of the season. This is an event where cyclists came out to show off where they stand for the upcoming year. With a field of 50 riders, most teams were in pairs of 2-3 which resulted in riders attacking and counter-attacking. With Icebreaker Grand Prix Promoters bumping up the race time to 90 minutes, it made the racing aggressive and sporadic. At the halfway point of the race, strong riders such as Brian McCullough, Tyler Locke, Cory and Justin Williams all found themselves in the front group of a large split of 7-10 riders. All working together cohesively, the field worked together to close down the split. Many riders were fresh enough to bridge, creating a larger break of 10-14 people. The group was now too large to be working together with riders skipping pulls and trying to catch a free ride. The peloton naturally caught back up with the group.
During a pivotal moment in the race, Brian McCullough (Elevate-KHS) made a strong solo attack with 10 laps to go and 3 riders bridging up to him on Lap 7. These three riders were Tyler Locke (Support Clean Sport-GuttenPlan), Cory Williams (Elevate-KHS), and Omar Aguilera Garcia (OSI). I was caught out of position and made my move on lap 5 with one guy bridging on lap 2. He sprinted around me for 5th place and I ended up getting 6th. Brian McCullough attacked on the last lap against the 3-man group with Cory Williams marking the other two riders. Tyler Locke chased Brian and Tyler rolled in for 3rd, Omar 2nd and Cory for 1st. With the SoCal racing scene looking stronger than last year, today was a great reference point to see where everyone stands in their fitness.
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Report & Video by Leo Bugtai, SoCalCycling.com Team
Photo by Frank Sarate, SoCalCycling.com
