Stage 3 – Redlands Centennial Bank Criterium
Stage 3 – Redlands Centennial Bank Criterium
By Helen Kelly (Webcor)
In contrast to yesterday’s hilly stage that finished at 5000ft on the summit of Oak Glen, today’s stage was a fast and technical criterium held in downtown Redlands. The course was 1.6km per lap with 9 tight corners.
Before today’s race, Mara Abbott and Christine Thorburn (Webcor) were trailing Neben by 32 and 60 seconds, respectively. With only a minute separating the top 3 positions in the general classification, today’s goal was to erode the margin held by race leader, Amber Neben (SC Velo).
I love racing criteriums and enjoy the thrill of cornering at speed and listening to the cheers from the crowd. My Orbea cornered like a racing car and it was an absolute pleasure to push it to the limits. Our peloton included some of the world’s top sprinters and during our pre-race meeting, race director Karen Brems, advised us to target key danger riders.
As soon as the gun fired, the race was on. It took me a lap to manoeuvre through the field to the front where I took a few deep breaths and settled in for an hour of flat out racing. Rachel, Amber, Kathryn and I followed many early attacks, while Christine sat comfortably in the top 10 and patiently shadowed, tmobile rider Ina Teutenberg. Teutenberg was twitching and it was only a matter of time before she would launch her predicted power attack.
Seehafer (Lipton) won the first intermediate sprint, which was immediately countered by Oenone Wood (tmobile). The pace was really high and my legs were stinging from yesterday’s climbing. A lap later a bell rang, signifying that there was a sprint prime for money on the following lap. The pace increased to 30 miles/hour and the peloton stretched into a single line of pain. After De Geode (tmobile) took the sprint, Teutenberg launched. Former National criterium champion, Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine) immediately sprinted onto her wheel, while Brook Miller (Tibco) and Christine Thorburn (Webcor) buried themselves to close the gap. It took Miller and Thorbun half a lap of all out power to get to Teutenberg and Van Gilder.
The break worked well together and with Teutenberg and Thorburn doing the lion’s share of the work, their lead stretched out to 25 seconds. Thorburn successfully took the intermediate time bonus sprint and then continued to drive the break. Thorburn did the final 2 laps on the front as the 3 sprinters eyed off one another. Van Gilder reacted first, jumping out of the 3rd last corner. Teutenberg was glued to her wheel timed her sprint to perfection, taking the stage win. Van Gilder (Cheerwine) held on to 2nd, ahead of Miller (Tibco). Christine’s hard work payed off as she succeeded in moving 26 seconds closer to race leader, Neben.
Heading into tomorrow’s stage, Neben wears the yellow leaders jersey. Mara Abbott sits 2nd in GC (32 seconds down) and also wears the Queen of the mountain jersey, while Thorburn sits in 3rd position, 34 seconds behind Neben. And not to be discounted is in-form Kathryn Curi, currently in 4th position overall. Tomorrow’s final decisive stage will be very exciting – stay tuned.