Tucson Bicycle Classic – Sahuarita Road Race (Stage 2)
Report by Theo Obholzer, SoCalCycling.com Team
The Tucson Bicycle Classic – Sahuarita Road Race Men’s Pro 1 race got off to a frosty start at 7:30 AM, but quickly warmed up.
The first lap of the race, which consisted of a roughly 5 mile uphill drag with the start / finish halfway up followed by a fast rolling section that led into a descent that turned into a long flat straight. The first lap was raced aggressively with breaks forming and coming back all throughout the climb and over the top, until a select group of two riders broke clear the first time across the line and was shortly joined by a third rider.
The Tucson Bicycle Classic – Sahuarita Road Race was then controlled by the 8 man team of the race leader Tyler Stites (Project Echelon), who allowed the break’s advantage to balloon to 3 minutes. This continued until the last lap, in which an increasingly frantic chase by Project Echelon brought the gap down to one minute with 10 km to go. The final 10 km of the race saw the teams of the newly founded NCL come to the fore in anticipation of the final sprint. With the added impetus of the Denver Disruptors and Miami Nights vying for position, the breakaway was finally brought back with 3 km to go, before a reduced uphill sprint saw Richard Holec (Tufo Pardus Prostejov) take the victory from Alfredo Rodriguez of the Miami Nights and Reinardt Janse Van Rensburg of the Denver Disruptor’s. Tyler Stites finished in 6th on the same time to maintain his lead in the general classification.
The SoCalCycling.com Team rode well with Theo Obholzer finishing 8th in a tight field sprint to the line and Blake Bailey in 17th.
The Tucson Bicycle Classic continues tomorrow on a new course with the Oro Valley Circuit Race for the final stage.
Results
Tucson Bicycle Classic – Sahuarita Road Race (Stage 2) Results – Pro 1
1 | 159 | HOLEC, Richard | Tufo Pardus Prostejov | 03:04:27 | -00:00:00 | |
2 | 127 | RODRIGUEZ, Alfredo | Miami Nights | 03:04:27 | -00:00:00 | |
3 | 113 | JANSE VAN RENSBURG, Reinardt | Denver Disruptors | 03:04:27 | -00:00:00 | |
4 | 112 | SHEEHAN, Riley | Denver Disruptors | 03:04:27 | -00:00:00 | |
5 | 126 | MARTINEZ, Clever | Miami Nights | 03:04:27 | -00:00:00 | |
6 | 101 | STITES, Tyler | Project Echelon Racing | 03:04:27 | -00:00:00 | |
7 | 122 | GOMEZ, Bryan | Miami Nights | 03:04:27 | -00:00:00 | |
8 | 161 | OBHOLZER, Theo | SoCalCycling.com Team | 03:04:27 | -00:00:00 |
Tucson Bicycle Classic – GC Results – Pro 1
1 |
101 |
STITES, Tyler |
Project Echelon Racing |
03:12:19 |
00:00:00 |
2 |
168 |
LEBO, Joshua |
CS Velo Racing |
03:12:32 |
-00:00:13 |
3 |
108 |
ARNOPOL, Richard |
Project Echelon Racing |
03:12:35 |
-00:00:16 |
4 |
112 |
SHEEHAN, Riley |
Denver Disruptors |
03:12:37 |
-00:00:18 |
5 |
113 |
JANSE VAN RENSBURG, Reinardt |
Denver Disruptors |
03:12:38 |
-00:00:19 |
6 |
159 |
HOLEC, Richard |
Tufo Pardus Prostejov |
03:12:40 |
-00:00:21 |
7 |
186 |
HUBBARD, Miles |
Specialized Project ’74 |
03:12:42 |
-00:00:23 |
8 |
118 |
GRANIGAN, Noah |
Denver Disruputors |
03:12:43 |
-00:00:24 |
Photo by Frank Sarate, SoCalCycling.com Team