Ella Sabo (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28) and Jim Brown (L39ION of Los Angeles) claimed the bunch sprint victory at stage 4 downtown criterium of the Redlands Bicycle Classic on Saturday.
Sabo outsprinted race leader Lauren Stephens (Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment) and Heather Fischer (Analog Racing Team) to take her second stage win at the California race.
Raced on the tough 1-mile course, attacks flew but no riders could get away in the 75-minute race, as Sabo’s team controlled the front, shutting down moves and positioning their leader for the finale.
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“Oh my goodness, it was incredible. That was a hard race,” Sabo said. “People wanted things to get away, but they were always there. The girls just bossed up. I’m just so proud of everybody. They all believed in me again, so it feels so great to pull it off again — and to do it here in front of my family is so awesome.”
“They were killers,” Sabo said of her teammates. “After a hard day yesterday, we were feeling it a bit, but we rallied and got it done.”
Stephens increased her GC lead to 15 seconds over stage 1 winner Emily Ehrlich (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28) with Jamie Chapman (Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment) third at 1:01 back.
No changes to the classification jersey as Stephens retained the QOM lead while Olivia Cummins (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28) remained atop of the sprint standings.
“Tomorrow will be a battle for sure,” Sabo said. “But I’m glad to do it with this team.”
In the men’s 90-minute race, Brown timed his sprint perfectly to take the win. Luke Elphingstone (Project Echelon) was second and Alejandro Che (Kelly Benefits Cycling) took third.
A three-rider breakaway, which included Ryan Drummond (Competitive Edge Racing), Michael Garrison (Team Unknown), and Andrew Carr (Voler Factory Racing), built a maximum lead of 25 seconds gap but were reeled in inside of 5 laps to go, leading to a bunch sprint finish.
“Last year, I was second here, and Danny…
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