American Criterium Cup: Skylar Schneider and Alfredo Rodriguez light up Littleton Twilight Criterium with wins
US gravel champion Lauren Stephens fires attacks for fourth place in women’s event
Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers) and Alfredo Rodriguez (REIGN Storm Racing) won elite races at the Audi Denver Littleton Twilight Criterium in the penultimate clash of the eight-race American Criterium Cup.
Schneider made a late pass of Rylee McMullen (DNA Pro Cycling) after the final corner and sealed her second victory in the ACC series. Peta Mullens (Brazilian Butterfly Liv SRAM) took third, just ahead of Lauren Stephens (Cynisca Cycling) in fourth and Paola Muñoz (Goldman Sachs EFTS Racing) in fifth.
Schneider solidified her lead in the ACC individual standings, her 27-point margin enough to wrap up the overall title. She also moved into the sprint classification lead by one point, McMullen positioned second overall in both categories. Muñoz is third overall in the individual standings, and DNA Pro Cycling commands the top spot in the team classification.
“I’m really glad we did decide to do the whole ACC because we got to support all these great criteriums around the country and I am really proud of ourselves for getting it done,” Schneider said.
For all but two laps of the men’s race under the lights, Reign Storm Racing was in charge. The trio of Rodriguez, Jordan Parra and local favourite Danny Summerhill were challenged by a two-rider Above and Beyond Cancer squad, which resulted in Ben Oliver squeezing in for second place.
With third place for Parra, he added to his ACC individual lead in the overall standings, Rodriguez 9 points back in second and Summerhill another 9 points back in third. Summerhill clinched the green jersey as the sprint classification winner, while the group padded an insurmountable lead in the team standings over Austin Outlaws and Miami Blazers.
The ACC individual, sprint and team overall series winners will be crowned on September 1 after the Giro della Montagna criterium that is part of the Bommarito Audi West County Gateway Cup in St. Louis, Missouri. Standings and race results can be found at Americancritcup.com.
Results
Pos. | Rider (Team) |
---|---|
1 | Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers) |
2 | Rylee McMullen (DNA Pro Cycling) |
3 | Peta Mullens (Brazilian Butterfly Liv SRAM) |
4 | Lauren Stephens (Cynisca Cycling) |
5 | Paola Muñoz (Goldman Sachs ETFs) |
6 | Luisa Parra (Kingdom Elite Racing) |
7 | Heidy Praderas (Kingdom Elite Racing) |
8 | Laurel Rathbun (L39ION of Los Angeles) |
9 | Claudia Marcks (Fearless Femme Racing) |
10 | Ashley Beimert (Coalition Cycling) |
Pos. | Rider (Team) |
---|---|
1 | Alfredo Rodriguez (REIGN Storm Racing) |
2 | Ben Oliver (Above and Beyond Cancer Cycling) |
3 | Jordan Parra (REIGN Storm Racing) |
4 | Danny Summerhill (REIGN Storm Racing) |
5 | Tom Chester (Blackshaw Racing) |
6 | Cade Bickmore (Project Echelon Racing) |
7 | Bryan Gomez (REIGN Storm Racing) |
8 | Noah Granigan (Miami Blazers) |
9 | Clever Martinez (Rockland Devo Program) |
10 | Alex Hoehn (Team Skyline) |
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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).
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