Winning the U23 Best Young Riders Title and Jersey
The first annual Victorville Omnium started with a short, fast uphill time trial. The 5.5 mile (8.8km) course with over 650ft (200m) of climbing was won by Samuel Boardman (Legion of LA) with a time of 12.40. I was able to take 7th and go into the U23 white jersey.
Day 2 was a 6-mile (9.5km) loop with technical corners and a small climb. CS Velo had 10 riders making them by far the largest team. CS Velo raced smart to continually attack the field and the defending yellow jersey of Samuel Boardman (Legion of LA). This continued until two CS Velo riders were able to create a gap. My SoCalCycling.com Team teammate Jacob Longo was able to keep the gap small and help set me up to bridge across to the breakaway after an omnium points sprint. I was followed by another two CS Velo riders making the front group four CS Velo riders and me. After lap seven of thirteen, the CS Velo riders attacked me until they were able to get separation and they rode themselves to sweep the podium. I was left to solo the rest of the race and was able to hold off the chasing field solidifying my GC lead in the U23 white jersey.
Starting the final day, CS Velo had the top four spots in GC leaving Samuel Boardman, Drake Duel (CS Velo), and myself tied in points for 5th place. The third and final race was a technical six-corner 1-mile (1.6 km) criterium. High wind speeds quickly broke the race apart. Feeling the fatigue from the previous day I wasn’t able to stay in the front group and fell back to the chase group. My SoCalCycling.com Team teammate Blake Bailey drove the pace in the chase group and kept me out of trouble. In the front group, William Cooper (CS Velo) was able to solo to victory with his teammates Allan Schroeder and Amaette Iffiok-Obong Nsek taking the remaining podium spots. John Borstelman of CS Velo placed 7th in the crit which earned him enough points to secure his win in the general classification.
Thanks to my teammates at the SoCalCycling.com Team I was able to secure the win in the U23 category and win my first-ever leader’s jersey!
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Report By Aden Wardrop, SoCalCycling.com Team
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