Baker City Cycling Classic Race Recap

The Rio Grande Elite Cycling Team took on the Baker City Cycling Classic for the first time from June 21st-23rd. It is a 3 day, 4 stage race consisting of a rolling road race on Friday, time trial & criterium Saturday, and road race with a summit finish on Sunday. Below is a write up on how the race went for the team, written by Taj! Pictures are from DDub Photos & Tyler Mezey , please check out more on there websites!

Stage 1

On paper the first road race of the weekend didn't look too tough, 78 miles and 4,000 feet of climbing. But it turned out to be quite a hard stage. Our initial plan was to get a man in the break and save our two climbers for later in the stage, but unfortunately we missed the break that had all the major teams represented. We worked hard to pull the break back along with a few other riders, but then a few riders slipped away again and formed a small break up the road. When we approached the main climb of the day Alex towed the peloton into the base of the climb at a blistering pace and mitigated a lot of attacks. As we climbed a few riders pushed the pace and our two climbers moved into position. The pace was fast and brutal, and our team helped push the pace going up leading to a disintegration of the field. As we started the rollers to the finish there were only about 25 riders in the lead group with Ethan and Taj. Coming into the line the pace heated up and Ethan was able to stick with the front group and come across the line only losing a minute or two to the riders in the break. This put us in a good position for GC. 

Alex Marr and Taj Krieger keeping the speed high leading up the final climbs of the day on stage 1.

Stage 2

The time trial! This was an 11 mile course with relatively little climbing and mostly straight roads. Alex was able to lay down a really good time and finished 5th on the day. Ethan and the rest of the squad were able to throw down good times as well and stay stable in GC. 

Stage 3

Stage 3 with the crit where we did an hour of racing around a six corner course. The course was really fast and super fun, there were a few potholes that had to be avoided each lap but the corners were all safe and smooth. The team stayed upright and with a few laps to go. Alex tried to send a flyer off the front, he wasn't able to get away but he kept the race fast. Going into the last laps. With a few laps to go. Mike's bikes was on the front leading out their Sprinter and Taj was able to tag along and snag 13th. The main goal of the crit was to keep our legs for the final day which was going to be a battle on the final climb. 

Stage 4

Stage 4 was the stage everybody had their eyes on throughout the whole race. It featured a giant 45-minute climb right at the end of the race up to 7,000 ft. Our strategy on the day was to sit in and save up our legs for the end of the race and that was exactly what we did. We let another team chase the break back all day for chill out us to have a smooth and consistent ride. The course was similar to stage one but in the other direction and then finishing up the giant climb at the end. The team was able to get feeds and ice socks before the major climb which helped us stay cool on such a hot day. Going into the base of the climb, we made sure to keep the climbers in good position towards the front of the race and as we started going up more and more riders were dropping off the back. As we passed the half way point the lead group still containing Ethan and Taj had finally caught most of the breakaway and had thinned out to about 10 riders. Delete group. Continue to accelerate and whittle down to four Riders containing the overall leader in the yellow jersey, taj and two others. There was still one Rider up the road who ended up winning the stage, but the lead Chase group was only a minute behind and Taj hung on for 5th on the day. Ethan finished not too far back securing a 8th place and solidifying an 8th place GC! Cole also had a great finish with a solid 14th! All Rio riders finished in the top 15!

-Write up by Taj K

-Pictures taken/provided by DDub Photos & Tyler Mezey