Jelly Belly's Alex Candelario Wins Road Race
Jelly Belly Word:
The overall pace was high enough to discourage any breakaways and diminished the field drastically as they roared into town, headed for a mass field sprint. As the various teams fought to gain control on the run to the finish, it was Jelly Belly's Matty Rice at the head of the field from 3 km to just inside 1 km to go, from there Brice Jones launched his kick to the line while Alex Candelario finished it off for the big win, Brice held on for fifth.

With Alex leading the points omnium, the finish of Sunday's criterium would determine the overall winner and the strategy for the Jelly Belly team was clear: deliver Alex to the final corner in a position to win. The last lap it was again all together with Brice leading the way for Alex into the last corner, unfortunately a bit of aggressive riding from a few of the other sprinters caused Alex to lose Brice's wheel temporarily. At the finish it was Brice fourth and Alex fifth, while Alex ended the weekend in second overall and Brice was fifth.

Trial at Central Valley Classic
Toyota/United Pro Tested in the Wind and Rain
Kiwi Heath Blackgrove wins ITT, with Toyota United Mate Cruz in Second
The new 17.1-mile course was mastered by Blackgrove who completed the ride in 36 minutes and 41 seconds. TUT’s Tony Cruz finished close behind capturing third place, with Jose Manuel “Chepe” Garcia, also among the top 10 finishers. Overall the weekend proved successful for the Toyota-United Team; the team and riders braved icy and wet conditions on Saturday for the 120 mile road race which came down to a field sprint, with TUT’s Sterling Magnell in 4th place.

Central Valley Classic
Kearney Road Race Results:
1 Alex Candelario Jelly Belly
2 Gordon Fraser Health Net
3 ALBERTO TIBERIO Health Net
4 sterling magnell toyota-united pro cycling team
5 Brice Jones Jelly Belly
6 Alejandro Acton TARGETRAINING
7 Viktor Rapinski Colavita Olive Oil - Sutter Home Pro Cycling Team
8 KEN HANSON BMC Racing Team
9 Mike Sayers Health Net
10
11 Mark McCormack Colavita Olive Oil - Sutter Home Pro Cycling Team
12 FRANK PIPP TARGETRAINING
13 Daniel Schmatz KODAKGALLERY/SIERRA NEVADA
14 Andrew Randell Symmetrics
15 Andrew Pinfold Symmetrics Cycling
16 Edward King Priority Health
17
18 Ben Jacques-Maynes Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team
19 Glen Mitchel Priority Health
20 Emile Abraham AEG - TOSHIBA - JetNetwork
21 Todd Henriksen VMG Racing
22 WES HARTMAN TARGETRAINING
23 Jason Klikna BMC Racing Team
24 Pete Lopinto Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team
25
26 Jake Erker Symmetrics Cycling
27 Owen Gue Broadmark/Hagens-Berman
28
29 EVAN ELKEN Jittery Joes
30 Dirk Copeland Cal Giant /Village Peddler
31 Eric Wohlberg Symmetrics Cycling
32
33 Colin Beardsley Metromint Cycling
34 Ryan Nenninger Mercy/Specialized
|35 Mike Buckley Team Spine
36 Esad Hasanovic AEG - TOSHIBA - JetNetwork
37 Nick Reistad Jelly Belly
38 Tim Johnson Health Net
39 Johnny Hayes CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25
40 Justin Hale BMC Racing Team
41 Eddy Hilger Priority Health
42 Frank Travieso AEG - TOSHIBA - JetNetwork
43 Osvaldo Olmos BMC Racing Team
44 Siro Camponogara Navigators Insurance
45 Owen Laine BMC Racing Team
46 Andrew Fischer Broadmark/Hagens-Berman <
47 Patrick Dunaway Cal Giant /Village Peddler <
49 Brent Bookwalter Priority Health
50 126 Andy Guptill CRCA/Sakonnet Technology U25
54 LIAM KILLEEN SPECIALIZED FACTORY RACING
55 Zach Bolian VMG Racing
56 Ryan McKenzie Broadmark/Hagens-Berman
58 Kyle Barbary BMC Racing Team
59 Nebosja Javanovic AEG - TOSHIBA - JetNetwork
64 Jake Rubelt AEG - TOSHIBA - JetNetwork
65 gustavo artacho Colavita Olive Oil - Sutter Home Pro Cycling Team
67 Keith Miller GS Lombardi Sports
62 JOSHU BEZECNY TARGETRAINING
68 Matty Rice Jelly Belly
71 AUSTIN KING Jittery Joes
72 Tyler WREN Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Home Winery
73 davide frattini colavita olive oil sutter home
74 63 MATT SHRINER TARGETRAINING
75 Joshua Webster United Cycling Club
76 Todd Herriott Colavita Olive Oil -Sutter Home Winery
77 Scott Zwizanski Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada Pro Cycling Team
78 Justin England UC Berkeley
81 Corey Steinbrecher Jelly Belly
82 Jeff HOPKINS Jittery Joes
84 Lance DOHERTY Team Spine
85 Skyler Bishop Kodak.com/Sierra Nevada
86 Hugh Moran AEG - TOSHIBA - JetNetwork
87 Shawn Milne Navigators Insurance

Tower Criterium
Results:
1Gord Fraser (HealthNet/Maxxis)
2 Ivan Dominguez (Toyota/United Pro)
3 Tony Cruz (Toyota/United Pro)
4 Brice Jones (Jelly Belly)
5 Alex Candelario (Jelly Belly)
6
Updates to results available at the race site later this afternoon: Central Valley Classic.

Dominguez and Cruz 2nd/3rd in Tower Crit
Ivan Dominguez and Tony Cruz Sprint to Photo Finish; Placing Second and Third in Tower District Criterium Unprecedented cold weather, snow, and grueling winds at the Central Valley Classic forced race directors to change the course of Friday’s Time Trial on March 10th, but it still resulted in a win for Toyota-United’s (TUT) former New Zealand National Time Trial Champion Heath Blackgrove.

On Sunday, fans were treated to an exciting photo finish of the Tower District Criterium with Health Net's Gord Fraser, Jelly Belly's "don Juan" Brice Jones, Toyota/United Pro's Ivan Dominguez and Tony Cruz barreling down the finish line a four man "Riders of the Storm" in search of glory. Brice Jones looked to have it and he well might have but he raised his arms to the sky in victory and Gord Fraser or Flash Gordon as he is better known came around on the right and swooped the victory from Brice jones... Dominguez and Cruz passed Brice in the last bit as they hit the line for a photo finish that had Don Juan Jones in fourth... no worries Jones will get his revenge in the future no doubt about it.

The new Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team, a fierce competitor in the field, continues to get stronger every week according to Team Director Harm Jansen. “We were aggressive this weekend,” said Jansen. “Each week we’re getting stronger. As a new team, many members hadn’t yet raced together and we're still getting used to each other, so this weekend was particularly impressive with Heath, Tony, Ivan and the team as a whole having fantastic races. I’m pleased with the results.”

Fans can look for the Toyota-United Team at the Redlands Bicycle Classic in Redlands, CA, March 24-26 when they meet up with all the usual suspects that survived the weather in the Central Valley this last weekend. Hopefully we will see more typical Southern California weather in Redlands for the riders and the fans.

Central Valley Classic
3 Day, Omnium Results:
1
1Gordon Fraser Health Net
2 Gustavo Arthacho ColaVita
3 Alex Candelario Jelly Belly
4 Jackson Stewart Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada
5 Tony Cruz Toyota/United Pro
Please check all results at the link below:

Updates to results available at the race site: Central Valley Classic
Hats off to the organizers and the riders for pulling off the weekend of racing in spite of all that Mother Nature had in store for them in the way of weather.