With dark clouds looming overhead, CBR’s first circuit race was a big hit with the riders as the rain luckily stayed away.
The CBR Circuit Race had a good-sized field of about 80 riders that would test the field over time, as there was much more climbing added to the course than CBR’s typical criterium courses.
With Legion of Los Angeles racing with a full squad, it was going to be challenging to unseat them if it came down to a sprint.
With the race being an hour and twenty minutes long, it would have given riders time to dish out plenty of attacks had it been the normal CBR course with less climbing and distance each lap. However, with the Legion of Los Angeles team having a full squad at the race the rest of the peloton would be on lockdown!
Subaru-Santa Monica, Team Six and SBBC powered by Spinergy teams brought plenty of riders to try to make an impact on how the day would possibly play out.
For the SoCalCycling.com Team, we had five riders where three riders had just arrived in California a few days before. As a Director, I wanted to just see how the Team would race with each other and then see what the rider’s strengths were. I already had known what each rider’s strengths were, but wanted to see where they were on fitness and how well the riders gelled.
With the new 1.5-mile circuit course, Legion would control the race pretty much from start to finish and neutralized any moves that attempted to go up the road. However, this didn’t stop a few of the strong guys from trying to get up the road.
However, with nine riders from Legion of Los Angeles, they would cradle their sprinters Justin Williams and Cory Williams for the final sprint which worked out for them. However, I think with a little more rest and some more fine-tuning in the training there will be some riders that might break the dominance being held by the Legion of Los Angeles Team.
The SoCalCycling.com Team has built a versatile team with the vision of being competitive in the road races, as well as criterium and circuit races.
With no breaks being able to stay away for more than a couple of laps due to a brisk pace set by Legion of Los Angeles, it was going to come down to a sprint finish. With Justin and Cory Williams hanging out behind their team for most of the race, they had plenty in reserve to deliver Cory (Legion of Los Angeles) to the line in the top slot with Rene Corella (SoCalCycling.com Team) and Luis Javelly (SoCalCycling.com Team) putting a little heat on them in the sprint to finish 2nd and 3rd for the day to round out the podium.
It was good to see the new riders for the 2020 SoCalCycling.com Team come together as our first race and am looking forward to having a full squad at the Tour of Murrieta this coming weekend!
SoCalCycling.com Team Sponsors:
SoCalCycling.com, Jenson USA, Law Firm of Richard Duquette, Borah TeamWear, Bottecchia USA, Clif Bar, Pacific Premier Bank, Full Speed Ahead, Vision, KMC Chain, Gizmo Cycling, ABUS, Larsen’s Restaurants, Continental Tires, Rocky Mounts, NRC, Crono, SCC Slick, Echelon Design
Report by Frank Sarate / SoCalCycling.com Team
