Winners crowned at 39th Redlands Bicycle Classic

REDLANDS – It was a perfect day for racing Sunday at the Redlands Bicycle Classic. The results could not have been, well, more perfect.

That’s especially true if you were a Stage 5 winner or an overall champ, like Eder Frayre of Ensenada, Mexico.

“It feels amazing,” overall winner Frayre said. “It’s a dream for a cyclist in America. I did a lot of training in the Winter and came here with a good plan and good teamwork. You can’t do it alone. You need a good team around you.”

That’s probably just what race organizers said after local families hosted about 300 riders and area folks volunteered to be race marshals, and tens of thousands showed up to cheer on riders at the event self-billed as “where legends are made.”

That bit of self-promotion is because Olympic, Tour de France and other championship riders have competed in Redlands. So there is seemingly nowhere to go but up for riders like Stage 5 Sunset Race women’s champ Holly Breck of Claremont, overall women’s winner Alia Shafi of Portland, Oregon, Stage 5 men’s winner Scott McGill of Baltimore, or overall men’s champ Frayre, who lived for a few years in nearby Beaumont.  

Breck finished ahead of Cara O’Neill of Team S&M CX and overall winner Shafi of Fount Cycling Guild.

“It still hasn’t sunk in yet,” Breck said. “I’m very happy. It’s nice to finish the circuit for the win.”

Asked what it took to prevail, Breck said after the 68.1-mile test, “Suffer. I just needed to suffer during the last few sets of Sunset and then I knew I could recover on the downhill.”

The women’s Sunset Race began with temperatures in the mid-70s, slightly cooler than previous stages.

Said Shafi after bagging the overall, “It feels awesome. It’s been 3-4 years in the making. It was the team. It was 100 percent the team.”

Sidney Swierenga of TaG Cycling took second in the overall and Kira Payer (the Queen of the Mountains) took third.

Men’s Sunset Race winner Scott McGill was no less elated after riding 91.3 miles to victory.  

“I feel good,” he said. “It took teamwork, perseverance, good legs – I don’t know.”

Robin Carpenter of L39ION of Los Angeles placed second, and Nathan Cusack of Kelly Benefits Cycling was third.

Finishing behind Frayre for the overall men’s championship were Quinn Felton of CycleSports.com and Owen Cole of Team Winston Salem.