Tour of the Gila Stage 1 - Flavio de Luna with top 20 finish (18th)

May 1 marked an important step in the progress of Stage 17 as a program as well as a team. Stage 1 of the Tour of the Gila offered us a new challenge to test our riders with and we're very pleased with how they performed. 

Going in we knew that Flavio de Luna would be our leader for the day as he has had the best legs when the road goes up and he has the experience to compliment his fitness. With several riders doing their first UCI race, it was important to have the team ride together as a unit in the peloton and to focus on one task, getting Flavio to the base of the climb in a decent position. 

We succeeded in both of these goals and set Flavio up for a top 20 finish on the day (18th) and only one minute down on the Best Young Rider GC. The race stuck closely to the formula of most UCI races allowing the day's break to get out to over 13 minutes at one point before being reeled in on the final climb. That's not to say, however, that the race was without incident.

With the peloton content to let the break dangle at over 10 minutes for most of the day, Complacency reared its head several times in the cross winds and riders found themselves hitting the pavement often. One crash took down two of our riders as they just returned from retrieving bottles from the car and we quickly found ourselves changing wheels and a bike to get Dan Harm and Ian Moore rolling again. Rene Corella flatted shortly thereafter, true to Murphy's Law. The peloton was committed to bringing the break back at this point, so it took some extra bullets for the riders to get back to the field. 

In the end everyone had tired legs and almost everyone suffered a mishap or were affected by the crash yet we still placed Flavio high on the stage and our two youngest riders, Gerardo Medina and Ian Moore both showed their determination to succeed at this level by pulling themselves up the grueling finishing climb.

Tomorrow shouldn't affect GC too much, so we'll be looking for opportunities to surprise at the finish. Its safe to say there are seven very motivated #whales prepared to tackle Stage 2.

California Clash Development Team Race - May 18th, Mt. Diablo

While we definitely have the Tour of the Gila on our minds, we can't help but show our excitement for a completely different type of race later in May. 

The Bear Development Team have always been close friends of Stage 17-Cylance and this year we'll take that friendship a step further with the California Clash Development Team Race. 

What is California Clash? We'll be taking to the same roads as the pros just before the Tour of California for a race to the top of Mt. Diablo between the Northern California and Southern California teams. Join us on Mt. Diablo on May 18th to join in the fun and be sure to find us near the top as we cheer and heckle the pros as they suffer towards the top of the mountain.

#BearVsWhale #CACLASH

Stage 17-Cylance Roster Announced for Gila | Nate King (former Competetive Cyclist) to guest ride as part of quest back to pro peloton

Fresh off of a very successful Sea Otter Classic campaign, Stage 17-Cylance will be heading out to New Mexico shortly to contest one of the most difficult stage races in the country, The Tour of the Gila. Spirits are high on the team as we flirted with a big result placing guys high on the results sheet on every stage; we left Laguna Sec with 5th, 10th, and three top 20s on stages and 16th over all. 

We'll reshuffle our roster a bit from Sea Otter to Gila, bringing Ian Moore and Tosh Clements back into the fold. Both riders competed in their first NRC race this season, the Redlands Bicycle Classic, where they showed great strides in their development. Gila will serve as another first for both riders as it will be their first UCI NRC race.

Flavio de Luna will also be coming back from a hiatus after Redlands to join Rene Corella, Gerardo Medina and Daniel Harm to round out our Stage 17 riders for Gila.

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Part of Stage 17-Cylance's commitment to rider development often finds us with opportunities to help riders who may be a little more experienced, yet just need a chance to make a statement on a larger platform. Nate King was a victim of the Competitive Cyclist Pro Cycling team reorganization and racing The Tour of the Gila is chance for him to make his impression on professional squads before a European campaign with the Firefighters Cycling Elite Team, culminating with the Olympias Tour in the Netherlands. Nate is an accomplished climber and when asked why he wants to race Gila with Stage 17 he had this to say:

“I love the race and it’s one of the few American stage races where elites can make noise. I’ll be heading to Europe right after for a few Scandinavian one days and the Olympia’s tour, followed by a return at Philly, so it’s going to be a great block of racing

Gila’s community support from silver city and the quirkiness of the town is rad! It and Iron Horse up in Durango vie for favorite race status in my mind.”

— Nate King

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Stage 17-Cylance for The Silver City Tour of the Gila presented by SRAM will be: Ian Moore, Tosh Clements, Rene Corella, Flavio de Luna, Gerardo Medina, Daniel Harm, and Nate King.

#S17forGILA

Stage 17 Racing earns invite to prestigious Tour of the Gila UCI Race

We're extremely honored to be able to announce that Stage 17 Racing has been invited to compete in the 2013 Tour of the Gila UCI Stage Race in Silver City, NM. This five day stage race will feature the United States top professional teams including the professional continental team United Healthcare, winners of the 2012 edition. 

Stage 17 Racing will be taking to the streets of New Mexico in hopes of earning our young riders valuable UCI points while racing aggressively and featuring in breakaways throughout the race. The five-day stage race consists of three road races, an individual time trial and a criterium. 

We will be looking to continue our aggressive social media efforts throughout the race to support the team's and the race's efforts in May with our #S17forGILA campaign. The Stage 17 Racing roster for Gila hasn't been finalized yet, however, we'll be looking to bring a young and international squad that will be hungry to make good on our invitation.

Thank you to the race directors for selecting our young program and thank you to all of our supporters for promoting Stage 17 Racing and keeping us motivated.

#S17forGILA

#S17forGILA

Rene Corella in the break at Merco Cycling Classic - Photo by Alex Chiu

This week we started a campaign to show the Tour of the Gila that we're not only committed to racing their UCI race as best we can, but that we also want to contribute to the race's visibility and prestige. Gila has earned a place in domestic cycling as the premier stage race for the nation's top Domestic Pro and amateur teams in the United States and has served as a launching pad for many professional careers. 

Given the opportunity we'd like to continue that tradition of fostering future professionals which lives on today through Taylor Phinney, Roman Van Uden, Andrew Talansky, and now Evan Huffman. So please help us let the Gila organizers know that Stage 17 Racing is ready for the Gila Monster. 

#S17forGILA

2013 Merco Classic Update

We recently sent out Volume 4 of our Newsletter What's With the Whale featuring a recap of the team's experience in Merced this past weekend. We also posted our behind the scenes gallery from the race on facebook. Stay current with all things Stage 17 by joining our mailing list and liking us on Facebook.

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2013 Merco Cycling Classic Update

This past weekend the boys headed out to Merced, Calif. for the annual early season kick off to the stage race season, the Merco Cycling Classic. This year’s event was the 20th anniversary, so we were treated to stories of years gone by as well as a brilliant evening with Davis Phinney.

Merco features 4 stages of race including 2 road races, a criterium in Downtown Merced and a time trial. We were prepared to get results on each stage with the team we brought to Merced.

Stage 1 featured over 5,000 feet of climbing and a screaming fast descent that is notorious for taking its toll on the peloton. We protected our best chances for a result on the stage, Rene Corella and Bryan Larsen, all day making sure they were in the main group for the sprint. A crash took both Bryan and Rene, as well as most others ready for the sprint, down inside 3 KMs and held up Ian from trying to salvage anything. Rene's wrist and palm were hurt as to prevent him from being able to sprint out of the saddle for the rest of the weekend. Bryan was unscathed. Ian Moore was our highest placed rider in 46th, 1:35 behind solo stage winner Phil Gaimon (BISSELL Pro Cycling)

Stage 2 was a 12-mile time trial with two small climbs. Daniel Harm and Tosh Clements were both feeling good for a strong result and it showed as Tosh took the lead early on, until Dan eclipsed him barely. Michael Valdez's improvement in the discipline continued as he slotted into 63rd on the day; well in front of half of the field. Dan Harm was our highest placed rider in 34th, 1:44 behind stage winner Ben Jacques-Maynes (Jamis-Hagen Berman)

Stage 3 saw the peloton take to the streets of Downtown Merced for a 90-minute criterium. The team rode exceptionally during the criterium, always riding in packs and working to maintain position as a group. Bissell Pro Cycling rode the front for the entire duration of the race as the field watched a break containing eventual stage winner, Ken Hanson, dangle off the front never more than 30 seconds ahead. With lap cards showing, Dan Harm suffered an untimely punctured that disrupted the team’s ability to keep Bryan near the front without spending too much energy. With a handful of laps to go the field was all together and primed for a sprint. Bryan knows how to hold his position even if he is left alone, but the loss of his guiding team mates held him to 14th place in the sprint, on same time with stage winner Ken Hanson (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies).

Stage 4 was the Hilltop Ranch Road Race, famous for its beautiful almond blossoms and excessive speeds. With Rene's wrist still extremely sore, he was looking to make the break of the day and try to avoid having to sprint. Rene's unwavering aggression and his teammate’s excellent work eventually launched Rene into a 7 man break that looked ready to last most of the day. Immediately after getting Rene into the break, Danny Katz came back to the car to refill the troops with Cytomax, it was a proud moment for the Team Director. After a few laps of dangling just under a minute ahead of the field they were brought back by Bissell. Another break went with Tom Zirbel (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Michael Olheiser (CashCall Mortgage), but Bissell was content with their ability to bring them back before the finish, and we trusted them, so we set up for Ben Bertiger in the sprint. Inside the last 50 meters Ben was positioned for a top 5 result -- at least -- when the riders in front of him hit the deck, ending his race only meters from its intended conclusion. He would need medical attention for a laceration on his knee, but was negative for a concussion and escaped and broken bones fortunately. Ian Moore was our best placed rider finishing 35th, on same time with stage winner Dion Smith (Full Circle powered by Pure Gear).

Our Facebook gallery from the race is available here: Click away