Scott McGill outsprinted Denver Disruptors duo Noah Granigan and Tyler Williams to win Saturday's stage 4, the Arrowhead Orthopaedics Criterium, of the Redlands Classic to claim the second stage win for Project Echelon.
McGill was delivered in perfect position on the final corner after his team took control of the field after a multi-rider crash forced a neutralization with 10 laps to go. After the officials made sure that everyone involved was attended to, the field massed together for a hot restart.
“After the crash, we realized we just had to take the front to protect the GC. That was the main, priority, but we were so strong that we were able to have four guys left in the last lap and I was able to win the sprint. It was great work by the team, they were so strong,” McGill said after the race.
Project Echelon’s Tyler Stites finished sixth and retained his overall lead with one stage left to race.
The Williams Racing Devo squad massed at the front of the pack, setting the pace from the start of the 90-minute criterium, not letting any attack get away for too long. They stayed there until the crash and the final 10 laps of racing.
The five intermediate sprints added some extra fireworks with Ryan Gorman (Voler Factory Racing) jumping for points to add to his tally as the leader in the points classification. Stites himself got into the mix for the mid-race sprint lap where bonus seconds were also on the line.
The Redlands Bicycle Classic concludes on Sunday with the Redlands Sunset Road Race where men will complete the 6.8-mile loop 12 times for a total of 93.1 miles beginning at 2 p.m.
“We haven't discussed tomorrow,” McGill added, “we just try to get through today, obviously but yeah, we'll probably try to try to control the race as well as we can. And if there's an opportunity to take another stage when we're for sure gonna try to take it.”
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