By Ed Arnet
While much of his off-road competition is still on a base schedule, Canadian National, World Cup, NORBA and World Cross Country Champion Roland Green trained in California by almost winning one of the biggest road events in the U.S. He was such a dominant force that at one point Green had to tell the staunch, ultra-retentive lot of roadies to start climbing faster.
Way to go, Rollie!
BREAKING NINE MINUTES
The Redlands Classic is a five day stage race through the foothills of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. It kicks off with a twisty, 5K time trial 1303 feet up Mt. Rubidoux. Although Green won this prologue last year, the skinny tire set put it to him this time. Prime Alliance's Chris Horner earned the yellow jersey with a time of 0:08:48.597, 14 seconds faster than second place and five seconds faster than the course record Green set last year. Roland's time of 0:09:05.728 earned him a sixth place finish. Horner averaged 21.2 mph to win the 3.1 mile time trial. A total of 203 riders started the race.
"I HAD AN EASY TIME OF IT"
That's what Roland Green said about the punishing, half-mile, 175 foot climb against the wind that culminated each of the 18 laps around Stage 2's 2.8-miles circuit. Although he didn't win, Rollie's third place finish proves just how determined the best cross country rider in the world is. At Redlands Green competed as a member of the Canadian Cycling Team. That meant he was racing without the aid of the concerted trade team effort like the other top placing riders. By tenaciously working alone Roland had moved into second overall, 25 seconds behind Horner.
Horner won Stage 2 with a time of 1:53:56. He covered 51 miles with an average speed of 26.8 mph.
ROLAND FINDS THE ROADIES TOO SLOW
By day three the field had been whittled down to 187 riders. This would be the most enduring stage, a 106.6 miles race to the top of Oak Glen. From a starting elevation of 1300 feet the riders spent the next 80 miles rolling up and down 400 foot hills and twice climbed to 2000 feet. It was the tumultuous grind up to the 4800 foot finish that separated Green from the rest. Said overall time leader Horner afterward, "Roland was the strongest on the final climb, no doubt about it. He was very impressive, attacking in the big chainring and stuff. He was playing some games, telling me to pull harder."
Green and Horner came into the finish line together, but it was Green who won the sprint to the line. Green averaged 24.9 mph on the hilly, 100 miles-plus course. "It's a good feeling to win this stage because I know how hard it is," said Green. The win cut Horner's overall time lead down to 21 seconds. Now the roadies were scared.
HOLD YOUR LINE
The Downtown Redlands criterium is the most intense stage. It's a 90 minute race on a highly technical, one mile course with nine turns. The layout is very fast, tight and forces constant bumping between the field, which was now down to 158 riders. The race was won by 7-UP team rider Charles Dionne. Horner stayed in the yellow with a fifth place finish. Roland Green was in the chase group that was 13 seconds back and was awarded a 42nd place finish.
Dionne averaged 29.2 mph and covered 43.7 miles to win.
SUNDAY IS THE FIFTH DAY
Redlands culminated with the Sunset Road Race. There were only 131 riders left. Stage 5 was a challenging, 6.5-miles loop with 500 feet of climbing per lap. Roland knew that a half-minute, overall time deficit was almost impossible to make up on the road by himself, but he went for it anyway. A quarter of a way into the race Green had joined up with a front group of six riders and had built up a 50 second lead over Horner. At this point it actually looked like Roland was going to win the Redlands Classic.
That was until the Prime Alliance Team dug down and made a relentless charge to catch the lead break and put Horner back into contention. Horner and Green then engaged in such a fierce battle that the two started to pull away from the rest of the riders. With ten miles to go the dueling mountain biker and roadie were reeled in by a chase pack of 20 riders. They lost out to Saturn's Harm Jansen at the finish. Jansen averaged 27 mph for the 88 mile race.
THE LONER IN SECOND
It took a team effort for Chris Horner to win Redlands. Although he was 40 seconds back in overall time after five days of racing, a second place finish showed just how tough Green is. Rollie couldn't rely on seven other team riders who would kill themselves to bring the number one mountain biker into a winning position. Everything Roland achieved at Redlands he achieved by himself.
PERFECT SEASON II
Since the road season starts months before mountain biking's, it's incredible that a top off-road racer can already be in this good of race shape. Last year Roland finished third at Redlands and went on to become the most invincible mountain bike racer in history. It looks like Roland Green's perfect, '01 season is headed for an encore.
REDLANDS ADDENDUM
To finish all five stages at Redlands a competitor had to cover 292.4 miles in five days. It took Roland an average speed of 26.3 mph to cover the hilly distance in a total time of 11:06:30.
Other mountain bike names that competed and landed on the Individual General Classification Overall Standings list included Seamus McGrath in 19th and Steve Tilford in 37th place. In the women's division Alison Dunlap and Alison Sydor made us proud with impressive 11th and 14th overall finishes.
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