White and Young of Rally Cycling victorious at Gila Crit
Rally Cycling team continued an excellent performance at the Tour of the Gila, with Emma White and Eric Young wining the women’s and men’s criterium races that make up Stage 4 of the New Mexico event.
Racing in the Silver City Crit through the downtown core of the host town, White found an extra kick to edge out Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank’s Lauren Stephens, and Elizabeth Williams of Hagens Berman Supermint.
“It’s a great feeling turning all the team’s hard work into a win,” said White. “With our bad luck yesterday, we had our sights set high today, and it feels good to get the team a win. We are down to four riders when other teams have six, so we had to be smart about the way we raced today.”
Rally Cycling’s Sara Bergen had been among the top five in the general classification until she broke her collarbone during a crash on the Stage 3 time trial. With just one day left on the Tour of Gila, the team will have to focus on tactics to make the most of their depleted roster.
“Tomorrow is the big climbing stage, and today’s win gives us more confidence to go out and fight for it!,” said White.
Canadians Joelle Numainville of Cylance Pro Cycling, and Jamie Gilgen of Rise Cycling finished fourth and fifth in the race. Gilgen also claimed the top spot in two of the three intermediate sprints. Fellow Canadian and Rise teammate Karlee Gendron was third across the line in the first sprint, and second to Gilgen in the third sprint.
Lex Albrecht of Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank holds her spot at 14th in the GC, the best of the Canadians.
In the men’s crit, Young beat out Travis McCabe of UnitedHealthcare, and Jose Alfredo Rodriguez Victoria of Elevate – KHS.
“I was able to sit in today and save my legs for a sprint,” said Young. “We wouldn’t have minded if a small breakaway had gotten away and taken the win, but criterium racing is always chaotic, and even though a lot of guys tried, nothing stuck.
“I had an excellent position being second through the final corner and had a good sprint. I’m proud of how each guy is racing this week, how we’ve pulled together as a team and are racing as one unified group. I believe we can cap it off with the general classification victory tomorrow.”
Rally Cycling has dominated the men’s racing at the Tour of Gila, winning every stage so far. Rally Cycling athletes Evan Huffman and Canadian Matteo Dal-Cin are first and third in the GC, and the team has stated plans to aim to keep Huffman in the leader’s jersey to the finish of the tour.
Travis Samuel, a Canadian riding for H&R Block, was second in the first of the intermediate sprints. Rally Cycling’s Rob Britton was third across the line in the final intermediate sprint. Britton is ranked seventh in the GC, 48 seconds back from the lead.
The final stage of the 2017 Tour of the Gila is the infamous Gila Monster stage. Known to be the toughest stage of the tour, Rally Cycling hopes to keep their streak of strong performances.
