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Redlands: Borrajo takes final stage - Botero overall winner

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07.04.2008/Alejandro Borrajo (Colavita-Sutter Home) won the final stage of the US stage race Redlands Bicycle Classic. Borrajo had the fastest legs and won the bunch sprint of the Beaver Medical Group Sunset Road Race. Rock Racing used a simple strategy on the way to sealing Santiago Botero’s overall victory.

© Vero Image
Overall winner Santiago Botero and green jersey winner Luis Alberto Amaran (© Vero Image)

Like they have been for every road stage, Rock Racing rode at the front throughout Sunday’s 91-mile (138 km) Beaver Medical Group Sunset Road Race. The demonstration of flawless teamwork successfully protected the 54-second lead Botero had gained while soloing to victory on Stage 1 on Friday in Beaumont.
 
By reeling in a number of breakaways during 12 laps of the challenging 6.2-mile (10 km) Sunset Loop circuit, Rock Racing guaranteed the race would end in a field sprint and preserve Botero’s lead.
 
The result was Botero’s first-ever win in the United States and the first overall victory for Rock Racing at a stage race in the team’s one-year history. Botero also took home the red jersey of best climber in the four-day race.
 
“Our victory here is undeniably positive for cycling,” Rock Racing Team Owner Michael Ball said. “What we did this weekend and what we have tried to do as a brand and as a team is good for the sport and even better for the fans.”
 
Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team) finished second overall and Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell Pro Cycling) was third, 1:06 behind Botero.
 
Botero said he never felt his lead was in jeopardy – even when Jeff Louder (BMC Pro Cycling Team) and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) were building more than a minute’s lead halfway through the race. Louder later joined with Peter Stetina (Slipstream-Chipotle) to keep the pressure on Rock. But gradually, the boys in venom-green-and-black brought it back.
 
“We have a very strong team,” Botero said. “They worked hard for me and for that I am very thankful. I knew we could pull back any breakaway that tried to get away.”
 
Rock Racing’s Tyler Hamilton, who fought off the effects of the flu on the final two stages, said the team didn’t come into the first event on the National Race Calendar thinking it was going to be an easy race.
 
 “This was an incredibly strong group of talented teams that would have made an impression on any European field,” Hamilton said. “Hats off to them. I’m proud to be racing in America.”
 
Once racing hit the circuits of the Sunset Loop, Rock Racing went to the front and set a steady, hard pace that dissuaded most from attacking.  The most significant breakaway of the day started 4 laps into the 12 lap race.  Jeff Louder (BMC), yesterday's stage winner, attacked with Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) and stayed away for 2 laps.  Their largest advantage was 45 seconds before a persistent Rock Racing brought them back.  "Rock did a good job bringing those two back," said Toyota - United sports director Len Pettyjohn.
 
Rock Racing's Victor Hugo Pena said the ability to control the race at pivotal moments reminded him of his days of riding for another powerful team, the U.S. Postal Service squad. That squad won the Tour de France and several other major races.
 
“We are a strong team and as the season goes on, we’ll be teaching some of our younger guys how to do the things that made that team so good,” he said. “We’ll be very good this year.”
 
After Hamilton, Oscar Sevilla and Victor Hugo Peña helped Rock Racing pull back some more small breakaways on the Sunset Loop, the 30-strong field came onto the streets of Downtown Redlands together. Following five laps of Saturdays’ criterium course, Alejandro Borrajo (Colavita-Sutter Home) won the field sprint ahead of Tony Cruz (BMC) and Rory Sutherland (Health Net presented by Maxxis).
 
Not everything went according to form on the day, though. Rock Racing’s Fred Rodriguez saw his chances to go for the stage win end when he lost control on a downhill, off-camber right-hand turn where a stream of water trickled across the course and slickened the pavement.
 
“Unfortunately, it was a situation that could have been avoided,” Rodriguez said while looking over his nearly head-to-toe road rash on his right side. “They should have figured out a way to keep that water off the course in what was already a dangerous turn.”
 
Behind Rodriguez and with nowhere to go, Toyota-United's Heath Blackgrove and Chris Baldwin were part of the tumble.  Baldwin commented, "I got right up and my teammates Chris Wherry and Dominique Rollin were right there and got me back to the group no problem."  Baldwin had some bike troubles as a result of the crash, but was able to make it to the pit area where he changed to a spare bike.  Toyota-United mechanic Eric Greene repaired Baldwin's race bike in the time it took the race to complete a lap and another bike change was made.  Back on his race bike Baldwin finished the race with the remaining 25 racers.  "It was a smooth operation," said Baldwin of the whole situation.  His teammate Blackgrove wasn't so lucky.  Suffering from bad road rash to his entire right side, he later retired from the race to obtain medical attention to his wounds.
 
Baldwin happily commented, "The whole team is on a slow upward trajectory.  Guys are getting better and better.  I feel a little bit better all the time."  Looking back on the week's racing Baldwin added, "we made the most out of what we were given.”
 
Toyota - United sports director Len Pettyjohn was happy as well.  "The racing level has definitely stepped up in the US.  This was a very international field and a tough week of racing for everyone."

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Results Redlands Bicycle Classic 2008

Stage 3
 
1 Alejandro Borrajo (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light)    3.25.26
2 Tony Cruz (BMC)                                                 
3 Rory Sutherland (Health Net-Maxxis)                             
4 Evan Elken (Jittery Joe’s)                                      
5 Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United)                                
6 Brent Bookwalter (BMC)                                          
7 Niel Shirley (Jittery Joe’s)                                    
8 Christian Meier (Symmetrics)                                    
9 Jackson Stewart (BMC)                                           
10 Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing)                                    
11 Danny Summerhill (Slipstream-Chipotle)                         
12 Adrian Gerrits (Kahala-LaGrange)                               
13 Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United)                                  
14 Andrew Bajadali (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)                 
15 Chris Jones (Team Type 1)                                      
16 Bradley White (Successful Living)                              
17 Tom Danielson (Slipstream-Chipotle)                            
18 Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light)           
19 Tyler Wren (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light)                
20 Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell)                                   
21 Santiago Botero (Rock Racing)                                  
22 Peter Stetina (Slipstream-Chipotle)                            
23 Tom Zirbel (Bissell)                                           
24 Chris Wherry (Toyota-United)                                   
25 Luis Alberto Amaran (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light)       
26 Justin England (Toyota-United)                                 
27 Aaron Olson (Bissell)                                          
28 Steve Bovay (BMC)                                              
29 Scott Nydam (BMC)                                              
30 David Frattini (Colavita-Sutter Home-Cooking Light)            
31 James Mattis (Cal Giant Farms-Specialized)                  1.24
32 Michael Grabinger (Successful Living)                          
33 Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing)                                   
34 Jorge Martinez (CAICO)                                         
35 Kiel Rejnen (Waste Management)                                 
36 Jeremy Vennell (Bissell)                                    4.43
37 Richard England (Bissell)                                      
38 Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)                    
39 Roman Kilun (Health Net-Maxxis)                                
40 David Clinger (Rock Racing)                                    
41 Daniel Bowman (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)                   
42 Phil Gaimon ( U25 Development)                                 
43 Kirk Carlsen (Slipstream-Chipotle)                             
44 Jonathan Cantwell (Jittery Joe’s)                              
45 Alessandro Bazzana (Successful Living)                         
46 Ryan Sullivan (Jittery Joe’s)                                  
47 Christian Valenzuela (Successful Living)                       
48 David Veill1eux (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)              7.20
49 Sheldon Deeny (U25 Development)                             7.27
50 Walker Savidge (Slipstream-Chipotle)                       12.21
51 Jesse Moore (Cal Giant Farms-Specialized)                  16.21
52 Ozzie Olmos (Cal Giant Farms-Specialized)                      
53 Kayle Leogrande (Rock Racing)                                  
54 Brian Jensen (Successful Living)                               
55 Nick Reistad (Jelly Belly)                                     
56 David Guttenplan (Time Pro)                                    
57 Uthman Ray IV (ZteaM)                                          
58 Blake Caldwell (Slipstream-Chipotle)                           
59 Ian MacGregor (Team Type 1)                                    
60 Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics)                                     
61 Ken Hanson (Cal Giant Farms-Specialized)                       
62 Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics)                                    
63 Will Routley (Symmetrics)                                      
64 Jacob Erker (Symmetrics)                                       
65 Justin Spinelli (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)                 
66 Cody Stevenson (Jittery Joe’s)                                 
67 James Gunn (5 Star Waste Vegetable Oil)                    26.55
68 Taylor Tolleson (BMC)                                      28.19
69 Michael Creed (Rock Racing)                                    
70 Jonathan Chodroff (U25 Development)                        35.18
71 Danny Finneran (THF Racing)                                36.41
72 Nolan Froese (THF Racing)                                      
73 Luis-Alejandro Zamudio (American RADD)                         
74 Matt Seagrave (Kahala-LaGrange)                                
75 Adam Livingston (5 Star Waste Vegetable Oil)                   
76 Brian Dziewa (THF Racing)                                      
77 Evan Oliphant (Plowman Craven)                             38.59
78 Eric Barlevav (Time Pro)                                   41.02
79 Heath Blackgrove (Toyota-United)                           42.40
80 Matthew Crane (Health Net-Maxxis)                          44.45
81 Corey Collier (Health Net-Maxxis)                              
82 Justin Kerr (Liquid Cycling at 46:34)                          
83 Christian Kearney (ZteaM)                                  47.04
84 Scotty Tickemyer (THF Racing)                              47.20
85 Cody O'Reilly (Successful Living)                          47.33
86 Curtis Gunn (Successful Living)                                
87 Henk Vogels (Toyota-United)                                51.39
88 Alex Higham (Plowman Craven)                               51.44
89 Bryson Perry (American RADD at 54:15)                          
DNS Shawn Milne (Team Type 1)                                     
DNS Cameron Evans (Symmetrics)                                    
DNF Alex Candelario (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)                
DNF Keven Lacombe (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)                  
DNF Martin Gilbert (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)                 
DNF Karl Menzies (Health Net-Maxxis)                              
DNF Frank Pipp (Health Net-Maxxis)                                
DNF Kyle Gritters (Health Net-Maxxis)                             
DNF Matt Cooke (Health Net-Maxxis)                                
DNF Victor Hugo Pena (Rock Racing)                                
DNF Fred Rodriguez (Rock Racing)                                  
DNF Ben Day (Toyota-United)                                       
DNF Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United)                                
DNF Bryce Mead (Jelly Belly)                                      
DNF Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly)                               
DNF Mike Lange (Jelly Belly)                                      
DNF Jeremy Powers (Jelly Belly)                                   
DNF Nic Sanderson (Jelly Belly)                                   
DNF Aaron Tuckerman (Jelly Belly)                                 
DNF Matty Rice (Jelly Belly)                                      
DNF Trent Wilson (Jittery Joe’s)                                  
DNF Chad Hartley (Jittery Joe’s)                                  
DNF Anibal Borrajo (Colavita Sutter-Cooking Light)                
DNF Anthony Colby (Colavita Sutter-Cooking Light)                 
DNF Gustavo Artacho (Colavita Sutter-Cooking Light)               
DNF Moises Aldape (Team Type 1)                                   
DNF Fabio Calabria (Team Type 1)                                  
DNF Valeriy Kobzarenko (Team Type 1)                              
DNF Daniel Ramsey (Time Pro)                                      
DNF Tom Soladay (Time Pro)                                        
DNF Jered Gruber (Time Pro)                                       
DNF Rand Miller (ZteaM)                                           
DNF Maxime Vives (ZteaM)                                          
DNF Alex Boyd (Waste Management)                                  
DNF Nicholas Brandt-Sorenson (Liquid Cycling)                     
DNF Max Jenkins (Cal Giant Farms-Specialized)                     
DNF Mark Santurbane (Cal Giant Farms-Specialized)                 
DNF Francois Parisien (Symmetrics)                                
DNF Andrew Randell (Symmetrics)                                   
DNF Jorge Alvarado (Kahala-LaGrange)                              
DNF Ben Sonntag (Kahala-LaGrange)                                 
DNF Markus Weinberg (Kahala-LaGrange)                             
DNF Stefano Barberi (THF Racing)                                  
DNF Brandon Gritters (5 Star Waste Vegetable Oil)                 
DNF Nate Deibler (5 Star Waste Vegetable Oil)                     
DNF Ryan Baumann (U25 Development)                                
DNF Ted King (Bissell)                                            
DNF Benjamin Jacques-Maynes (Bissell)                             
DNF Omer Kem (Bissell)                                            
DNF Alejandro Cortez (CAICO)                                      
DNF Wendy Cruz (CAICO)                                            
DNF Alexander Gonzalez (CAICO)                                    
DNF Javier Zapata (CAICO)                                         
DNF Jeff Louder (BMC)                                             
DNF Nathan Miller (BMC)                                           
DNF Simon Gaywood (Plowman Craven)                                
DNF Simon Richardson (Plowman Craven)                             
DNF Tom Barras (Plowman Craven)                                   
DNF Neil Coleman (Plowman Craven)                                 
DSQ Terrence Keenan (THF Racing)

Final General Classification
 
1 Santiago Botero (Rock Racing)                             8.22.43
2 Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United)                                0.54
3 Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell)                                 1.06
4 Rory Sutherland (Health Net-Maxxis)                          1.26
5 Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United)                             1.40
6 Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing)                                     
7 Luis Alberto Amaran (Colavita Sutter-Cooking Light)          1.41
8 Justin England (Toyota-United)                               1.47
9 Tyler Wren (Colavita Sutter-Cooking Light)                   1.48
10 Peter Stetina (Slipstream-Chipotle)                         1.50
11 Niel Shirley (Jittery Joe’s)                                1.51
12 Scott Nydam (BMC)                                           1.52
13 Tom Danielson (Slipstream-Chipotle)                         1.53
14 Chris Wherry (Toyota-United)                                1.54
15 Andrew Bajadali (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)                 
16 Sebastian Haedo (Colavita Sutter-Cooking Light)             2.07
17 Tony Cruz (BMC)                                             2.11
18 Bradley White (Successful Living)                              
19 Jackson Stewart (BMC)                                       2.12
20 Chris Jones (Team Type 1)                                   2.15
21 Christian Meier (Symmetrics)                                2.26
22 Alejandro Borrajo (Colavita Sutter-Cooking Light)           2.35
23 James Mattis (Cal Giant Farms-Specialized)                  3.04
24 Brent Bookwalter (BMC)                                      3.27
25 Kiel Rejnen (Waste Management)                              3.28
26 Michael Grabinger (Successful Living)                       3.37
27 Tom Zirbel (Bissell)                                        3.43
28 David Frattini (Colavita Sutter-Cooking Light)              3.51
29 Adrian Gerrits (Kahala-LaGrange)                            3.58
30 Aaron Olson (Bissell)                                       4.25
31 Jorge Martinez (CAICO)                                      5.13
32 Steve Bovay (BMC)                                           5.51
33 Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing)                                6.00
34 Danny Summerhill (Slipstream-Chipotle)                      6.23
35 Jeremy Vennell (Bissell)                                    6.34
36 Phil Gaimon (U25 Development)                               7.01
37 Daniel Bowman (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)                7.17
38 Richard England (Bissell)                                   8.23
39 Alessandro Bazzana (Successful Living)                      9.04
40 David Clinger (Rock Racing)                                 9.06
41 Jonathan Cantwell (Jittery Joe’s)                          10.13
42 Sheldon Deeny (U25 Development)                            10.29
43 Roman Kilun (Health Net-Maxxis)                            10.36
44 Christian Valenzuela (Successful Living)                   11.31
45 Evan Elken (Jittery Joe’s)                                 12.25
46 Reid Mumford (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)                13.04
47 Kirk Carlsen (Slipstream-Chipotle)                         14.20
48 Ryan Sullivan (Jittery Joe’s)                              14.23
49 Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics)                                 18.27
50 Jacob Erker (Symmetrics)                                   18.28
51 Brian Jensen (Successful Living)                           18.37
52 Kayle Leogrande (Rock Racing)                              19.17
53 David Guttenplan (Time Pro)                                19.59
54 Ian MacGregor (Team Type 1)                                20.18
55 Blake Caldwell (Slipstream-Chipotle)                       20.22
56 Uthman Ray IV (ZteaM)                                      20.37
57 Cody Stevenson (Jittery Joe’s)                             21.05
58 Jesse Moore (Cal Giant Farms-Specialized)                  21.10
59 Will Routley (Symmetrics)                                  21.51
60 Ken Hanson (Cal Giant Farms-Specialized)                   22.01
61 Nick Reistad (Jelly Belly)                                 24.40
62 Walker Savidge (Slipstream-Chipotle)                       25.21
63 David Veill1eux (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)             27.01
64 Andrew Pinfold (Symmetrics)                                28.14
65 Justin Spinelli (Kelly Benefit Strat-Medifast)             29.02
66 Taylor Tolleson (BMC)                                      32.01
67 James Gunn (5 Star Waste Vegetable Oil)                    32.08
68 Ozzie Olmos (Cal Giant Farms-Specialized)                  33.10
69 Michael Creed (Rock Racing)                                37.21
70 Adam Livingston (5 Star Waste Vegetable Oil)               39.02
71 Evan Oliphant (Plowman Craven)                             41.11
72 Heath Blackgrove (Toyota-United)                           44.32
73 Matt Seagrave (Kahala-LaGrange)                            46.18
74 Luis-Alejandro Zamudio (American RADD)                     46.30
75 Eric Barlevav (Time Pro)                                   48.35
76 Jonathan Chodroff (U25 Development)                        50.48
77 Matthew Crane (Health Net-Maxxis)                          51.30
78 Nolan Froese (THF Racing)                                  53.57
79 Justin Kerr (Liquid Cycling)                               54.08
80 Christian Kearney (ZteaM)                                  54.23
81 Brian Dziewa (THF Racing)                                  54.44
82 Danny Finneran (THF Racing)                                55.21
83 Curtis Gunn (Successful Living)                            57.59
84 Bryson Perry (American RADD)                               58.31
85 Henk Vogels (Toyota-United)                              1.01.33
86 Corey Collier (Health Net-Maxxis)                        1.01.56
87 Cody O'Reilly (Successful Living)                        1.02.01
88 Alex Higham (Plowman Craven)                             1.04.45
89 Scotty Tickemyer (THF Racing)                            1.12.04

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