The Redlands Classic

11th April 2008

Due to the cancellation of April's Premier Calendar races, Plowman Craven have escaped the winter weather to take part in three races in sunny California.

Pro Crit

Team Plowman Craven makes hay while the sun shines

Team Plowman Craven riders Tony Gibb and James Millard competed in the Redlands Pro Criterium in California. At a numerical disadvantage from the start, the duo set about the race in aggressive style with constant attacks. Within the first 10min Millard was in a 2 man move with U.S. crit specialist, Australian Hilton Clarke from Toyota United. The pair set about building a 30 second lead before being joined by a third rider. But with Rock Racing having 9 riders the race and no presence in the lead trio they began to ride to nullify the breakaway's advantage.

After several laps with the pace high the leader's advantage was reduced before eventually being reeled in. With several strong attacks being made by Gibb the pressure was showing on the riders faces as they flashed past spectators on the start finish line, but eventually Team Captain Gibb dragged a small group away. A few laps later the group was joined by 3 other riders including team mate Millard, but again the major teams massed behind bringing the group back to the peloton once more. Before the group could be captured the bell was rung indicating a prime prize and with Millard moving to the front of the group at 500 metres to go he led sprinter Gibb through the last few corners before dropping him off with 100metres to go, with Gibb taking the $1000 prize with ease.

As the break was recaptured a counter attack broke free from the peloton and quickly rode to a 30 second gap. The intrepid duo were heavily marked and unable to make contact with the leading four despite several attempts. With Millard again leading Gibb into the last corner for yet another $1000 prime Gibb opened up a large advantage and quickly set about trying to make contact with the leaders. As the riders behind sensed the danger of Gibb making contact the pace was ramped up with Rock Racing sending the entire team to the head of the peloton bringing Gibb back on the penultimate lap.

Gibb when asked about his current condition said: "It was good to get back racing and be strong and competitive; I'm pleased with where my form is right now given my long term goals for this year."

Stage 4 - 6th April 2008

The final stage of the Redlands Classic stage race in California was a day blighted by bad fortune for Team Plowman Craven.

The stage consisted of 12 circuits of 11km with one major climb each lap and numerous twists and turns which caused havoc with in the peloton. From the first few kilometres there were crashes. Only a few miles into the race there was a large crash which felled 32 riders including Plowman Craven's Tom Barras, Simon Gaywood, Alex Higham and Neil Coleman who were moving towards the front of the race.

The race was fragmenting under the pressure applied at the front and crashes from within the field. With Coleman swiftly rejoining the fast moving peloton the rest of the battle-scarred team bravely chased in an effort to rejoin Richardson, Oliphant and Coleman at the head of affairs but to no avail. With Rock Racing trying to control the race to give Botero overall victory the pace was hoting up as other teams tried to wrestle the jersey from the Columbian's shoulders.

With the peloton rapidly shrinking in size, there was another crash close to the front as seven riders went down including Plowman Craven's Richardson. Springing back up rapidly, Richardson received a replacement wheel from the Mavic neutral service vehicle, as for this stage there was no race convoy, while Coleman, sensing the danger to the teams overall ambitions, dropped back in an effort to pace Richardson back to the diminishing group. Once again the group was moving so rapidly that making a return was nigh on impossible, leaving only Oliphant in the peloton which by now was reduced from 148 to 25 riders with 3 laps to go.

As Oliphant crested the main climb with the race entering it's finale he suffered a puncture; again receiving neutral service from Mavic he set off in pursuit. With the group travelling at speed in excess of 80kph on the technical descent Oliphant was pushing his Pinnacle bicycle to the limits to make contact. After 20 minutes of trying he realised that it was a fruitless task and rode into the finish.

The stage was won by Alejandro Borrajo from the Colavita-Sutter team in a sprint from the group that Oliphant would have almost certainly of finished in, with overall victory going to Botero.

Oliphant stated after the stage: "With only a few laps to go I was feeling good and well positioned to bring home a strong performance to thank the team for all their hard work of late and to ease their misfortune. I was disappointed to puncture at such a late and vital stage in the race, but that's bike racing."

Team Manager Garry Beckett was philosophical: "We came to Redlands in good condition but on this occasion luck was not on our side as one by one we lost riders due to misfortune. There are a lot of positive things we can take from this experience, the race organisation was really complimentary about our attacking style and we look forward to forging a strong link with them in the future".

Final General Classification

1 Santiago Botero (Rock Racing)
2 Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United)
3 Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell)
4 Rory Sutherland (Health Net-Maxxis)
5 Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United)
6 Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing)
7 Luis Alberto Amaran (Colavita Sutter-Cooking Light)
8 Justin England (Toyota-United)
9 Tyler Wren (Colavita Sutter-Cooking Light)
10 Peter Stetina (Slipstream-Chipotle)
71 Evan Oliphant (Plowman Craven)
88 Alex Higham (Plowman Craven)

Stage 3 - 5th April 2008

Day three of the Redlands Classic saw Downtown Redlands experiencing criterium fever, as Plowman Craven and some of the world's finest bike riders blasted around a 1.6km figure of eight circuit in a race to the death lasting ninety minutes.

With Rock Racing out to defend Botero's overall lead the pace was furious from the first lap. The field quickly stretched into a long line as their entire squad set the pace in an effort to deter the other teams from attacking. However the pace was not quite fast enough to prevent Plowman Craven's Simon Richardson from firing the first warning shot of the race once again: Richardson saw his opportunity and launched himself down the left hand side of the long finish straight, but after a number of laps the small group that Richardson found himself in was absorbed by the fast moving peloton.

As the pace began to increase, Tom Barras launched another attack which was countered by Luis Alberto Amaran from the Colavita Sutter Team, but only after he had taken the $300 prime. Amaran's lead slowly increased lap after lap untill he was joined by 3 other companions. With the leaders sitting at 45 seconds there was panic in the peloton as Kelly Benefit joined Rock Racing to try to pull back the quartet. One by one riders were ejected from the head of the peloton and the task was taken up by Toyota United to try to put Chris Baldwin into the leaders jersey. The resulting backlash saw the 150 strong field split to pieces as Plowman Craven tried to position Gaywood for the sprint finish.

The front four had their lead reduced rapidly holding on to a slender 15 second gap going into the last lap, as the sprinters followed their lead out trains. All eyes were on the last corner to see who would appear first, spectators strained to catch a glimpse of the action and saw only two of the 4 emerge with 2 of the breakaway coming to grief in the second to last corner. American Jeff Louder (BMC) lead out the sprint from the breakaway instigator Amaran, with Louder victorious only 11 seconds ahead of the main field containing Oliphant, Richardson, Barras and Gaywood, the latter impeded in the hectic bunch finish.

Plowman Craven's Higham and Coleman finished a few seconds later content with a good days work. The General classification remains largely unchanged.

After the race Simon Gaywood commrnted: "It was another super fast stage. The team made as much of the racing as they could, but the race was destined to stay together. The final lap was mayhem - we were in a great position but today luck just wasn't on our side."

Team Manager Garry Beckett added: "The criterium style of racing is a great crowd pleaser and a style of racing the team excels at, but having a criterium within this stage race changed our tactics considerably. We aimed to keep our leaders out of danger and tried to seek out a small breakaway. With it being in the interest of the larger American teams to keep the race together attempts to gain time by anyone considered a threat were quickly quashed."

Stage 2 - 4th April 2008

Redlands Classic | Photo © Redland Classic Website Under blue skies and warm temperatures the Plowman Craven team rolled out of Beaumont, California for the start of the first road stage of the Redlands Classic.

The pace was furious from the start as the race got underway covering the first of five 27km laps. Shortly after 5km Plowman Craven's best placed rider in the general classification, Simon Richardson, forced the a small group of three riders from the swiftly moving peloton, the trio quickly gaining a small lead before the leading teams sensed the danger and the break was recaptured after 15km.

After a mere 20km Richardson suffered a rear wheel puncture but managed to rejoin the peloton after receiving a wheel from team mate James Millard. As various teams forced the pace the race stretched into a long line, with the elastic eventually snapping and a group of five riders going clear led by former double World Champion Santiago Botero of Rock Racing.

With no riders from the top ten overall in the front group the major teams seemed happy to let the break gain time before slowly starting to reel the leaders in. The race had now begun and Plowman Craven were evident at the head of the peleton, as team after team tried unsuccessfully to take the five minutes they had allowed the leaders back. With two laps to go, as the lead five started the King of the Mountains climb at Highland Springs, Botero launched a savage attack leaving his break away companions trailing behind.

Redland Classic | Photo © Redlands Classic Website With the HealthNet team chasing hard, followed by BMC and finally Slipstream, the group was closing rapidly as the riders gambled on a mass sprint. As the bell rang and the race entered the final lap the riders held on to a two minute lead with Botero a further 40 seconds ahead, Plowman Craven were clearly visible at the front working as a cohesive unit, keeping team contenders for overall honours Evan Oliphant and Richardson at the front coming into the final accent of Highland Springs. After losing Alex Higham to a puncture the team placed Oliphant and Richardson into a split of 50 or so riders as the group tore off of the top of the climb with 8km to go.

As the race entered the final kilometre Botero was still alone and riding his first victory of the season some 50 seconds ahead of the chasing four, with the group containing Richardson and Oliphant 1.45 behind Columbian Botero. In the final hectic sprint to the line Oliphant placed 28th with Richardson in 49th with the rest of the team finishing a few minutes later after sacrificing themselves for the benefit of the team.

Team Manager Garry Beckett commented: "Today the team showed great commitment to a common goal, each one of the riders sacrificed themselves in turn for both Evan and Simon, and I think it shows the team ethic we have within the squad".

Read Gibby's Tour of Britian blog - click here
Read Milly's Tour of Britian blog - click here

Plowman Craven's progress can be followed on a live feed at http://www.redlandsclassic.com

Stage 1 - 3rd April 2008

Redland Classic | Photo © Redlands Classic Website Today (3rd April) saw Plowman Craven commence their first American offensive with the stage one prologue of the Redlands Classic in California. Held over five kilometres of heavy roads and steep gradients the prologue saw the riders climbing over 600ft to the summit finish at 2100ft. The colourful Impsport clothing drew as much attention from assembled spectators and press at the stage depart as the media savvy owner of the Rock Racing Team, Michael Ball.

As the clock came up to 12 noon the excitement grew as Plowman Craven rider James Millard arrived in the start gate as the first rider of the 2008 edition. At 12.10 Millard powered down the ramp as the race commenced, stopping the clock at 11.18. At the same time team mate Simon Gaywood started his effort at the bottom of the savage slopes, eventually finishing one second in front of team mate Millard.

With riders coming in thick and fast and the lead changed many times as the riders battled for the first leader's jersey of the tour, Australian Ben Day of the Toyota-United Team threw his hat into the ring with 9.53 to take the lead. Shortly afterwards Plowman Craven's Alex Higham clocked 10.51, while twenty minutes later Scotland's Evan Oliphant recorded 10.31 for an eventual 47th place.

As the last few riders left the start house, hill climb specialist Simon Richardson hammered down the starting ramp followed only 30 seconds later by world famous specialist Tom Danielson. Richardson from Bristol powered up the climb losing a mere nine seconds to the slightly built Danielson, and putting clear distance between specialists Tyler Hamilton and Hugo Victor Pena from Rock Racing.

Richardson was pleased with his efforts although he rued lost seconds that could have moved him up the General Classification: "It's always disappointing when you analyse your performance and you see points along the course that you could of saved vital seconds on, but I think the performances from the team show we are all ready and raring to go in the coming stages".

As the event came to a close Rory Sutherland of Health Net-Maxxis clocked 9.51 to take the stage victory. After the Stage, Team Manager Garry Beckett commented: "After arriving in the States a few days ago it was great to finally get the racing underway. This is an important step for us and while we respect the level of the competition, we are here to show ourselves as much as possible and help promote Plowman Craven in the U.S.".

Stage 1 Result

1. Rory Sutherland, Health Net-Maxxis, at 9:51.7
2. Ben Day, Toyota-United, at 0:00:02
3. Dominique Rollin, Toyota-United, at 0:00:09
4. Oscar Sevilla, Rock Racing, at 0:00:09
5. Benjamin Jacques-Maynes, Bissell Pro Cycling Team, at 0:00:13
26. Simon Richardson, Plowman Craven, at 0:00:32
47. Evan Oliphant, Plowman Craven, at 0:00:40
84. Alex Higham, Plowman Craven, at 0:01:00
125. Simon Gaywood, Plowman Craven, at 0:01:26
126. James Millard, Plowman Craven, at 0:01:27
132. Tony Gibb, Plowman Craven, at 0:01:31
142. Tom Barras, Plowman Craven, at 0:01:41
147. Neil Coleman, Plowman Craven, at 0:01:45