It was a sprinter’s delight in Colorado as Skylar Schneider and Alfredo Rodriguez took wins under the street lamps at the Audi Denver Littleton Twilight Criterium, the seventh stop of the American Criterium Cup.
Schneider won with a come-from-behind sprint against her season-long rival Rylee McMullen. The two riders and their respective teams, the Miami Blazers and DNA Pro Cycling, took charge of the field and kept the attacks under control as the likes of US gravel champion Lauren Stephens fired off attacks.
In the end, Littleton was always going to be one for the sprinters. It was all eyes on the lead-outs for the two fastest finishers come the last two laps. In the end, Schneider’s flat-out speed was enough to come around McMullen for her second ACC win of the season ahead of McMullen and Peta Mullens who finished third.
On the men’s side, it was Reign Storm Racing versus the world. Dutifully Reign Storm delivered in a big way, locking down the race from start to finish and taking the sprint win with Alfredo Rodriguez. Ben Oliver, a Kiwi sprinter who has made a huge impression the last couple of weeks during his American stint, spoiled the party with his second-place finish right ahead of ACC overall leader Jordan Parra.
With one race to go in the ACC, things are beginning to look set for the final standings. On the men’s side, Reign Storm has clinched the win in both the overall standings. Schneider has locked down the individual win for the women while DNA Pro Cycling looks likely to win the team standings.
Skylar Schneider clinches the ACC overall
It was a blisteringly hot day in Colorado as the country’s best descended on the Denver suburb of Littleton for one of the final prizes of the criterium season. After a summer calendar that has stretched across the country, Littleton symbolizes the beginning of the end as the top riders look to top off their ACC point totals before the last race next month in St. Louis at the Gateway Cup.
Fortunately for the internal temperature of the racers, Littleton Twilight pushes the limits of twilight criteriums with the start of the women’s race at 7:45 pm. For reference, the sun sets this time of year at 8:11 giving both races finishes in the dark, a rarity for American crit racing. On a summer day like Saturday, that start allowed for the 100-degree heat to die down and cooler evening temperatures to take over.
Ultimately, the temperature change did not seem to change much as the women’s field rolled off the starting line and quickly folded into a conservative mold. A few attacks pushed off the front but none seemed to gain any traction. After a season of competing, DNA Pro Cycling and the Miami Blazers were locked in on the moves of each other which created the “sticky” dynamic of the race. Lauren Stephens and Erica Clevenger were the two riders who were set on resisting that control. Clevenger put in a strong move in the final few laps, but the sprint teams’ strength proved too much as the bell rang and DNA drove the pace toward the line.
In the sprint Rylee McMullen looked to be in the perfect position as she exited the final turn in first position, however, Schneider was ready for the move and was locked to her rear wheel. Sure enough, as the finishing straight dragged on, Scheider emerged from the DNA sprinter’s wheel and grabbed the win at the line. McMullen was quick enough to hold on for second while the Australian multi-discipline star Peta Mullens finished third.
“I’ve had a really strong team behind me who bought into winning the ACC overall and we’ve just stayed consistent and showed up to every race,” Schneider said after clinching the ACC overall title with her second ACC win of the season. “I’m really glad we did decide to do the whole ACC because we got to support all these great criteriums around the country and I am really proud of ourselves for getting it done.”
Additionally, after edging out McMullen in the mid-race ACC sprint point, Schneider also has the outright lead in the green jersey competition, albeit by one point over McMullen. In the teams classification, DNA Pro Cycling looks set to win the overall as they maintain a 15-point lead over the Miami Blazers.
Results from Littleton
- Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers)
- Rylee McMullen (DNA Pro Cycling)
- Peta Mullens (Brazillian Butterfly Liv SRAM)
- Lauren Stephens (Cynisca Cycling)
- Paola Muñoz (Goldman Sachs EFTS Racing)
- Luisa Parra (Kingdom Elite)
- Heidi Praderas (Kingdom Elite)
- Laurel Rathburn (L39ion of Los Angeles)
- Claudia Marcks (Fearless Femme Racing p/b Robertet)
- Ashley Beimert (Coalition Cycling)
ACC individual standings after Littleton
- Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers) – 98 points
- Rylee McMullen (DNA Pro Cycling) – 71 point
- Paola Muñoz (Goldman Sachs EFTS Racing) – 56 points
- Kendall Ryan (L39ion of Los Angeles) – 45 points
- Makayla Macpherson (DNA Pro Cycling) – 37 points
- Arielle Verhaaren (Austomatic-Abus Racing) – 35 points
- Alexis Magner (L39ion of Los Angeles) – 34 points
- Samantha Schneider (Miami Blazers) – 27 points
- Marlies Mejias (Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24) – 26 points
- Ashley Beimert (Coalition Cycling) – 22 points
ACC team standings after Littleton
- DNA Pro Cycling – 142 points
- Miami Blazers – 127 points
- L39ion of Los Angeles – 87 points
- Automatic-Abus Racing – 50 points
- LA Sweat – 50 points
Alfredo Rodriguez gives Reign Storm its fifth ACC win
The men’s race followed the women at 9:00 pm with over 100 riders on the startline for the 60-minute race under the lights in Littleton. Per usual, all eyes were on Reign Storm Racing during the opening 30 minutes of the race as the dominant team was always likely to dictate how the race would play out given their strengths.
Sure enough, within a few laps, a sprint seemed all but secured as Reign Storm was in front and in force smothering moves before they truly began with the likes of Danny Summerhill, Bryan Gomez, and Alfredo Rodriguez present and accounted for each time across the line.
The only real surprise in the race came around halfway through the race as a new jersey came to the front. Above and Beyond Cancer only had two riders in the race, but one of them is the Kiwi sprinter Ben Oliver. Oliver was third at the ACC stop in Indianapolis and was aided by former U23 time trial national champion Patrick Welch in Littleton. With Welch on the front, Oliver was able to sit second wheel lap after laps as Welch drove a pace that no one seemed to be able to overhaul. Eventually, the two had to cede control of the front, but they did enough to get Oliver to the final few laps in a great position with fresh legs.
Even with a different jersey on the front, Reign Storm Racing was never far behind. When it came down to the bell, they were locked in at the front of affairs.
Naturally, with Danny Summerhill racing his hometown event, the riders in orange looked to set up Summerhill for the win. Nevertheless, Summerhill had to take up the pacemaking a few hundred meters earlier than ideal and Oliver was charging hard. With that threat challenging the Reign Storm riders it was over to the fast-finishing duo of Alfredo Rodriguez and Jordan Parra to finish the race, taking the first and third steps on the podium respectively as Ben Oliver slotted in second.
“The last two laps were really hard and dangerous, but I was really confident in our team,” Rodriguez said after the finish. “I was saving legs in the last ten laps and this finish is really really fast, you can almost go with too much power. But I am happy.”
Littleton was a coronation of sorts for Reign Storm after their supremely successful summer. While they had already locked in the win in the team classification, based on the results in Littleton the team has clinched the top three places in the individual standings. Jordan Parra, Alfredo Rodriguez, and Danny Summerhill could all skip the Gateway Cup and still finish first, second, and third in the standings. Additionally, with the points in Littleton, Danny Summerhill has clinched the overall green jersey while his teammate, Bryan Gomez, is in second in that competition. In St. Louis, the team could sweep the money in that category as well
Results from Littleton
- Alfredo Rodriguez (Reign Storm Racing)
- Ben Oliver (Above and Beyond Cancer)
- Jordan Parra (Reign Storm Racing)
- Danny Summerhill (Reign Storm Racing)
- Tom Chester (Blackshaw Racing)
- Cade Bickmore (Project Echelon)
- Bryan Gomez (Reign Storm Racing)
- Noah Granigan (Miami Blazers)
- Clever Martinez (Rockland Development)
- Alex Hoen (Skyline-Cadence)
ACC individual standings after Lake Bluff
- Jordan Parra (Reign Storm Racing) – 81 points
- Alfredo Rodriguez (Reign Storm Racing) – 72 points
- Danny Summerhill (Reign Storm Racing) – 63 points
- Clever Martinez (Rockland Development) – 48 points
- Lucas Bourgoyne (Austin Outlaws) – 43 points
- Ben Oliver (Above and Beyond Cancer) – 43 points
- Bryan Gomez (Reign Storm Racing) – 38 points
- Noah Granigan (Miami Blazer) – 36 points
- Cade Bickmore (Project Echelon) – 33 points
- Luke Lamperti (Soudal Quick-Step) – 28 points
ACC team standings after Lake Bluff
- Reign Storm Racing – 211 points
- Austin Outlaws – 54 points
- Miami Blazers – 48 points
- Above and Beyond Cancer – 45 points
- Project Echelon – 33 points
