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Candelario, Pic score Redlands crit wins
Fraser disqualified after tangle with Dionne
At Saturday’s criteriums at the Redlands Bicycle Classic, the Genesis Scuba squad showed why it will be a favorite at criteriums all year long, with Tina Pic and Laura Van Gilder going one-two in the women’s race, while in the men’s event, Jelly Belly-Aramark continued to build its case as an upper echelon team for the 2004 season, delivering Alex Candelario to one of the biggest wins of his career. The men’s race also saw some controversy at the finish, with Gord Fraser tangling with Charles Dionne, and Fraser getting relegated from his third-place finish.
The men’s race saw non-stop attacking from the gun, with repeated forays by Monex, Sierra Nevada, Health Net and Jelly Belly, but the right combination of teams and riders never materialized for a move that could get away. Instead, spectators along the one-mile course in downtown Redlands were treated to 90-minutes of flat out racing.
As the race counted down to less than 10 laps to go, Health Net began to mass the bulk of its team at the front, preparing to set up Fraser for the sprint finish. Also at the front, though, was the yellow race leader’s jersey of Chris Horner, who took long turns at the front in the final five laps to try to reward Webcor sprinter Charles Dionne. And joining the party were Jelly Belly’s Ernie Lechuga and Ben Brooks, to position Candelario for the finish.
As the pack went through the nine-turn course for the final time, Fraser made his way to the front in the final three turns, with Dionne on his wheel and Candelario fighting for Dionne’s wheel. As they came out of the second-to-last turn and headed for the final corner, Fraser swung wide, closing the door on Dionne and losing some momentum himself. That opened things up for Candelario, who came around and then beat Colavita Olive Oil’s Juan Jose Haedo to the line for the win.
"The last lap, Ben [Brooks] took me all the way, and I got on Dionne’s wheel. Coming into the last corner, Dionne and Fraser got tangled up and I just took advantage of it," said Candelario, whose team now boasts a stage win in addition to podium appearances by Brooks and Adam Bergman’s, and Bergman’s third-place standing in the overall.
"It’s really important," Candelario said of the win. "At the end of the year, people don’t really remember Redlands that much, but the Redlands crit is always a prestigious crit, it’s the hardest crit in the country. It’s great for our team morale, and we’ve already had a few wins this year."
Meanwhile, Fraser’s actions not only got him DQ’ed, but also drew harsh words from race leader Horner. "He should be completely disqualified from the race. It was blatant, he was looking right at him and he took him right into the fence," Horner said. "You just can’t do that. Charles had him beat. Charles had the race won, it was guaranteed. Gord totally took him into the fence."
"He’s entitled to his opinion," said Fraser. "He’s wrong."
"Of course I didn’t mean to put him on the ground," Fraser said. "I didn’t put him on the ground. He chose to go in a space that didn’t exist. He knew it was going to be close and any sprinter’s going to close the door, that’s just the way it is, especially on a 110-degree corner. Even on a straight line a sprinter’s going to be tempted to do it, but I had no choice."
So on a day that could have been Health Net’s best chance for a stage win, they came up empty again. "It’s a little frustrating, obviously. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t," said Fraser. "Especially after yesterday, the guys rode so well. It’s just Super-Horner, he’s the great equalizer, but we’ve been trying every day to try something, we’ve been risking a lot to try to get that, and I think that’s gone unnoticed, how we’ve thrown caution to the wind, and really tried to make our results. It hasn’t worked out, but this type of racing will only benefit us for the future."
In the immediate future, however, Horner needs only to stay out of serious trouble in Sunday’s Sunset road race, and the overall win is all but locked up.
Pic times it right
The women’s race lacked controversy, but saw nearly as much aggressive riding as the men’s, with T-Mobile, RONA, Quark, Genesis Scuba and Victory Brewing trading punches at the front.
As in the men’s race, though, there was never a combination of riders that could go up the road, and that put things in the hands of Genesis Scuba and its tandem of the top two sprinters in the U.S.: Laura Van Gilder and Tina Pic.
"We really felt we had a lot of opportunities today to win," said Van Gilder, "whether it was a field sprint or a breakaway. We feel like we have a lot of depth on the team. We certainly wanted to keep the sprint jersey and protect Sue Palmer, our G.C. rider."
On the final lap, Palmer and Kori Kelly went to the front to set up the lead out for Van Gilder and Pic. Van Gilder was supposed to provide the final lead out for Pic, but when things began to bunch on the backside of the course, Pic moved early.
"Tina and I kind of switched positions at the last instant," said Van Gilder, "which we were prepared to do, and she just had a really good gap through the last corner and I said, ‘Okay that works.’"
Pic sprinted away to the win, with Van Gilder second. Gina Grain took third on the day, capping off a strong showing in the race by the Victory Brewing squad, even though in the end, they couldn’t match the strength of Genesis.
That strength includes Pic and Van Gilder, but also Palmer-Komar, who has ridden strongly all week and sits in fourth place heading into the final day of the race. "It’s been great, it’s been awesome," said Pic. "Our team is really coming together and our sponsor’s great. It’s one of my favorite teams ever. We’ve really jelled, and it’s been great to have Laura, another sprinter, on there. If one person isn’t feeling so great the other one picks up the slack, so there isn’t so much pressure. And Sue, it’s fantastic to have such a stellar climber on the team."
Race leader Lyne Bessette (Quark) rode comfortably near the front all day, and on Sunday will try to defend her 53-second lead over RONA’s Geneviève Jeanson.
