The top spots in the Redlands Classic general classification remain unchanged Friday, after another tough day of racing saw Genevieve Jeanson (RONA-Esker) win her second consecutive stage, while John Lieswyn of 7UP-Maxxis won a five-up sprint against breakaway companions from Prime Alliance and Navigators.

A new course to the Redlands Classic, the stage 3 Panorama Point Road Race, dished out a series of steep climbs over the 10-mile loop — the worst section reaching grades of near 20% grade. The men went up and over the circuit six times, while the women raced for four.

Jeanson on the attack

Photo: Casey B. Gibson

If Jeanson’s impressive stage win at Oak Glen Thursday wore her out, there were no signs Friday morning as she attacked on the first climb, shattering the field and putting an even larger gap between her and her closest competitors. In what has now become a race for second-place, Saturn’s Lyne Bessette and Manon Jutras worked together to minimize the damage, with occasional help from chase companion Amber Neben of T-Mobile. Showing signs of fatigue, Neben’s teammate Kimberly Bruckner, second on GC coming into the stage, was dropped from the chase group the second time over the hill.

On the third lap the trio managed to maintain the gap at just 10 seconds, however on the final climb, Jeanson throttled it again, and by the time she’d soloed in at the finish line, she’d put another two-minutes into Bessette, Jutras and Neben, whose finishing order nearly mirrors the top-four GC positions.

In the men’s race, an overall that has been dominated by Saturn since the opening-day time trial meant the onus was on teams such as Prime Alliance, Navigators and mountain-bike world champion Roland Green’s Trek-VW All-Stars to attack, and attack they did. Early breaks led by Prime Alliance’s Michael Creed and Matt Decanio — and shadowed closely by Saturn’s patrolling Trent Klasna — gained a lead by as much as one-minute before they were reabsorbed. Instead of chasing, the Saturn men rode a hard tempo, discouraging breaks, and, if a group slipped away, never allowing it more than 90 seconds.

The winning move came with two laps to go, as an eight-man group advanced over the climb, consisting of Glen Mitchell, Justin Spinelli and Burke Swindlehurst (Navigators), Danny Pate and David Clinger (Prime Alliance), Adam Livingston (Schroeder Iron), Lieswyn and Klasna.

Spinelli and Livingston were the first of the group to get shelled, while, as Pate and Lieswyn drove the break, a concerned Klasna sat in. Over the last climb the group had a minute-and-a-half on the field, and, as it became clear that their break would stick, Mitchell attacked hard over the final pitch. So hard, in fact, that Mitchell’s teammate Swindlehurst dropped off the pace.

Meanwhile, Saturn’s trio of GC leaders, Chris Horner, Nathan O’Neill and Tom Danielson had waited long enough, and began to pick up the pace.

The final break takes on the final hill: Klasna, Pate, Mitchell, Lieswyn, Swindlehurst and Clinger.

Photo: Neal Rogers

At the front, Mitchell’s gap over the breakaways never grew to more than 12 seconds, and the dwindled-down group of Pate, Lieswyn, Clinger and Klasna reabsorbed him with 4km to go.

The finishing straight, a long, wide stretch directly into a headwind, appeared to be a shoo-in for Klasna, the freshest of the bunch, however Lieswyn proved strongest, with Clinger second, and Mitchell third. Saturn’s trio of GC leaders came in 51 seconds back.

Full Results to Follow

Stage Three, Panorama Point Road Race – 73km
Women
1. Genevieve Jeanson, Rona-Esker, 2:00:30 (36.35 kmph)
2. Lyne Bessette, Saturn, at 2:26
3. Manon Jutras, Saturn, s.t.
4. Amber Neben, T-Mobile, s.t.
5. Kimberly Bruckner, T-Mobile, at 6:15
General classification after stage 3
1. Genevieve Jeanson, Rona-Esker, 7:32:23
2. Manon Jutras, Saturn, at 6:01
3. Lyne Bessette, Saturn, at 6:04
4. Amber Neben, T-Mobile, at 7:32
5. Kimberly Bruckner, T-Mobile, at 9:36

Stage Three, Panorama Point Road Race – 105km
Men
1. John Lieswyn, 7UP-Maxxis, 2:37:20 (40.04 kmph)
2. David Clinger, Prime Alliance, s.t.
3. Glenn Mitchell, Navigators, s.t.
4. Trent Klasna, Saturn, s.t.
5. Danny Pate, Prime Alliance, s.t.
General classification after stage 3
1. Nathan O'Neill, Saturn, 9:20:50
2. Chris Horner, Saturn, at 0:02
3. Tom Danielson, Saturn, at 1:03
4. Roland Green, Trek-VW All Stars, at 1:08
5. Jonathan Vaughters, Prime Alliance, at 1:09