Redlands, Calif. — Tyler Hamilton’s work ethic exemplified the attitude of the entire Rock Racing team in Saturday’s Stage 2 1st Centennial Bank/KWB Wealth Managers Criterium at the Redlands Bicycle Classic.

The former Tour de France stage winner was one of a number of Rock Racing riders shouldering the workload to help keep the yellow leader’s jersey on the back of Santiago Botero during the 90-minute race. And Hamilton did it despite suffering from a 102-degree fever.

“I just told myself it was an hour-and-a-half of work and then I could go back to bed,” Hamilton said. “Today was a total team effort.”

No one on Rock Racing was going to let a re-run of last weekend occur. Memories of Rock Racing’s Oscar Sevilla being surpassed in the final criterium to concede the San Dimas Stage Race by a single second can now be erased.

“This week we had more of a buffer – 54 seconds on second place – so we had a little more freedom to let a break go up the road,” Hamilton said. “This time we kept it in check and kept it under control.”

Jeff Louder (BMC Pro Cycling Team) won the race in a two-up sprint against Luis Romero Amaran (Colavita-Sutter Home) as Botero safely finished with the pack 11 seconds later. The result allows Botero to retain his 54-second lead over second-placed Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) and 1:07 advantage over Francois Parisien (Symmetrics Cycling), who is third.

Amaran soloed for nearly a half-hour before being joined by Louder, Shawn Milne (Team Type 1) and Curtis Gunn (Successful Living Pro Cycling) at the midpoint of the race. The four worked together to build a lead that stretched to nearly 50 seconds with 10 laps left.

But with none of the four closer than two minutes to Botero in the overall standings, Rock Racing was content to ride tempo and let other teams decide whether the break would be brought back. It wasn’t until the final five laps that the chase – initially led by the Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast team and later by Toyota-United – began to consistently cut into the time gap.

Rock Racing Team Owner Michael Ball said reeling in the break would have been advantageous to the sprinting prowess of “Fast Freddie” Rodriguez, who won the field sprint on Stage 1.

“But it wasn’t our responsibility to get him up there. It was up to the other teams,” Ball said. “They can’t expect us to do all the work all the time. If they keep waiting for us, guys are going to get away, we’re not going to chase, we are simply going to protect.”

As the music of Led Zepplin and Twisted Sister thumped from the speakers of one of the team’s Cadillac Escalades after the race, a large group of fans swarmed the Rock Racing enclave. Pictures were snapped, autographs signed and plenty of handshakes, pats on the back and well wishes to the riders for the final stage were shared.

Now only Sunday’s Stage 3 91-mile (146.5 km) Beaver Medical Group Sunset Road Race stands between Botero securing Rock Racing’s first-ever yellow jersey victory at a stage race. Ball said he’s been waiting for moments like this all season.

“These guys are warriors. They’re fighters,” he said. “They’re not going to give up. As you can see, the fans love these guys. It’s a great thing for the sport.”

— RRC—