Santiago Botero wearing the Green, Red and Yellow jersey (© Vero Image)

In winning the 85-mile (138 km) Beaumont Circuit Race, Botero moved into the overall lead, he won the sprinter and the climber jerseys and he scored his first victory since capturing the Vuelta a Colombia last August.

"I am still not on my best form because I have only been training the past five months and I have not yet raced this year," Botero said. "I wanted to win today for (Rock Racing Team Owner) Michael Ball, who gave me a chance to continue my career."

Ball, who was one of the first to congratulate Botero at the finish line, said the victory solidifies his vision of making cycling even more exciting by bringing world-class talent to the domestic scene.

"What we did here was what would have happened at the Tour of California," Ball said. "We were shortchanged and the fans were shortchanged. But there are more great things from this team to come."

"If they allow us to race domestically, you're going to see results like this time and time again. We have a tremendous amount of talent that has come onto this team to support the guys we had last year."

Botero, the 2002 world time trial champion and King of the Mountains in the 2000 Tour de France, leads the race by 54 seconds over Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United Pro Cycling). Francois Parisien (Symmetrics Cycling) is third overall, one minute and seven seconds behind.

Botero powered away from a group of five breakaway companions who had been off the front since the second of five laps around a 17-mile (27 km) circuit featuring more than 700 feet of climbing each lap.

The six gained a maximum lead of more than five minutes with about 30 miles (48 km) to go. But the chasing efforts of the Health Net and the BMC Pro Cycling teams trimmed the lead down to 3:10 with only one lap remaining.

Knowing the gap was coming down, Rock Racing Team Director Mariano Friedrick told the 35-year-old three-time Tour de France stage winner to attack.

"Mariano told me this was my opportunity," Botero said. "He knew I had to get away from Sebastian Haedo because he is a good sprinter and we needed the bonus seconds on the finish line for me to take the lead."

Botero's initial acceleration quickly gained him a 25-second advantage over the five that he eventually stretched out to 52 seconds by the finish line. Sebastian Haedo (Colavita/Sutter Home) finished second and Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell Pro Cycling Team) was third. Rock Racing's Freddie Rodriguez took the field sprint for seventh place, 1:46 behind Botero's winning time of 3:18:15.

Toyota - Uniteds Chris Baldwin was part of the breakaway and came in sixth. Baldwin was the virtual race leader on the road for most of the day. Baldwin said: "It was frustrating when my head wanted to follow Botero's attack
but my legs locked up. The race is not over yet and we will throw everything we can at Botero to win it."

Rock Racing now faces the task of defending the overall lead heading into the final two stages of the race: Saturday's 1st Centennial Bank/KWB Wealth Managers Criterium and the Beaver Medical Group Sunset Road Race. Ball said there will be no repeat of the San Dimas Stage Race last weekend when Rock Racing's Oscar Sevilla lost the overall lead on the final day criterium by one second.

"We have a very strong team overall: be it sprinting, climbing or time trialing," Friedick said. "But it's certainly going to be a fight to stay in the front during tomorrow's criterium. We&'ll work just as hard to defend the jersey as we did to take it."

Ball said the sight of Botero wearing the yellow, green and red classification jerseys (all at the same time on the podium) whetted his appetite for even more success in what is the first men's event on the National Race Calendar.

"What I'd love to see is for us to get all of the jerseys," Ball said. "Freddie takes the sprinter jersey, Sevilla takes the climber jersey and Santiago takes the overall. I'd love to see Santiago, Oscar and one of our other guys in first second and third overall on Sunday. That would make me very happy."

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Race reports

Results Redlands Bicycle Classic 2008

Stage 1

1 Santiago Botero (Rock Racing) 3.18.15
2 Sebastian Haedo (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light) 0.52
3 Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell Pro Cycling Team)
4 Francois Parisien (Symmetrics)
5 James Mattis (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized)
6 Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United)
7 Fred Rodriguez (Rock Racing) 1.46
8 Alejandro Borrajo (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light)
9 Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics)
10 David Guttenplan (Time Pro)
11 Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United)
12 David Frattini (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light)
13 Tony Cruz (BMC)
14 Shawn Milne (Team Type)
15 Cameron Evans (Symmetrics)
16 Scott Nydam (BMC)
17 Alex Candelario (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast)
18 Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing)
19 Moises Aldape (Team Type)
20 Michael Grabinger (Successful Living)
21 Sheldon Deeny (U25)
22 Ben Day (Toyota-United)
23 Peter Stetina (Slipstream Chipotle H3O)
24 Alejandro Cortez (CAICO)
25 Tom Danielson (Slipstream Chipotle H3O)
26 Christian Meier (Symmetrics)
27 Bradley White (Successful Living)
28 Evan Oliphant (Plowman Craven)
29 Anthony Colby (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light)
30 Kiel Rejnen (Waste Management)
31 Christian Kearney (ZteaM)
32 Adam Livingston (Composite)
33 Tyler Wren (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light)
34 Luis Amaran (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light)
35 Javier Zapata (CAICO)
36 Rory Sutherland (Health Net-Maxxis)
37 Phil Gaimon (U25)
38 Kayle Leogrande (Rock Racing)
39 Niel Shirley (Jittery Joes)
40 Aaron Tuckerman (Jelly Belly)
41 Jackson Stewart (BMC)
42 Stefano Barberi (THF Racing)
43 Andrew Bajadali (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast)
44 Benj Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling Team)
45 Justin England (Toyota-United)
46 Brian Jensen (Successful Living)
47 Heath Blackgrove (Toyota-United)
48 Omer Kem (Bissell Pro Cycling Team)
49 Simon Richardson (Plowman Craven)
50 Ted King (Bissell Pro Cycling Team)
51 Jeremy Vennell (Bissell Pro Cycling Team)
52 Tom Zirbel (Bissell Pro Cycling Team)
53 Chris Wherry (Toyota-United)
54 Daniel Bowman (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast)
55 Chris Jones (Team Type)
56 Jacob Erker (Symmetrics)
57 Andrew Randell (Symmetrics)
58 Matt Cooke (Health Net-Maxxis)
59 Jorge Martinez (CAICO)
60 Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis) 2.01
61 James Gunn (Composite) 3.14
62 Taylor Tolleson (BMC)
63 Nic Brandt-Sorenson (Liquid Cycling)
64 IV, Ray (ZteaM)
65 Alex Boyd (Waste Management)
66 Mark Santurbane (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized)
67 Richard England (Bissell Pro Cycling Team)
68 Adrian Gerrits (Kahala-LaGrange)
69 Jesse Moore (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized)
70 Brent Bookwalter (BMC)
71 Alexander Gonzalez (CAICO)
72 David Clinger (Rock Racing)
73 Matty Rice (Jelly Belly)
74 Alessandro Bazzana (Successful Living)
75 Cody Stevenson (Jittery Joes)
76 Max Jenkins (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized)
77 Bryson Perry (American RADD)
78 Blake Caldwell (Slipstream Chipotle H3O)
79 Ian MacGregor (Team Type)
80 Tom Soladay (Time Pro)
81 Ken Hanson (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized)
82 Daniel Ramsey (Time Pro)
83 Aaron Olson (Bissell Pro Cycling Team)
84 Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing) 4.17
85 Fabio Calabria (Team Type)
86 Markus Weinberg (Kahala-LaGrange)
87 Hugo Victor Pena (Rock Racing)
88 Will Routley (Symmetrics)
89 Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast)
90 Trent Wilson (Jittery Joes)
91 Jonathan Cantwell (Jittery Joes)
92 Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United)
93 Jorge Alvarado (Kahala-LaGrange) 5.02
94 Ryan Baumann (U25)
95 Christia Valenzuela (Successful Living)
96 Neil Coleman (Plowman Craven)
97 Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast)
98 Terrence Keenan (THF Racing)
99 Ben Sonntag (Kahala-LaGrange)
100 Mike Lange (Jelly Belly)
101 Roman Kilun (Health Net-Maxxis)
102 Tom Barras (Plowman Craven)
103 Steve Bovay (BMC)
104 Matt Seagrave (Kahala-LaGrange) 5.39
105 Justin Kerr (Liquid Cycling)
106 Danny Summerhill (Slipstream Chipotle H3O)
107 Wendy Cruz (CAICO)
108 Eric Barlevav (Time Pro) 6.32
109 Matthew Crane (Health Net-Maxxis)
110 Anibal Borrajo (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light)
111 Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type)
112 Henk Vogels (Toyota-United)
113 Andy Jacques-Maynes (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized)
114 Ryan Sullivan (Jittery Joes)
115 Nathan Miller (BMC)
116 Michael Creed (Rock Racing)
117 Nick Reistad (Jelly Belly) 8.02
118 Luis-Alejan Zamudio (American RADD) 8.18
119 Kirk Carlsen (Slipstream Chipotle H3O)
120 Nic Sanderson (Jelly Belly)
121 Alex Higham (Plowman Craven) 10.10
122 Curtis Gunn (Successful Living)
123 Rand Miller (ZteaM) 11.13
124 Evan Elken (Jittery Joes)
125 Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly)
126 Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics)
127 Jered Gruber (Time Pro)
128 Justin Spinelli (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast)
129 Simon Gaywood (Plowman Craven)
130 Dave Harward (American RADD) 11.44
131 Walker Savidge (Slipstream Chipotle H3O)
132 Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly)
133 Cody O'Reilly (Successful Living)
134 Bryce Mead (Jelly Belly)
135 Keven Lacombe (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast)
136 Jonathan Chodroff (U25)
137 Chad Hartley (Jittery Joes)
138 Nolan Froese (THF Racing)
139 Brian Dziewa (THF Racing)
140 Kyle Gritters (Health Net-Maxxis)
141 Frank Pipp (Health Net-Maxxis) 15.22
142 Thomas Githens (Kahala-LaGrange)
143 Ozzie Olmos (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized)
144 Maxime Vives (ZteaM)
145 Corey Collier (Health Net-Maxxis)
146 Danny Finneran (THF Racing) 16.12
147 Scotty Tickemyer (THF Racing) 16.54
148 Gustavo Artacho (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light) 18.15
149 Brandon Gritters (Composite) 18.39
150 David Veill1eux (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast)
151 Nate Deibler (Composite)
152 Josh Horowitz (Liquid Cycling) 21.05
OTL Gardie Jackson (American RADD) 22.34
OTL Gil Correa (Composite) 23.57
OTL Augusto Beriguete (CAICO)
OTL John Tzinberg (Liquid Cycling)
OTL Trevor Mays (Sho Air/Sonance)
OTL Karl Bordine (Composite)
OTL Ron Jensen (Waste Management) 24.05
OTL Chris Swan (ZteaM) 25.23
OTL Victor Ayala (Kahala-LaGrange)
OTL Kris Koke (Liquid Cycling) 26.30
OTL Sean Mazich (Waste Management) 27.07
OTL Travis Wilkerson (Sho Air/Sonance) 28.38
OTL Peter Anderson (Composite)
OTL Richard Speer (Liquid Cycling) 29.24
OTL Anthony Aker (Kahala-LaGrange) 29.45
DNF Mat Shriver (Jittery Joes)
DNF Brooks Ben (Team Type)
DNF Philip Southerland (Team Type)
DNF Alexi Martinez (Successful Living)
DNF Adam Myerson (Time Pro)
DNF Martin Erlandsson (ZteaM)
DNF Stephen Dey (ZteaM)
DNF Tim Doud (Waste Management)
DNF Jon Parrish (Waste Management)
DNF Aaron Gadhia (Liquid Cycling)
DNF John Wolzmuth (Liquid Cycling)
DNF Devon Vigus (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized)
DNF Brian Alferman (THF Racing)
DNF Chris DeMarchi (Composite)
DNF Cameron Hoffman (American RADD)
DNF Bryson Bowers (American RADD)
DNF Jose Blanco (American RADD)
DNF Ryan Knapp (U25)
DNF Jeff Louder (BMC)
DNF Tommy Robles (Sho Air/Sonance)
DNF George Barthel (Sho Air/Sonance)
DNF Brian Kull (Sho Air/Sonance)
DNF Cameron Fox (Sho Air/Sonance)
DNF Jason First (Sho Air/Sonance)
DNF John Rondash (Sho Air/Sonance)
DNF Tony Gibb (Plowman Craven)
DNF James Millard (Plowman Craven)

General Classification after stage 1

1 Santiago Botero (Rock Racing) 3.18.41
2 Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) 0.54
3 Francois Parisien (Symmetrics) 1.07
4 Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell Pro Cycling Team) 1.08
5 Rory Sutherland (Health Net-Maxxis) 1.30
6 Ben Day (Toyota-United) 1.34
7 Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United) 1.40
8 James Mattis (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized)
9 Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) 1.41
10 Benj Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling Team) 1.45
11 Justin England (Toyota-United) 1.47
12 Peter Stetina (Slipstream Chipotle H3O) 1.50
13 Jeremy Vennell (Bissell Pro Cycling Team) 1.51
14 Niel Shirley (Jittery Joes)
15 Tyler Wren (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light)
16 Heath Blackgrove (Toyota-United) 1.52
17 Tom Danielson (Slipstream Chipotle H3O) 1.53
18 Scott Nydam (BMC) 1.54
19 Chris Wherry (Toyota-United)
20 Andrew Bajadali (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast)
21 Matt Cooke (Health Net-Maxxis) 1.59
22 Fred Rodriguez (Rock Racing)
23 Luis Amaran (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light) 2.01
24 Simon Richardson (Plowman Craven) 2.04
25 Kiel Rejnen (Waste Management)
26 Ted King (Bissell Pro Cycling Team)
27 Stefano Barberi (THF Racing)
28 Aaron Tuckerman (Jelly Belly) 2.05
29 Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics) 2.06
30 Sebastian Haedo (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light) 2.07
31 Anthony Colby (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light)
32 Jacob Erker (Symmetrics)
33 Bradley White (Successful Living) 2.11
34 Jackson Stewart (BMC) 2.12
35 Evan Oliphant (Plowman Craven)
36 Michael Grabinger (Successful Living) 2.13
37 Shawn Milne (Team Type) 2.14
38 Chris Jones (Team Type) 2.15
39 Andrew Randell (Symmetrics) 2.16
40 Brian Jensen (Successful Living)
41 Tony Cruz (BMC) 2.17
42 Phil Gaimon (U25) 2.18
43 Javier Zapata (CAICO) 2.23
44 Adam Livingston (Composite) 2.24
45 Alex Candelario (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast) 2.25
46 Christian Meier (Symmetrics) 2.26
47 Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis)
48 Omer Kem (Bissell Pro Cycling Team) 2.28
49 Daniel Bowman (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast) 2.34
50 Moises Aldape (Team Type) 2.35
51 Alejandro Borrajo (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light) 2.45
52 Tom Zirbel (Bissell Pro Cycling Team) 2.53
53 Kayle Leogrande (Rock Racing) 2.56
54 Jorge Martinez (CAICO) 2.59
55 David Frattini (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light) 3.01
56 Sheldon Deeny (U25) 3.02
57 Alejandro Cortez (CAICO) 3.10
58 Christian Kearney (ZteaM) 3.15
59 Brent Bookwalter (BMC) 3.27
60 Daniel Ramsey (Time Pro)
61 Aaron Olson (Bissell Pro Cycling Team) 3.35
62 Blake Caldwell (Slipstream Chipotle H3O) 3.36
63 David Guttenplan (Time Pro) 3.38
64 Richard England (Bissell Pro Cycling Team) 3.40
65 Taylor Tolleson (BMC) 3.42
66 Mark Santurbane (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized) 3.44
67 Ian MacGregor (Team Type) 3.57
68 Adrian Gerrits (Kahala-LaGrange) 3.58
69 Jesse Moore (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized) 3.59
70 Max Jenkins (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized) 4.09
71 Matty Rice (Jelly Belly) 4.13
72 Tom Soladay (Time Pro) 4.15
73 Bryson Perry (American RADD) 4.16
74 IV, Ray (ZteaM)
75 Alexander Gonzalez (CAICO) 4.18
76 Alessandro Bazzana (Successful Living) 4.21
77 David Clinger (Rock Racing) 4.23
78 James Gunn (Composite)
79 Nic Brandt-Sorenson (Liquid Cycling) 4.26
80 Alex Boyd (Waste Management) 4.33
81 Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing) 4.36
82 Hugo Victor Pena (Rock Racing) 4.37
83 Will Routley (Symmetrics) 4.40
84 Cody Stevenson (Jittery Joes) 4.44
85 Trent Wilson (Jittery Joes) 4.53
86 Markus Weinberg (Kahala-LaGrange) 5.04
87 Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) 5.13
88 Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast) 5.22
89 Fabio Calabria (Team Type) 5.25
90 Jonathan Cantwell (Jittery Joes) 5.30
91 Ben Sonntag (Kahala-LaGrange) 5.35
92 Mike Lange (Jelly Belly) 5.40
93 Ken Hanson (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized)
94 Steve Bovay (BMC) 5.52
95 Roman Kilun (Health Net-Maxxis) 5.53
96 Christia Valenzuela (Successful Living) 5.58
97 Ryan Baumann (U25) 6.06
98 Terrence Keenan (THF Racing) 6.13
99 Danny Summerhill (Slipstream Chipotle H3O) 6.23
100 Tom Barras (Plowman Craven) 6.29
101 Neil Coleman (Plowman Craven) 6.33
102 Jorge Alvarado (Kahala-LaGrange) 6.36
103 Justin Kerr (Liquid Cycling) 6.44
104 Matthew Crane (Health Net-Maxxis) 6.45
105 Matt Seagrave (Kahala-LaGrange) 6.48
106 Andy Jacques-Maynes (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized) 6.59
107 Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type) 7.07
108 Nathan Miller (BMC) 7.10
109 Michael Creed (Rock Racing) 7.12
110 Anibal Borrajo (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light) 7.18
111 Eric Barlevav (Time Pro) 7.33
112 Ryan Sullivan (Jittery Joes) 7.35
113 Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast) 7.38
114 Wendy Cruz (CAICO) 7.58
115 Nick Reistad (Jelly Belly) 8.19
116 Henk Vogels (Toyota-United) 8.28
117 Nic Sanderson (Jelly Belly) 8.48
118 Kirk Carlsen (Slipstream Chipotle H3O) 9.01
119 Luis-Alejan Zamudio (American RADD) 9.18
120 Curtis Gunn (Successful Living) 10.39
121 Cameron Evans (Symmetrics) 10.40
122 Alex Higham (Plowman Craven) 10.56
123 Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly) 11.32
124 Justin Spinelli (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast) 11.41
125 Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics) 11.53
126 Kyle Gritters (Health Net-Maxxis) 12.13
127 Jered Gruber (Time Pro) 12.15
128 Jonathan Chodroff (U25) 12.21
129 Evan Elken (Jittery Joes) 12.25
130 Simon Gaywood (Plowman Craven)
131 Walker Savidge (Slipstream Chipotle H3O) 12.29
132 Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly) 12.45
133 Brian Dziewa (THF Racing)
134 Rand Miller (ZteaM) 12.46
135 Nolan Froese (THF Racing) 13.03
136 Bryce Mead (Jelly Belly) 13.12
137 Keven Lacombe (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast) 13.16
138 Dave Harward (American RADD) 13.30
139 Cody O'Reilly (Successful Living) 13.38
140 Chad Hartley (Jittery Joes) 13.59
141 Frank Pipp (Health Net-Maxxis) 15.41
142 Ozzie Olmos (Cal Giant Farms/Specialized) 15.59
143 Corey Collier (Health Net-Maxxis) 16.21
144 Thomas Githens (Kahala-LaGrange) 16.29
145 Maxime Vives (ZteaM) 17.01
146 Danny Finneran (THF Racing) 17.50
147 Scotty Tickemyer (THF Racing) 18.36
148 David Veill1eux (Kelly Benefit Strat/Medifast) 19.41
149 Gustavo Artacho (Colavita Sutter/Cooking Light) 19.47
150 Brandon Gritters (Composite) 19.51
151 Nate Deibler (Composite) 20.29
152 Josh Horowitz (Liquid Cycling) 22.28

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