L39ION of Los Angeles duo Kendall Ryan and Ty Magner secured the wins for elite women and men at the IU Momentum Health Indy Crit in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday. The criteriums served as the ninth stop for the American Criterium Cup series of one-day races across the US.
Individual ACC titles were wrapped up with one race to go, Paola Muñoz (Miami Nights) for women and Danny Summerhill (American Cycling Group) for men.
The four-corner 0.71-mile (1.15km) course featured one technical 100-degree right-hand turn from Vermont to Mass Avenue to keep riders attentive to positioning for the full hour of racing in each pro event.
The pace remained high throughout the entire women’s race, with Rachel Plessing (ButcherBox Cycling p/b Look) on a quest to scoop up points in the ACC sprint competition, snatching the 20 mid-race points. Skylar Schneider (L39ION of Los Angeles) escaped from the peloton on a solo attack, which lasted until nine laps remained. It then signalled another sprint for Plessing and with the top points she secured her second place in the standings, as Kimberly Lucie (DNA Pro Cycling) had already locked up the title.
After grabbing the third sprint, Plessing kept pressing at the front and took off with Aubrey Drummond (Austin Aviators Pro Cycling). But the attack only amped up the high-speed chase and Skylar Schneider ushered her L39ION teammate Kendall Ryan to the victory, well ahead of Marlies Mejias Garcia (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24) in third place.
The L39ION of Los Angeles team marked certain riders and spread the workload amongst its riders, in expectation of the final bunch sprint.
"We had Alexis [Ryan] mark her and just make sure that she was covered for any moves that she was trying to get up the road so that we were not on the back foot. That saved us a ton of energy for the end. We just tried to share the work and keep one of us kind of fresh. We tried the solo move with Sky, but it's just too windy out there for a solo rider, really swirling on the back side, kind of pointless," Kendall Ryan explained.
"And then, at the back side, we just attacked, probably about halfway down the backstretch into that hairpin corner. And then Alexis went full gas to the last chicane and I just came around her when we straightened out. So I just got a nice sling shot, and took a run."
In the men's race, Summerhill appeared to have another win on the ACC circuit but was relegated to fourth after officials reviewed the men’s race finish. Magner was elevated to first place.
A five-man breakaway which included Cade Bickmore (Project Echelon Racing), Kyle Perry (Texas Roadhouse), Tanner Ward (Miami Blazers), Evan McQuirk (ButcherBox) and Sam Boardman (L39ION) animated most of the race. The break nabbed the points in the first two ACC sprint competition, with Perry taking top points in the first two sprints.
Working together, the quintet held a gap that hovered around the 15-second mark before being reeled in with 15 laps to go.
The final five laps saw L39ION organised at the front of the field, with Blazers trying to overtake them but the Los Angeles continued to control the pace. With one lap to go, Magner was behind two teammates with Summerhill on his wheel.
Summerhill crossed the finish line but was relegated to fourth place putting Magner on the top step. Jamie Castaneda (American Cycling Group) was second and Brandon Feehery (Blazers) took third place.
Magner explained that the Sumerhill's relegation had to do with cones in the street.
"It was actually a flaw in the course design and whoever the officials were to create a safe course for us in that last turn. They lined cones on a line, and in most people's minds that means you can't go through these cones to take the line. If the cones weren't there, you could use it [the line] in advance, but the cones were there. So it's a little bit confusing but in the sprint, Danny went over the cones. I love Danny. He's a great dude. But in the end, it's hard because if we had done it, somebody else would have protested, so it’s a little bit iffy, but rules."
"It's awesome. Our ladies won today, which is amazing. And then to get the win with the men too for L39ION is an awesome weekend."
The finale of the 10-event American Criterium Cup is September 3 in St. Louis, Missouri, at the Giro della Montagna, which is part of the four-day Gateway Cup.
