Jason Lowndes, Leah Kirchmann prevail at the Tour de Delta Brenco Criterium in Ladner, B.C.

B.C. Superweek continued Saturday night in Ladner, B.C., where Australia’s Jason Lowndes sprinted to victory in men’s race of the 2015 Tour de Delta Brenco Criterium. In the women’s race, meanwhile, Optum’s Leah Kirchmann won for the second consecutive year, and endured a suddenly slick course to get there.

Lowndes took the men’s race with a hard sprint on the final lap, completing the 60-lap, 54-kilometre circuit in one hour, 13 minutes and 25 seconds. Riding for Garneau-Quebecor, Lowdnes found himself in a sea of orange Optum helmets during the race’s concluding laps, battling Ryan Anderson of North Vancouver, B.C. for dominance in the final stretch. Lowndes’s winning sprint edged him just past Anderson in the last second, breaking what seemed to be a growing expectation that Optum, as well-represented as the team was, would hang on for the win.

The 21-year-old rider from Kalgoorlie, Australia seemed to expect the same. After all, the course of the Brenco Criterium is an intense one, throwing tight, high-speed corners at riders as it passes through the village of Ladner. Before the race had reached its halfway point, 15 riders were lapped and withdrawn from the race thanks to those high speeds. For that heavy Optum presence in the Criterium’s final stretch, though, the reduced numbers presented an advantage.

Still, it wasn’t enough to check Lowndes’s print to the finish.

“There was a whole Optum-lead train out there and they’ve proved to be strong absolutely everywhere,” he said after the race, “but I was pretty keen to test my ability against them and was pretty surprised to come out on top. I’ve been sprinting pretty well this year, so I’m happy.”

Taking second, Anderson finds himself on the Brenco Criterium podium for the fourth year in a row, after finishing third in 2014, second in 2013, and winning the event in 2012. He also prevailed in 2009, climbing to the top of the podium after that year’s race. After this year’s second place finish, Anderson put the spotlight on his teammates, giving them the credit.

“The guys did unreal tonight for me,” he said. “We were just beaten in the finish, but the team was really good tonight.”

Leah Kirchmann outrides Mother Nature to win for the women

Leah Kirchmann, too, benefited from an effective setup by her teammates, positioning her to take the women’s race in another strong final sprint. Winning the race for the second straight year, Kirchmann finished the race’s 40 laps and 36 kilometre course in 56:05:00. Fellow Optum riders Annie Ewart and Lex Albrecht helped carve out a lead for the Winnipeg, MB-based Kirchmann, giving her the edge needed to win.

“It was perfect,” she said. “Lex was right up there, she got the last prime, [and was] keeping everything together. Annie just killed it on the last lap, gave me a lead out through that corner and I had a clean sprint to the line.”

“It was perfect,” she repeated.

Mother Nature introduced some unique challenges, with the ground slicked and the already difficult course made significantly more daunting by a heavy, much-needed rain that started to fall with eight laps remaining. As a result, the suddenly altered traction came very, very close to changing the dynamic of the race on a few occasions, and not in Kirchmann’s favour.

“It hasn’t rained here in a long time,” she explained, “and when it does, all the oil comes out from the road and I was actually scared at the end of the race. I was losing my rear wheel around some of the corners, so I took it pretty chill on the last lap — as chill as you can — and was really careful, just knowing it was really slippery.”

Shelley Olds of Gilroy, Calif., riding for Ale Cipollini, finished second after winning four of the race’s primes. Finishing third in the women’s race was Lauretta Hanson of Australia, riding for Fearless Femme p/b Haute Wheels Racing.