Nadia Gontova (DNA Pro Cycling) flew to a solo victory and into the leader’s jersey on stage 2, the Trek Onyx Summit Road Race of the Redlands Bicycle Classic on Thursday. The 23-year-old Canadian climber attacked the select lead group in the final kilometres and had plenty of time to celebrate as she crossed the line 55 seconds ahead of her closest competitor.
Emma Langley (Virginia’s Blue Ridge-TWENTY24) was second and Eleanor Wiseman (Fount Cycling) finished third on the 40-mile stage.
"The plan was to go for the win, try to get some time on the finish if I was feeling good,” Gontova said. “My teammates all rode such an amazing race from start to finish. It all played out so perfectly, I was really happy to have the legs to bring home the win in the end.”
Gontova is no stranger to claiming a summit win at Redlands after all she emerged from thick fog to win last year’s mountaintop finish to Oak Glen Village. But this year's finish in the never-before-seen ascent of Onyx Summit was a different beast to climb. The riders faced a 33-mile climb with an average gradient of 3.9% to a finish at an elevation of 8,443 feet (2,573m).
“My expectations was that it was going to be hard, and it definitely lived up to that,” Langley said. “We knew all day that it was going to be a game of conserving and being smart on the wheels, and so especially through to the finish.”
After leaving the start in San Bernadino, Daphne Karagianis (Denver Disrupters) was the first rider to escape the peloton, attacking before the turn onto Highway 38 and the first QOM of the day. She managed to establish a gap of 30 seconds before being reeled in as the road pitched up.
The peloton splintered on the climb, leaving a group of 40 riders at the front. With the second QOM looming, DNA Pro Cycling’s Anet Barrera and Diana Peñuela upped the tempo, putting pressure on the dwindling front group now down to 25 riders. Nearing 10km to go, Barrera dropped off having done her work for the day, letting her teammate Sara Poidevin take over.
“It was a pretty big field going in the last little uphill,” Gontova said. “I knew it wasn’t the best finish for me, so I told my team, whoever could really drilled it on the front to bring the pace up. It really whittled it down. I could see people were getting tired. When I saw 4km to go, I got out of the headwind a little bit, the road went up and I knew it was now or never. It was very difficult and hot. I was really feeling the altitude, but I just told myself everyone was feeling it so it ended up playing out well in the end.”
Jenaya Francis (Orion Racing) was the only rider who attempted to follow Gontova’s attack but was soon dropped and rejoined the small chase group.
“There was a small group, so I was motivating us to keep working together,” Langley added. “I knew that we would be stronger if we were still rotating as much as we could, try and limit the losses at that point. Nadia was gone, but we emptied the tank, I know I sure did.”
Overnight leader Mara Roldan (Cynisca Cycling) made the final selection but could not follow the final accelerations and faded in the final three kilometres. She crossed the line in 11th place, 2:23 from the stage winner.
“Hard day out there, Gave it everything to keep the yellow, but it just wasn’t quite enough. So proud of the team for giving it their all. Guess living at sea level didn’t quite prepare me for this elevation,” Roldan stated on social media. “Congrats to Nadia and DNA for the win.”
Ahead of the individual time trial, Gontova has a solid lead in the general classification with 55 seconds on Langley, and 1:11 on Wiseman. Natalie Quinn (USA Cycling Redlands Development Team) is in fourth, a further two seconds down and Alia Shafi (Fount Cycling) is in fifth place. Her teammate Meaghan Easler is in sixth place, 1:33 in arrears.
Friday’s Toyota of Redlands Lake Perris individual time trial will take place in a new location in 2024. The relatively flat 11.7-mile technical loop includes two sections offering elevation change, a sharp pitch after 2.5 miles and a gradual 1.25-mile ascent leaving 2 miles to the finish.
Last year, Gontova lost the leader’s jersey on the time trial won by Emily Erhlich (Virginia’s Blue Ridge-TWENTY24). Though the defending champion is battling illness and is out of contention for the overall title, she cannot be counted out for the time trial. Gontova also lost over one minute to Shafi, and to Easler in 2023 in the 9.1-mile stage.
Katherine Lin (A Quick Brown Fox) will be the first rider out of the starting house at 10:45 AM local time.
Results
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