Best Buddies Racing aim to unseat L39ION as dominant criterium team

Overall men's teams for USA CRITS to close out 2021 pose on the podium with the top team Best Buddies Racing in lime green
Overall men's teams for USA CRITS to close out 2021 pose on the podium with the top team Best Buddies Racing in lime green (Image credit: Connor Ryan/USA CRITS)

In just its second year as a Domestic Elite squad, Best Buddies Racing have emerged as consistent contenders on the road racing scene in the United States. Thomas Craven has been recently added as the team’s directeur sportif to create “a little bit more drama out there” as his riders in lime green kits look to clash with the country's criterium royalty, namely L39ION of Los Angeles. 

Last weekend at the Birmingham Hammerfest in Alabama, marking the start of the criterium racing season in the US, Best Buddies Racing put Alfredo Rodriguez on the podium one step below highly-recognized winner Justin Williams of L39ION of Los Angeles, while Michael Hernandez finished fourth. Then the pair jumped in a car with Bryan Gomez for a 10-hour car drive to Florida for the Chain of Lakes Cycling Classic and promptly swept the podium.

Jackie Tyson
North American Production editor

Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).