Lockwood, Neben win Redlands overall in dramatic Sunset RR finale

The final day of the Redlands Bicycle Classic was a story of two breakaways.

In the men’s race, Cory Lockwood overcame a deficit of more than one minute to win the overall. Amber Neben, winner of three previous editions of Redlands, stayed cool in stage 5’s Sunset road race and kept the breakaway in check to claim the women’s overall Sunday in California.

Amateur rider Quinn Simmons (Landis Cyclery-Trek) won the final stage after collaborating with Lockwood off the front. Erica Clevenger (Sho-Air Twenty20) won the sprint for stage 5 honors out of a group of three. They were just 57 seconds ahead of Neben — not enough for Lauren Stephens (Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank) to seize the final GC prize.

“It’s fantastic,” Lockwood said. “I’ve been doing this race for quite a few years now. Specifically this race, I remember Paul Abrahams [KHS Elevate Director] telling me, ‘Someday you’ll win this race,’ but then I remember coming out here getting lapped and crashing and this and that, 40th place, but I just kept working at it. It ended up coming around today. It came around on the last day, it’s pretty exciting.”

Kevin Vermaeke (Hagens Berman Axeon) came into the day with a 1:08 lead on Lockwood. He could not control the break on the hilly circuit, in part due to the fact that he only had one teammate to work with after Sean Quinn and Thomas Revard crashed out early.

“No one really wanted to take control so there were a lot of people attacking and Corey [Lockwood] went up the road, there were other people in a position to work in order to save their positions on GC but nobody wanted to work,” Vermaerke said. “We were in a tough position, the break was working well together, but no one wanted to do the work back in the main field and the gap opened up, and it was just a tough day. It’s a hard course so there’s nowhere really to recover, a very hard day.”

Neben (Trek Red Truck) on the other hand, was able to hold it together despite uncertainty about her form.

“I really came in with no expectations because I haven’t done a lot of top-end intensities so I didn’t know how good I was,” Neben said after the 68-mile race. “I knew I had a lot of depth to my fitness but I didn’t know if I would be good enough to do the road race. I figured I would have a good time trial but then it’s always — the road race is always difficult. I knew I had a young team and this is such a hard race to win without support. My expectations were just to go for it in the time trial and see how long I could defend the jersey if I had it. Every day you’re one day closer, you start thinking about winning it.”

Unlike Neben, Clevenger is a relative newcomer to Redlands, and she was thrilled to win a stage.

“This is my second year at Redlands; this is my biggest result of my career,” Clevenger said. “I have never had a stage podium before, so this is the coolest thing ever. We had amazing teamwork throughout the race, even without the win this was really special for all of us. We were looking forward to this day, this is a favorite of ours. We had a really good race at Oak Glen and I think we took over the Team GC so I’m super stoked about that too.”

Redlands Bicycle Classic men’s stage 5 top-10 results

1. Quinn Simmons (Landis Cyclery/Trek Team), in 3:39:55
2. Cory Lockwood (Semper Porro), at 0:04
3. Alexander Cowan (Floyd’s Pro Cycling), at 2:17
4. Sam Boardman (Wildlife Generation), s.t.
5. Ben Schmutte (First Internet Bank Cycling), s.t.
6. Noah Granigan (Floyd’s Pro Cycling), at 2:28
7. Chris Riekert (Team Mike’s Bike pb Equator), s.t.
8. Tyler Williams (California), s.t.
9. Luis Villalobos (Aevolo), s.t.
10. Bernat Font Mas (303 Project), s.t.

Redlands Bicycle Classic men’s final top-10 results

1. Cory Lockwood (Semper Porro), in 11:17:59
2. Kevin Vermaerke (Hagens Berman Axeon), at 01:25
3. Eder Frayre (Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling), at 01:49
4. Jordan Cheyne (Elevate – KHS Pro Cycling), at 01:52
5. Alexander Cowan (Floyd’s Pro Cycling), at 02:32
6. Sean Gardner (Gateway Devo Cycling), at 02:44
7. Sam Boardman (Wildlife Generation), at 03:05
8. Marko Pavlic (DC Bank Pro Cycling Team), at 03:07
9. Stephen Bassett (First Internet Bank Cycling), at 03:15
10. Samuel Anderson-Moxley (Team Mike’s Bikes), at 03:16

Redlands Bicycle Classic women’s stage 5 top-10 results

1. Erica Clevenger (Sho-Air Twenty20), in 2:53:23
2. Sara Poidevin (Rally UHC Cycling), s.t.
3. Lauren Stephens (Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley), at 0:02
4. Megan Jastrab (Rally UHC Cycling), at 0:53
5. Leighann Ganzar (Hagens Berman-Supermint), s.t.
6. Jasmine Duehring (Sho-Air Twenty20), s.t.
7.  Simone Boilard (Sho-Air Twenty20), s.t.
8. Emma Grant (Sho-Air Twenty20), at 0:55
9. Krista Doebel-Hickok (Rally UHC Cycling), s.t.
10. Alice Cobb (Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley), at 0:57

Redlands Bicycle Classic women’s final top-10 results

1. Amber Neben (Trek Red Truck Racing), in 9:02:34
2. Lauren Stephens (Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank), at 00:39
3. Emily Newsom (Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank), at 01:00
4. Krista Doebel-Hikok (Rally UHC Cycling), at 01:07
5. Emma Grant (Sho-Air Twenty20), at 01:21
6. Simone Boilard (Sho-Air Twenty20), at 01:36
7. Jasmine Duehring (Sho-Air Twenty20), at 01:37
8. Sara Poidevin (Rally UHC Cycling), at 01:47
9. Leighann Ganzar (Hagens Berman-Supermint), at 01:55
10. Erica Clevinger (Sho-Air Twenty20), at 02:06

The day prior, Rachel Langdon (Amy D Foundation) won the stage 4 women’s criterium out of a breakaway of six riders, and Noah Granigan (Floyd’s Pro Cycling) won the men’s stage from a group of nine.