Race Report: The Racing Heats Up: Tour De Murrieta
By Lucas Binder, SKLZ pb Pista Palace

March is Stage Race Month in California, and for us Southern Californians the first stage race is the Tour De Murrieta. The race is actually an omnium, which changes things up a little and allows people to race individual days if they choose, however most people do all three days. The usual teams were out in force: SKLZ/Pista Palace, Monster Media, Full Circle, Cash Call, SoCalCycling.com, La Grange, Swamis, as well as a full Jelly Belly squad and the Guatemalan National Team . March is also when the first NRC race of the year is held, the Redlands Classic, and nearly all of the teams represented at Murrieta would also be racing at Redlands at the end of the month, so it was a chance for everyone to gauge the competition.

The first day was a 4 mile time trial that began on flat pavement before heading up a dirt climb. On paper the course looks like it is best suited for a road bike set up with clip on aero bars, but with such strong head and cross winds on race day the full TT bike set up would come out on top. I was able to recon the course on Wednesday and settle on using my TT bike. I felt like I put in a good effort and handled the TT bike on the dirt road with minimal sliding to roll in with a time of 11:13, good enough to get into the top 20. Jelly Belly swept the top 5 spots with Bernard Van Ulden, who finished on the podium at the 2010 USPRO TT Championships, crushing the competition with a time of 10:06, followed by his teammates Sergio Hernandez and Nic Hamilton. Luckily for us, omniums are based points for placing, not time, and the time trial was worth fewer points than the next two stages, so there was still a lot to look forward to, even in the GC.

Saturday was the criterium, a flat L-shaped course without any distinct features besides some brick “cobbles” on two of the turns and strong winds that would discourage any small breakaways. The race started off quick enough, with Jelly Belly on the front protecting their leader’s jersey. The first half of the race was the usual catch and release of the peloton, as small breaks would go up the road only to return a lap or two later. I was able to get off the front for a couple laps, but being alone it was not hard for the field to bring me back. The most serious break of the day was when Stevie Cullinan (SKLZ/Pista Palace) and a Jelly Belly rider broke away and gained nearly 20 seconds on the field before being brought back laps later due to the work of Monster Media and Full Circle.

Rahsaan Bahati (SKLZ pb Pista Palace) wins the Jax Bicycle Grand Prix at the Tour de Murrieta.
photo © Eddie Meza

The second half of the race was a lot harder. At some point a large break split from the field but never gained much of an advantage due to a hard chasing pack. For what seemed like forever the field was strung out with Jelly Belly chasing hard on the front. Quite a few riders got popped off the back, and fighting for position became fierce. I was near the back when the hot weather and hard surges was too much for two riders who began arguing loudly about something for a whole half of a lap, yelling at each other from across the left and right side of the field and annoying or amusing everyone in between. One other result of the fighting for position occurred on the back stretch into the headwind when there was a huge pile up involving a few Jelly Belly riders and United Healthcare’s Hilton Clarke. Most of the victims looked like they were able to get their free lap and continue the race. I don’t know if it was the brick cobbles or cement but a lot of riders’ front wheels, including mine, were slipping on the two final turns of the course as the speed picked up. Fortunately everyone was able to right their bikes and no one went down.

With 5 laps to go it was still all together and the teams got ready for a field sprint. Jelly Belly was the first to start a leadout, but with 3 laps still to go it was way too soon, and they were swarmed a lap or two later. Monster Media and Full Circle seemed to have a few guys on the front with 2 to go, but nothing organized enough to keep the field strung out. With a lap to go there was still no clear leadout. Finally in the last half lap 3 SKLZ/Pista Palace riders were able to get to the front with Rahsaan Bahati (SKLZ/Pista Palace) behind. It was messy, but Eric Marcotte was able to lead the field into the last corner, with Rahsaan in good position a few wheels back and timing his sprint into the headwind well enough to comfortably take the win, followed by Hilton Clarke (United Healthcare) and Eric Barlevav (Exergy). Eric was able to hold on for 5th place. Sergio Hernandez was Jelly Belly’s top finisher in 7th place, good enough to take the leader’s jersey from his teammate.

The final day of racing was a 3.5 mile circuit race that was flat for the most part. The Pro1 field was scheduled to do 16 laps for a total of 56 miles of racing. All of the big teams were intent on investing in a break, and after 3 or 4 laps of racing a large break finally got up the road that seemed to satisfy most of the field. Of the 15 riders in the break 3 were from SKLZ/Pista Palace, 2 from La Grange, 2 from Cash Call, 3 Jelly Bellies, 2 Guatemalans, and the rest were single riders from Monster Media or Yahoo or some other team. After any hope of bridging became improbable, a couple Swamis riders began to take up the chase. When the gap reached close to a minute and a half Hilton Clarke (United Healthcare) started pulling as well. He would string out the field for nearly 4 minutes, let Swamis or SoCalCycling.com chase for a minute or two while he recovered, and then pull for another 4 minutes. I’ve heard that European and South American bike racers don’t corner as well as Americans because they don’t race crits in their countries, and I remembered this as Hilton was stringing out the field and one of the Guatemalans took a right hander too wide and went off the road and into a ditch. Hilton and the others brought the gap down to just under a minute, making the break just visible up the road during the long straightaways. But the break was too big and too strong and the gap hovered around a minute before creeping back up to a minute and a half, nearly reaching 2 minutes in the final laps. La Grange lost their rider in the break due to an unlucky mechanical and began chasing, but it was far too late.

In the last 3 laps Jelly Belly was organized on the front but not really going hard. One or two riders attempted to roll of the front solo but were easily brought back. In the last mile a few SKLZ/Pista Palace riders got to the front to practice a leadout for Rahsaan and to grab up the last few omnium points. Rahsaan was first into the final corner and won the field sprint for 15th.

In the break it came down to a group sprint of around 6 guys. Eric Marcotte (SKLZ/Pista Palace) was the best sprinter of the break, but Devan Dunn had been sitting in for the most of the break and was a threat. However the break was kept together and Eric sprinted out of the final corner to take the win. With his 5th place in the crit and the win on the final day Eric moved into 2nd place in the omnium GC, not bad considering he didn’t do the time trial. Jelly Belly’s Sean Mazich was the most consistent in all 3 days and won the overall by only 5 points over Eric, which translates to about only 2 or 3 positions. Pretty close.

Eric Marcotte (SKLZ pb Pista Palace) wins the circuit race at the Tour de Murrieta from a break.
photo © Eddie Meza

It was another good weekend of racing, though it was somewhat bitter sweet. It was sweet to win against all of these teams (Jelly Belly, Monster Media, Full Circle, Cash Call, Swamis, La Grange) will be racing at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, but it was bitter to know that our team (SKLZ/Pista Palace) wouldn’t be able to race against them in that race because our team was not given a spot at Redlands. But next week is another hard stage race out in Arizona, The Tucson Bicycle Classic, which should also attract a lot of fast teams and be a good weekend.