The American Criterium Cup made its fifth stop on its summer tour on Friday at the IU Health Momentum Indy Mass Ave Crit with Marlies Mejias Garcia and Alfredo Rodriguez taking wins in their respective sprint finishes.
It was the second win for both fast finishers on Mass Ave with Mejias winning last year and Rodriguez taking the win back in 2022.
The women raced aggressively the whole night but no attacks managed to forge a clear gap to the rest of the peloton as the sprint teams were ready to defend the front and keep things in control. Ultimately, Mejias only hit the wind twice in the 70-minute race: once to grab a $1,000 prime with a handful of laps to go and the next to take the win ahead of Paola Muñoz and Skylar Schnieder.
Skylar Schnieder did enough to retain her lead in the ACC overall while her win at the mid-race ACC sprint point brought her close to the lead in that jersey as well.
In the men’s race, it was the lone attack of Josh Burnett who stole the show, going clear 10 minutes into the race and holding an advantage until two laps to go. REIGN Storm Racing was lent on to chase, as expected since they had won the previous three ACC races, but they dutifully chopped the gap down until it was around 10 seconds with ten laps to go.
While the sprint was messy, two REIGN Storm riders emerged out of the darkening evening with 100 meters to go to take a one-two victory in Indy. Jordan Parra finished second on the night and kept his lead in the ACC overall while Ben Oliver of Above and Beyond Cancer Pro Cycling was third. Danny Summerhill played a huge role in the chase but managed to snag the mid-race points to extend his lead in the ACC green jersey.
Back-to-back for Mejias on Mass Ave
It was a perfect summer Friday night in Indianapolis as a crowd gathered for another round at the Mass Ave criterium to see some of the best men and women crit racers in the country. The women were the first to take on 70 minutes of racing on the five-corner bowtie course.
With the technical nature of the course and the past two ACC women’s races ending in breakaways, there was a buzz around the start paddock around the possibility of another breakaway going the distance. Nevertheless, despite the word on the street, when the race began it was clearly going to be a hard fight for anyone to get any breakaway free of the field as the teams of Schneider and Mejias, the two main sprinters vying for the win, seemed to be on point in marking the moves of any would-be aggressors. In particular, Sofia Arreola was a constant presence following the accelerations and stifling the attacks in their tracks.
The five corners did create a fair amount of attrition early on with the accordion effect out of turn one and turn five providing the stress needed to jettison riders out of the back lap after lap, even if the many breakaway attempts did not manage to muster a move. A breakaway did threaten to go off the front after the mid-race ACC sprint points as Schnieder and McMullen fought for the green jersey points and found themselves with a gap, but once again Arreola was wise to the move and quick to set herself as the anchor to bring everything back together shortly after.
In the final DNA Pro Cycling played a strong hand in controlling the final few laps with their full team of riders setting the pace for the majority of the last few laps. DNA leads the team standings in the ACC and has been consistent at the front of races all season long. They seemed poised to set up their sprinter, McMullen, for a win after a few near misses as they rumbled through the bell with one lap to go.
Nevertheless, despite their presence in the final sprint Mejias emerged from the peloton up the middle of the road and showed everyone a clean pair of heels in the final. Neither DNA nor Schnieder had an answer for the Cuban sprinter who exploded in the last 100 meters to take her second win in as many tried on Mass Ave. In the last meters, Paola Muñoz made a charge to the line, but she too fell short of Mejias and had to settle for second.
Schneider, who finished third, did add to her lead in the ACC overall and now has a healthy gap of 15 points over McMullen in second who holds onto the green jersey by one point of Schnieder. DNA Pro Cycling has a 13 point lead over the Miami Blazers in the teams classification, while Goldman Sachs EFT Racing is third.
“It was very exciting and I had to be very patient,” Mejias said after the race. “It's also a very technical race so you have to be at the front. The plan was to only spend energy at the key moments of the race.”
Women's Results
Marlies Mejias Garcia (Virginia's Blue Ridge TWENTY24)
Paola Muñoz (Goldman Sachs Racing ETFS)
Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers)
Coryn Labecki (EF Education-Cannondale)
Rylee McMullen (DNA Pro Cycling)
Makayla Macpherson (DNA Pro Cycling)
Regina Doty (LA Sweat)
Heidy Praderas (Kingdom Elite)
Sofia Arreola (Virginia's Blue Ridge TWENTY24)
Ashley Beimert (Coalition Cycling)
Women's ACC Standings
Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers) – 69 points
Rylee McMullen (DNA Pro Cycling) – 46 points
Makayla Macpherson (DNA Pro Cycling) – 37 points
Arielle Verhaaren (AUTOMATIC-Abus) – 35 points
Paola Muñoz (Goldman Sachs Racing ETFS) – 33 points
When it REIGNS it pours
The men began their race with the same parameters as the women with 70 minutes of their own racing around the same technical five corners. The big difference between the two was the men’s field had to contend with a truly dominant team in REIGN Storm Racing.
REIGN Storm has the ACC on lockdown this season. The team had won two out of four ACC races heading into the night and occupied the two leaders' jerseys and the first four positions in the overall standings. Whatever was to happen in Indy, REIGN Storm would undoubtedly be at or near the center of it.
What the team was not a part of, however, was the opening attack of the race from Josh Burnett of the New Zealand Cycling Project. Within ten minutes of the race starting, Burnett had flown the coup and was building a growing advantage all on his own. As the laps ticked by, Burnett grabbed time hand over fist until it looked as if he could be a real threat of going a lap-up.
His gap hit a crescendo 25 minutes into the race as he was closer to the rear of the group than the front of the pack was to him. Nevertheless, REIGN Storm had made it to the front of the field with their full complement of six riders and began to chug away at the chase. After a few laps, the momentum changed and the orange train began to roll closer and closer to the lone escape.
By the halfway point Burnett was able to grab the ACC green jersey sprint points, but his gap was now dwindling to the 20-second mark, a far cry from the 40-second advantage of a few laps earlier. The gap continued to fall systematically as the laps ticked by and REIGN Storm controlled the chase to bring the solo rider back as late as possible to limit any would-be counterattacks in the final. With ten laps to go Burnett had a meager gap of 10 seconds left to work with.
Ultimately, Burnett stayed out ahead of the peloton until the bell beckoned the REIGN Storm train to their final destination as they raised the tempo at the front of the field and began to split a greatly diminished field behind them. That acceleration put a few sprinters firmly out of position in the final and when the time came for the sprint the REIGN Storm fast finishers were once again unstoppable as Summerhill launched Rodriguez and Parra for another stacked REIGN Storm podium.
“We were really calm the whole race,” Rodriguez said after the race. “We had to put the whole team on the front for the chase to get the guy back. He was really strong, we were really pushing.
“The course is really fun, there are always things changing and its very fast.”
REIGN Storm Racing has locked up the overall win in the ACC this season with the result in Indy, even with three races remaining. They have a 125 point lead over the Austin Outlaws who are second ahead of the Miami Blazers in third. Parra holds a 10-point lead over his teammate Rodriguez, while Summerhill is third in the overall standings and has added to his green jersey lead with a second-place finish at the mid-race ACC points prime.
Men's Results
Alfredo Rodriguez (REIGN Storm Racing)
Jordan Parra (REIGN Storm Racing)
Ben Oliver (Above and Beyond Cancer)
Clever Martinez (Rockland Development)
Wolfgang Brandl (Maloja Pushbikers)
Danny Summerhill (REIGN Storm Racing)
Kyle Tiesler (Unattached)
Lucas Bourgoyne (Austin Outlaws)
Sebastian Cano (Kingdom Elite Racing)
Riley Wrightsman (First Internet Bank Cycling)
Men's ACC Standings
Jordan Parra (REIGN Storm Racing) – 56 points
Alfredo Rodriguez (REIGN Storm Racing) – 46 points
Danny Summerhill (REIGN Storm Racing) – 42 points
Clever Martinez (Rockland Development) – 41 points
Lucas Bourgoyne (Austin Outlaws) – 30 points
Photo credit: @joe.vond
