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Mara Roldan (Cynisca Cycling) took out the opening stage of the 38th Redlands Bicycle Classic, winning the hilly Highlands Circuit in a group sprint.
The Canadian out-paced Maeghan Easler (DNA Pro Cycling) and Alia Shafi (Fount Cycling Guide) to claim the victory by a few bike lengths in the uphill sprint of the 39.2-mile race.
“We’re always going for the win, but I surprised myself a little bit today, I struggled with some sickness coming today, so I was like a little bit anxious about my preparation, but we have a solid team,” Roldan said after the stage.
“We had a positive mindset and everyone really gave it everything. So, I’m really happy. I couldn’t be more proud of the team today.”
One of the largest women’s pro fields in years for the women’s stage race, more than 130 riders on 21 teams took the start under sunny skies and warm temperatures hovering around the 80°F mark. Attacks peppered the race but the field stayed together on the 14 laps of the 2.8-mile course.
Roldan and her team stayed safe and quiet in the field waiting for the final push to the line, and the expected accelerations which did not happen.
“I was quite surprised honestly because not a lot of people went hard on the second to last corner, I always expecting them to go really hard. They started to move down the descent.
“And then as we got into the chicane, Cara (O’Neill) came up, really positioned me well towards the front of the pack. We used some good communication and just towards the bottom here, she gave it everything to get me to the front and she said, go and I just went, I kind of used the other team’s wheel a little bit and then just gave everything up…
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