Bryan Gomez (REIGN Storm Racing) and Kimberly Stoveld (Automatic ABUS Racing) won the second round of racing in the American Criterium Cup, the 45th Downer Classic presented by ISCorp held Saturday in Wisconsin.
Heavy rains descended across eastern Wisconsin for the Downer Classic, which was part of 11 days of criterium races across the state in the popular Kwik Trip Tour of America’s Dairyland (ToAD).
The ACC contests were held on a triangular-shaped loop with four corners, using historic Downer Avenue as part of the 1.45km course in the Milwaukee neighborhood.
The women’s 75-minute affair saw the favourites - Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers), Coryn Labecki (EF Education-Cannondale) and Rylee McMullen (DNA Pro Cycling) – mark each other throughout the first dozen laps. Stoveld launched a pair of solo attacks deeper into the race but nothing stuck until a third move when the bell rang for a prime with six laps to go. This acceleration surprised the field and gave her an advantage for a solo victory.
“It’s incredible, I’ve been trying that move for the last nine days and it finally stuck! I couldn’t be happier,” Stoveld said after the finish.
Kaitlyn Agnew (ButcherBox Cycling p/b LOOK) followed in pursuit of Stoveld and managed to hold off a charging field for second. Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers) won the field sprint for third place, just ahead of ACC Sprint leader Rylee McMullen (DNA Pro Cycling). Labecki finished seventh.
With the podium result, Skylar Schneider moved into the overall lead of the women’s ACC individual standings, McMullen in second overall by four points and Paola Muñoz (Goldman EFT Racing) in third place. Tied for fourth are Kendall Ryan (L39ION of Los Angeles) and Stoveld.
The men’s 75-minute race began with dry weather conditions and saw REIGN Storm Racing marking relentless attacks to keep the 135-rider field together for the first half of the race.
Michael Garrison (MGR pb Nich+SpeedClub) spiced up the race with a significant move with 13 laps to go, but he was matched by Alfredo Rodriguez (REIGN Storm Racing). The duo worked together until attacks flew with five laps to go and their 20-second advantage disintegrated to just five seconds as Noah Granigan (Miami Blazers) led the chase.
On the final lap, with a thunderstorm bearing down on the Milwaukee area, Gomez hit the gas and surged to the win. James Gardener (MITOQ-NZ Cycling Project) finished second while Jordan Parra made it two REIGN Storm riders on the podium with a third-place finish.
“We were just covering, covering, covering not wanting to be chasing any moves,” Gomez said after the finish as lightning overhead sent everyone scurrying for cover. “We were present in every move and I just so happened to cover the last one and it worked out perfectly.”
Gomez took over the ACC individual series lead from Luke Lamperti (Soudal-QuickStep), who was not racing in Wisconsin, while his teammate Danny Summerhill extended his Sprint classification lead. Granigan slotted into second in the individual standings, nine points back, while Rodriguez was third overall, four points ahead of Lamperti. Gardner was in fifth overall.
Full results for Downer Classic at Tour of America's Dairyland can be found here, while American Criterium Cup standings can be found here.
