Elitewave's Alex Wrubleski (Webcor) earned her first win of the season in a classic American stage race - Redlands. She steadily progressed through the field throughout the four stages of the event. On the final stage she worked hard with her Webcor team to secure the overall general classification by just one second. Alex reported "I couldn't have done this without my team". Taking the final stage earned Alex the sprinters jersey, climbers jersey and the overall yellow jersey for the win. This victory is proof that Alex's new program is working. She's having fun and riding with some fire again. This is a good motivator as she heads into a two month tour with the Canadian National Team. "I had so much adrenaline and focus and I knew everyone was counting on me. I knew all I had was one job and that was to ... win the stage in order to win the overall."
Alison Testroete (Aaron's Pro Cycling), Elitewave's newest rider, finished 14th overall and was pleased with her result. "It's a good result for this time of year considering the weather I have been training in". It has been a tough winter for Testroete who has been living in Calgary's cold climate while finishing her post-secondary work. She hopes to rise even further up the pro ranks as she returns to her home on the lower mainland for the remainder of the season. "I have a great team and I am so excited about the season", said Alison.
Final GC
1. Alex Wrubleski (Can) Webcor Builders 7:07:50
2. Mara Abbott (USA) High Road at 0:01
3. Katharine Carroll (USA) Aaron's 0:16
4. Leigh Hobson (Can) Cheerwine 0:19
5. Kim Anderson (USA) High Road 0:21
6. Tiffany Cromwell (Aus) Colavita-Sutter-Cooking Light 0:41
7. Anne Samplonius (Can) Cheerwine 0:42
8. Christine Thorburn (USA) Webcor Builders 0:43
9. Julie Beveridge (Can) Aaron's 0:57
10. Kristin Sanders (USA) Aaron's 1:10
11. Stacy Marple (USA) Cheerwine 1:15
12. Leah Goldstein (Isr) Value Act Capital 1:21
13. Andrea Dvorak (USA) Colavita-Sutter-Cooking Light 2:56
14. Alison Testroete (Can) Aaron's 3:00
15. Suz Weldon (USA) Wines of Washington 3:02
16. Erinne Willock (Can) Webcor Builders 7:27
17. Meredith Miller (USA) Aaron's s.t.
18. Laura Van Gilder (USA) Cheerwine 8:22
19. Robin Farina (USA) Cheerwine 11:34
20. Rebecca Much (USA) Webcor Builders 12:52
66 Finishers
From http://www.cyclingnews.com/
Webcor's former Canadian national champion Alex Wrubleski slowly picked away at the time bonus sprints to claim the overall victory in the Redlands Classic. Wrubleski sealed the overall lead after she won the final sprint in the Sunset circuit race to take the ultimate stage victory ahead of Leigh Hobson (Cheerwine) and Kim Anderson (High Road).
Current US national road champion Mara Abbott led the Redlands classic with a twenty-five second cushion after the Sun prologue. However, after a tactical battle through the final stage, Wrubleski earned the necessary twelve seconds needed to overtake Abbott for the overall win, while Katharine Carroll (Aaron's) maintained her unthreatened third place position. While using her sprint to pick up time bonuses, Wrubleski captured enough points to solidify her lead in both the points and QOM jerseys.
"We were definitely the underdogs after the prologue," said triple jersey winner Alex Wrubleski. "So we knew it wasn't going to be impossible to win the overall but that it would be hard. I also knew that Mara was a really good climber but after the first climbing stage I was pretty sure that I was really close to Mara in terms of climbing ability. Because I knew that she wouldn't be able to get away from me on the climbs, our plan was to have me slowly pick away at all the time bonuses everyday and keep moving ahead on GC."
While Abbott expressed her disappointment in coming up short on seconds, she commended her team on their effort to hold onto the leader's jersey. "My team was amazing this week, they did everything perfectly," said Abbott. "It comes down to seconds some times in these races and unfortunately I wasn't able to get enough of those in the right places. I love Redlands and I'm looking forward to this race next year."
The women's nine-lap Sunset circuit race started in a heated battle to the top of the first QOM, where Wrubleski was able to win and reduce her time difference to Abbott from eleven to nine. "After winning the time bonus I knew that coming into the finish all I needed to do was win the stage and that would give me the additional ten seconds I needed to win."
Shortly after the crucial QOM the field split into a decisive front group of twenty riders. Anne Samplonius (Cheerwine) launched an attack that separated herself from the field for nearly six laps. The solo rider was later joined by Meredith Miller (Aaron's) until the pair was reabsorbed into the peloton with two laps to go.
"I really wanted to test my legs today but I knew that it probably would not stay away," said Samplonius, delighted that her Cheerwine team won the overall team competition. "It was important for us to force High Road to chase, which might have allowed Leigh Hobson to move higher up on GC."
With two laps remaining Stacey Marple (Cheerwine) and Erinne Willock (Webcor) set out on another breakaway, however Willock was called out of the break on the final lap to help her Webcor team-mates set up a stage victory for Wrubleski. "Erinne came back from the break to help us chase Stacey Marple and to help prepare our lead-out for the final time bonus," said Wrubleski.
Marple remained off the front until three kilometers to the line when Kim Anderson surprised the group and jumped early in an effort to capture the stage victory and the bonuses needed to keep Abbott in the lead. "We were happy to have the Cheerwine rider off the front at the end because if she had won she would have taken the time bonus and that would have been great for us," said Abbott. "Webcor really pulled it all together in the end."
Webcor's Willock and Thorburn brought Anderson back and Wrubleski into the position she needed to call Redland Classic her own. "I had so much adrenaline and focus and I knew everyone was counting on me. I knew all I had was one job and that was to ... win the stage in order to win the overall."
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