THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Horner, Arndt take Redlands overall titles
Chris Horner defended his yellow leader’s jersey in the final stage of the Redlands Classic five-day stage race Sunday, but not without a scare from mountain biker Roland Green. The dedicated soldiers of Horner’s Prime Alliance team were forced to shut down the world cross-country champion after he spent much of the day in the 88-mile Sunset Road Race as the leader on the road.
"It feels great," said Horner who could finally celebrate his second overall win at the traditional season opener of major American road racing. "Our guys refused to give up, and that was the difference."
After winning the opening day time trial and the Highlands circuit race, and finishing second to Green at the Oak Glen mountaintop road stage earlier in the week, Horner came into the final day with a 34-second lead over Green. Other danger men for him included Saturn’s Soren Petersen and Trent Klasna, at 1:00 and 1:14 back respectively.
Klasna got off to a feisty start, joining an early five-man break, and Green joined in by bridging up with U.S. Postal rider Chann McRae. After three trips around the technical 6.5-mile loop, a front group of six — Green, McRae, Postal rider Steffen Kjaergaard, Chris Wherry (Mercury) and British National Steve Cummings — had built a lead of 50 seconds over the field, including Horner.
"There was two Postal guys there, so that was the common interest," said Green, who worked with McRae and Kjaergaard to try and increase the gap over Horner.
At times the Prime Alliance crew looked to be in over their heads, but in the end the members of the team did what they had to do.
"I had a hundred percent faith in them to do it," said Horner, whose last man to pull was Danny Pate. After that, Horner took over himself, bridging the gap to the break.
After he joined the leaders, with 20 miles left, Horner and Green broke off the front again while the field behind began to splinter. Those two were caught and a group of about 20 riders formed, followed by several more attempts to escape.
Finally, Mercury’s Scott Moninger and Saturn’s Harm Jansen went clear, but as the front group headed into downtown Redlands for five short finishing loops, a small group came together at the front.
Coming through the start-finish area with six miles to go, Horner held his hand in the air to show the assembled crowd that the race was his. Knowing he had the overall win in hand, he made one last attack to try and get the stage win, as well. Jansen went with him and in the end sprinted past Horner for the Saturn stage win.
But the real prize belonged to Horner, and to his Prime Alliance team. "Other teams made mistakes thinking we didn’t have a strong team," he said.
Green ended up second overall, Petersen was third.
In the women’s race, Saturn’s Judith Arndt capped off a stellar week by winning the 62-mile circuit race held on the same course as the men’s race. The German, who took over the race lead from 2001 Redlands champion Genevieve Jeanson on Friday when she won the Oak Glen stage on an 80-mile breakaway, caught Jeanson in the final 6-mile circuit of Sunday’s race and took the solo victory.
Jeanson, who started the day more than 7 minutes behind Arndt in general classification, attacked from the start, gaining 40 seconds on Arndt, Saturn teammate Lyne Bessette and mountain biker Caroline Alexander. After just one lap, the field was shattered from Jeanson’s pace, split into several small groups on the technical and hilly circuit through the Redlands neighborhood.
Jeanson gained a maximum advantage of 1:45 on the trio of chasers, but by the midway point of the race the effects of her solo effort began to catch up. Arndt and Bessette dropped Alexander and at the base of the climb on the last lap, the two Saturns caught Jeanson.
Arndt just kept going. "I didn’t attack, I just kept my pace," she said.
It was Arndt’s first major win with her new team on American soil.
