Botero Holds On To Yellow At Redlands

Murmurs of Rock Racing filled downtown Redlands today as Stage Two of the Redlands Bicycle Classic brought cyclists one race away from their glory, with Santiago Botero of Rock Racing leading in overall points. Botero held onto his overall lead, but BMC's Jeff Louder won today's stage race, just ahead of Luis Alberto Amaran with Colavita Sutter Home/Cooking Light. Third across the line was Ivan Dominguez, from Toyota United. For the majority of the 1.2 mile, seven turn downtown Redlands criterium race, sponsored by 1st Centennial Bank/KWB Wealth Managers, four cyclists created the breakaway. Inside three laps to go, the stakes were high and the action non-stop as the original four reduced to three. As the pace accelerated to a blistering speeds, and the peloton continued to hunt down its 18 second lead on the field, Curtis Gunn, from Successful Living, and Shawn Milne of Team Type One crashed on the final lap, leaving third position up for grabs. Dominguez saw the opportunity and sprinted ahead of the pack. Louder felt the speed of today's race and was able to clinch onto his lead, despite the activity behind him. "It was a bit of a cat and mouse game," said Louder. "The rest of the group was coming hard. I led through the last half of the race and was just trying to keep it up. It was a tricky race. I'm not really a sprinter, but this race favors a strong technical rider. I don't have fast legs, but if I get in the lead group, like today, it works."