Back are the days, not so long ago left, of Tulsa Tough. This weekend we returned to the same dominating performances of L39ion of LA that punctuated the heretofore biggest weekend of criterium racing just one month ago. What L39ion did at the 35th edition of the Bailey and Glasser Boise Twilight Criterium was nothing short of astounding—putting five people on the podium in two fields of the best criterium racers in the world. It is quite literally the bike racing version of running a kickoff back for a touchdown from the one-yard line, i.e., there is technically room for improvement, but the original feat is simply astounding. The crit racing community, if it wasn’t on notice before, is now clearly put there … you need to fundamentally change your game if you want to compete.
The story, regrettably, starts with a critique not of the racers or teams but the production of the video stream. After good efforts at Tulsa Tough and Sunny King, the spectating community was let down by the live stream at Boise. For most of the races, we were provided only 2 fixed camera positions in the first and final corners of the course, along with a mobile camera at the finish line that appeared to be in desperate need of lens cleaner. It looked like an elevated camera was supposed to be part of the coverage on the back straightaway, but that camera was at best intermittently available, and when it was, it was out-of-focus and low quality. This left fully 1/3 of the race as a giant black hole for the audience and again made it impossible to track the critical moments of the final laps, including the sprint finishes, which made everything that came before savor of anticlimax. The teams, racers, and fans deserve high-quality live video coverage, and this just wasn’t it.
WOMEN’S RACE
This was the first meeting of the preseason big 4—Kendall Ryan and Skylar Schneider (L39ion), with a now back Harriet Owen (InstaFund) and the freshly returned Olivia Ray (Rally Cycling). The sprint power between these women is unmatched by almost anyone other than Maggie Coles-Lyster (DNA) and possibly the junior phenom Makayla McPherson (Lux). On a relatively short, pancake-flat-four-corner course, it was an almost sure bet that the race would come down to a field sprint. However, early on, that didn’t appear to be the case. In the first couple of laps, a serious breakaway developed that included Schneider and Ray, which caused alarm bells to ring in those that missed out, leading to it being brought back.
The hour-long race settled into a more predictable pattern till about 17 laps to go, when a prime lap turned into a breakaway. This put favorite Ryan, who missed out, on her heels. It took the field from a 4-to-5 wide mass rolling through the start/finish to a single-file affair. That generally lasted till just about 5 to go when a crash in the middle of the pack took out many riders in between the final 2 corners. The crash did not spare the favorites when several, including Ray, sprinted from a stop to catch the leaders as free laps were done. Everything was brought back together within a lap because the field had to be neutralized to clear the fallen riders from the course.
This set the stage for a reduced field sprint. Sadly, what happened in the final lap through to the last corner was not shown on the coverage. What we can tell is that when the leaders emerged from the final corner, it was game over. Ryan and Schneider played it perfectly, with the former leading the Milwaukee native out with precision. The final result was:
1. Skylar Schneider, L39ion
2. Kendall Ryan, L39ion
3. Harriet Owen, InstaFund
In the end, it was the 4-way sprint we had planned it to be but with the Canadian-sprinter Coles-Lyster rounding it out, finishing just off the podium for 4th.
MEN’S RACE
The smart money was on Justin and Cory Williams of L39ion from the outset. A 75-minute flat four corner crit is what the southern Californians have dominated for quite some time. The 100+ degree temps were the big obstacle. Having seen them wilt in the long hot races at Armed Forces in early June was evidence that these supermen are, at times, mortal. The question mark was whether their team could control this race for the full length or if they would cede authority to someone else at first. Enter Best Buddies, who willingly took up that position from the start.
The new and improved Best Buddies, now with Danny Summerhill, patrolled the front for the first 20 minutes before fading into the pack (minus Summerhill, who clearly had his sights set on the lap leader’s jersey). Despite that control, the race got interesting quickly thanks to a duo from Aevolo. Cade Bickmore and Scott McGill took an early flyer and built up an actual sizeable gap which at times got dangerously close to getting a full straightaway ahead of the field. However, that break would eventually get shut down by L39ion when Alec Cowan, Ty Magner, Tyler Williams, and Sam Boardman started doing what they’ve come to do so very well, which is to establish control.
Fortunately for the fans, Aevolo, Rio Grande, and Primal Audi Denver were not content to sit and wait for an eventual field sprint and kept the race lively through the middle. Those efforts were punctuated by George Simpson (Project Echelon) a/k/a/ the Humble Hammer. He held off the L39ion train for a not insignificant period of time solo with only a few seconds gap. It was clear that this move was ultimately not going to succeed, but the effort in-and-of-itself is commendable. Simply put, unlike at Nationals, no one was able to isolate and put L39ion under stress this evening to the point where their support riders were sacrificed. Guys like Cowan, T. Williams, and Boardman were able to stay engaged until the finale, which is a recipe for their success.
It became clear that a field sprint was to be the ultimate result as the sun started to set. L39ion was again the first team to coalesce all 6 riders into a cohesive unit at the front and set up shop in what is now becoming an almost Gretzky-esque type dominance of one part of the field. However, this evening, they weren’t alone as you started to see Team CLIF Bar and CS Velo also putting together trains. When it came to CS Velo, they tried to crash the party at the front with their 6 riders but couldn’t quite get up alongside L39ion and faded about 4 or 5 riders back from the Williams brothers.
The final 3 laps of the race saw what looked like C4 being set off in the field. The gaps formed so suddenly and with such force that it’s possible that a crash occurred off-camera. More likely than that, however, is the power of Cowan and Boardman simply ripped the race apart in the final minutes. In the final 2 laps, Cowan, on the front, put so much force into the pedals that his entire upper body rocked up and down. It was clearly worth the effort. The only team capable of matching the acceleration up to the sprint was Aevolo, whose riders were circling behind Justin Williams. However, they were simply outmatched when he and Cory hit their afterburners.
1. Justin Williams, L39ion
2. Cory Williams, L39ion
3. Ty Magner, L39ion
Credit needs to go to McGill and teammate Sean McElroy for making it a race in the final 500 meters. But, at the moment, the only way to beat L39ion in a sprint is the way that Stephen Vogel and Project Echelon did it at Armed Forces … make sure they aren’t there.