Kelly Benefit Strategies' defending champ Bajadali sidelined
Former Garmin-Slipstream rider Mike Friedman will be the team's captain and brings ProTour experience to the squad. (Image credit: Embry Rucker)
Jelly Belly presented by Kenda rode into the victory and the top five places at the opening stage of the UCI 2.2 Princess Mamackakri Sirindhon's Cup Tour of Thailand on Thursday, April 1. The squad will look to strong overall performances with Kiel Reijnen and Will Routely during the next five stages.
"I anticipated a win but not the top five places," said Directeur Sportif Danny van Haute. "From the riders to the staff, we were happy but remain very calm because the next five days will be hard to keep the yellow jersey. Yes, we have the numbers now, but I think every team here in Thailand is going to be riding against us."
Kiel Reijnen won the prologue followed by his teammates Michael Friedman, Will Routley, William Dickenson and Jonathan Chodroff.
Routely and Reijnen are in top form having recently placed third and fourth respectively in the Redlands Bicycle Classic, a four-stage event that kicked off the National Racing Calendar (NRC) in the US.
Kelly Benefit Strategies fields four riders
Another US-based team competing in the race is Kelly Benefit Strategies with a four-man roster. Its defending champion Andrew Bajadali did not start the race due to a knee injury.
"He sustained a knee injury after training camp," said Jake Erker. "We pulled him from the Thailand roster to have as much time as posisible to recover the knee for bigger goals in May. His recovery is going well but we didn't want him to push it over there."
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Heading into the first stage, Neil Shirley and Alex Candelario were sat 10th and 11th after their respective prologue performances. Daniel Bowman and Cheyne Hoag are also competing.
"In Thailand we are just getting started," said Directer Sportif Jonas Carney. "In the prologue, our guys rode well despite not really being time trial guys. Today, in the first road stage the field split and we had all four of our guys in the first group of about 50 riders."
The Princess Mamackakri Sirindhon's Cup Tour of Thailand will conclude on Tuesday, April 6.
Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
