Sutherland savours San Dimas return

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Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare) captured his first victory of the season at the San Dimas Hospital Road Race with a storming run past his four late-stage breakaway companions to take the win ahead of Cesar Grajales (Bahati Foundation), Luis Amaran (Jamis-Sutter Home) and Neil Shirley (Kelly Benefit Strategies). Davide Frattini (Team Type 1) hung on for fifth place.

"It felt really good," said Sutherland. "We have a new sponsor, new team, and we've made a few mistakes the last weeks. There are some new guys getting to know each other and getting everything going again. This is what we needed to push the team forward and get the morale going."

The five cagey riders snuck off the front of the peloton over the final steep climb located several kilometres from the finish. Amaran started the stage in fourth place overall, 16 seconds behind race leader Ben Day (Fly V Australia).

Grajales was the first to make a bid for the win followed by the Cuban, with Sutherland starting the sprint in fifth place and jumping around Frattini and Shirley before closing the 100 metre gap to Grajales and Amaran and passing them at the line to take the win.

"I've been training hard all winter, training hard on speed work and sprinting the last few races so that I can finish it off at the end," continued Sutherland. "I hit it with 350 metres to go and slowly reeled them in. I got around them with enough time to put my hands up at the end, which has been a long while."

"In the last couple of years I've always tried with two laps to go but if you go late with one big attack it seems to be better than doing two or three little ones and you end up killing yourself," he added.

Ben Day (Fly V Australia) held on to his overall lead thanks to the hard work of his seven teammates who set tempo on the front of the peloton for the majority of the race. Fellow Australian Sid Taberlay (California Giant Berry Farms) captured enough seconds in the first intermediate time bonus sprint to move up into second place, eight seconds behind the leader. Paul Mach (Bissell) sits in third place, 11 seconds back.

"Bloody Sid is a tricky little bugger and had a crack at the first sprint," said Day. "Thankfully I was able to get those back in a later sprint. The UnitedHealthcare team did a good job of making a race for it and Amaran is looking ferocious. He came to our attention two years ago in San Dimas and I think he's one of biggest threats sitting behind me."

"The boys rode really well and it was a good race," Day added. "We were on the front from the first kilometre today and they had control of the race. The last lap, I didn't have good sensations. I'm still trying to find my legs a little bit. I was a little bit worried and the last break was a classy move, but I'm confident we can have a good crack at the criterium tomorrow."

The men's peloton tackled a short but challenging 135km road race run on a 12km circuit through Bonelli Park. Nathan O'Neill (Bahati Foundation) was arguably the most aggressive rider of the day, initiating an early breakaway on the first lap. The original move was reabsorbed back into the peloton in time for the first intermediate sprint won by Jonathan Cantwell (Fly V Australia).

O'Neill initiated the next breakaway on the third lap that included Lucas Euser (SpiderTech), Brad White (UnitedHealthcare) and Adam Smitters (Yahoo!). He became the virtual race leader when the break gained more than 50 seconds as White captured enough intermediate sprint points to take the lead in the best sprinter competition.

Fly V Australia maintained a steady tempo, holding the breakaway between 45 seconds and one minute for the next six laps. The field came back together with three laps to go, just in time for the final intermediate sprint for time bonuses. Menzies won the bunch sprint followed by Day, who earned back the valuable time taken by Taberlay in the first sprint.

Daniel Ramsey (Williams Cycling-SCVelo) took a flyer with two laps to go. He was later joined by Jorge Alvarado (Bahati Foundation) although the peloton reeled the pair back in with one lap to go.

The final move of the day was initiated over the climb by Sutherland and followed by Amaran, Frattini, Grajales and Shirley. The five riders narrowly crossed the finish line ahead of a bunch sprint won by Ken Hanson (Team Type 1).

Sutherland's teammates Chris Baldwin crashed on the second lap and was taken to a local hospital after the stage where he received eight stitches to a laceration on his leg. It is undecided whether he will start the third and final stage at the Incycle Bike Stores-Cannondale Bicycles criterium held in downtown San Dimas on Sunday.

Early season triumph for Benjamin

In the women's race, Kelly Benjamin (Colavita-Baci) also pulled off an early season win from a five-rider breakaway. Benjamin outpaced Alexis Rhodes (Vera Bradley Foundation), Kim Anderson (HTC-Columbia) in third and Anne Samplonius (Nanoblur-Gears).

"This is really exciting," said Benjamin. "We are fresh off the team camp and it was one of the best team camps I've ever had in my life. We all bonded amazingly. I'm just so happy to get a win for the team."

Odds were on Benjamin to win the sprint, the fastest sprinter of the five women in the breakaway that included Rhodes, Anderson, Samplonious and Amanda Miller (TIBCO). They worked well together on the last lap to maintain a some 50-second advantage ahead of the peloton.

Rhodes attacked with half a lap to go, reducing the break to three riders, as Anderson and Benjamin followed. A game of cat and mouse amongst the leaders allowed Samplonius make her way back across. Samplonius took matters into her own hands and pulled the move towards the finish line in an attempt to hold off the peloton.

"It was all about timing," Benjamin added. "Anne was doing a lot of work in the end. I was second wheel, looked back and saw the peloton was so close. I didn't want to be out there all day and didn't want to get caught. I jumped really hard at 300 metres to go and held it."

Mara Abbott (Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY12) maintained a 16-second lead in the overall classification ahead of Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia) and more than one minute ahead of Robin Farina (Vera Bradley Foundation) in third place. Abbott praised her young teammates for their hard work at the front of the peloton.

"All the girls were amazing and made it a really safe race," said the race leader. "We were able to bring it back to within a few seconds and took some of the time bonuses. We're happy with it.

"This is the first time I've seen younger girls taking that [domestique] responsibility. Ruth [Winder] and Coryn [Rivera] are so talented and so strong. For them to be given a responsibility role is great and equal to what they deserve and they're worthy of that."

Rhodes impressed the crowds by being the only rider to stay out front for nearly the full 70km. She initiated an early break that included Rebecca Much (TIBCO) and Heather Logan (Colavita-Baci) although their efforts were neutralised when powerhouse teammates Ina Yoko-Teutenberg and second on general classification, Evenlyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia), tried to bridge across.

"That was not good," said Abbott. "I saw them going up and Ina is a very tricky pack rider, it's good to be on her wheel. I didn't get there in time. When I got to the front Kat [Carroll] was there and Colavita helped us out too."

Rhodes pushed on and wound up in the second move of the day, the winning break. She was joined by Samplonius, Miller, Benjamin and Anderson.

"I didn't think it was a good break because I lost so much time, I was two minutes down," said Anderson. "Once the break was established, good, we needed to have someone come across or something because I was not the best one in the group either. I wasn't going to get in the leaders jersey. In the beginning I didn't work and I was hoping they were going to come. On the last lap I started rolling through."

The San Dimas Stage Race concludes tomorrow at the Incycle Bike Stores-Cannondale Bicycles criterium held in downtown San Dimas.

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