Marlies Mejías Garcia (Virginia's Blue Ridge-Twenty24) claimed the opening stage of the 2023 Redlands Bicycle Classic in the City of Highland Circuit race.
The Cuban out-paced Alia Shafi (Fount Cycling) and Marcela Prieto (Pato Bike) in the uphill sprint of the 41.3-mile race. Skylar Schneider (L39ION of Los Angeles) was fourth on the stage, making her Redlands debut.
The victory gives Mejías Garcia the first leader's jersey of the race, while her teammate Kathleen Abadie earned the first QOM jersey.
“We actually have a lot of cards to play. Today Mejias was feeling good," said Nicola Cranmer, team director for Virginia's Blue Ridge-Twenty24, after the finish. "After the win, you may have seen her, she was sobbing for quite a few minutes…she puts a lot of pressure on herself but always pulls out a result. The team rode great, we’re really happy to be back at Redlands."
After the first four laps and 10 remaining, ROXO Racing's Emily Marcolini moved to the front on the Baseline climb with dramatic speed and split the field into several groups, with 15 riders at the front of the race.
With a few laps remaining, a touch of wheels sent several riders to the ground, including Marcolini, which caused her to lose contact at the front and hopes of a third-place finish like 2022 fade away as she finished five minutes off the winning pace.
“I was really nervous coming into it but I’m starting to settle in and everything was going well,” Marcolini said. “This happened [crash], but that’s part of bike racing. We’ll evaluate our situation coming into tomorrow and formulate a plan. I just love Oak Glen. We’ll have to see how I feel tomorrow but hopefully I can have a good one tomorrow.”
Stage 2 is the 61.8-mile City of Yucaipa Road Race. The women start at 11:10 a.m. local time with four laps of a 14.1-mile circuit, then hit the 5.4-mile finish leg with an uphill finish at Oak Glen Village.
