Consistency is the secret on the American Criterium Cup (ACC) and Mission Echelon has staked its declare on the boys’s aspect of the inaugural US nationwide racing sequence. With two races to go, Brandon Feehery leads the boys’s general and dash standings whereas Mission Echelon Racing teammate Ethan Craine as the highest under-23 rider.
The sequence has a group competitors as nicely, with Mission Echelon Racing simply 9 factors behind present chief Greatest Buddies Racing.
Feehery has raced all seven of the boys’s ACC occasions, starting with a fourth-place end at Sunny King Criterium in April, then including a fourth at Lake Bluff Criterium throughout Intelligentsia Cup on the finish of July and an assortment of prime 15 finishes within the different contests. The group has made the ACC considered one of its most important targets for the season.
“The American Criterium Cup was on our radar at first of the season. After the primary few races we realized we had a very good likelihood to win the dash competitors and probably the general as nicely. This season has been a blast to race in opposition to groups like L39ION, Greatest Buddies and Miami Blazers. The competitors this yr has actually stepped up/ It exhibits that over final season all of the groups have accomplished their homework to step up their sport this yr,” Feehery instructed Cyclingnews.
So no wins at an ACC occasion can internet a sequence lead? A lot of the victories on the boys’s aspect, 4 of them to be precise, have been snatched by Ty Magner of L39ION of Los Angeles, however because the L39ION group opted to not take part within the ACC sequence that left the factors and prizes up for grabs.
At stake is a $100,000 sequence prize purse to be break up equally amongst women and men after the finale on September 4 on the Giro Della Montagna that’s a part of the four-day Bommarito Audi Gateway Cup in St. Louis. And the vast majority of the occasions have dwell broadcasts for the professional races.
“For us, originally of the yr, we set a aim to be thought-about the very best all-around group within the nation. Should you look throughout disciplines, we needed to be acknowledged as the very best,” mentioned Eric Hill, founder and director of Mission Echelon Racing.
“And we really feel that we have completed that between our success at Redlands, taking third at Joe Martin, additionally taking podiums at professional nationals after which main the American Criterium Cup. I do not assume that there is one other program that has that kind of depth and outcomes throughout disciplines.”
Mission Echelon Racing finds methods to win on a diminished North American racing scene. The US-based home elite group gained the general at Redlands Biking Traditional, took third general at Joe Martin Stage Race with Tyler Stites, a silver medal within the USA Biking Professional Highway Race championship by Stites and in addition in Knoxville a bronze within the professional time trial by George Simpson and a fifth place within the professional criterium by Hugo Scala, Jr.
New Zealander Craine
A key to success within the ACC for the 30-year-old Feehery has been the addition of ‘additional pop within the legs’ of 20-year-old Craine. The younger New Zealander is in his first season with Echelon Mission and has made an enormous distinction.
“He came visiting to the States as a visitor rider final yr and we had the chance to lift him at ToAD [Tour of America’s Dairyland], Intelligentsia Cup, after which once more at Inexperienced Mountain State race – three very completely different dynamics. He was good in any respect of them,” Hill instructed Cyclingnews about Craine, who gained two phases at Inexperienced Mountain final yr.
“So we’re actually excited to deliver on some younger power with him. He is very educated for his age, a really artful rider. And he is received the legs to again it up. To have the ability to put a one-two with him and Brandon, you realize, top-of-the-line veterans within the group, to place these two collectively, is a extremely superior group dynamic. Ethan’s there when it issues, within the final 5 to 10 laps, and he has actually been essential in positioning Brandon to have the success that he is been having.”
That dynamic has paid dividends thus far within the American Criterium Cup, as Craine has labored for Feehery, however labored his manner into the outcomes with a sixth place at Boise Twilight, tenth at Littleton Criterium and a pair of 14th placings in Salt Lake and Lake Bluff.
“We did not have a full squad at a lot of the races in order that made it a very good alternative for Ethan and myself to work onerous collectively to go for factors within the dash competitors after which struggle onerous for the end,” Feehery instructed Cyclingnews. “We actually had to make use of our expertise as savvy riders to attempt to beat the larger groups that had full squads in any respect the races.
“Having Ethan on the group this yr has been large for us. He’s a youthful rider with a whole lot of expertise and potential to do some massive issues in his profession. In an early-season race he crashed and broke his hand, which took him out of coaching and racing for a couple of weeks. It has been a whole lot of enjoyable watching Ethan develop not solely as a rider these previous couple of months however as a teammate as nicely.
“Up to now he was a profitable particular person racer, now an enormous asset to the group. Ethan can and will likely be one of many prime crit races quickly and has the potential to be a prime street race sprinter as nicely.”
Feehery has been with the Mission Echelon group for quite a lot of years now and mentioned he’s recharged with the youthful riders on the squad.
“Racing this yr has sparked a brand new fireplace beneath me to maintain coaching and rising as a rider. I need to use my expertise and data that I’ve realized and developed over the numerous years that I’ve been racing and use that to assist the youthful riders like Ethan and Hugo make it to the following stage within the sport and see how far they’ll go. I need to assist the youthful riders turn out to be the very best racers within the sport,” he added.
Feehery and his teammates are centered on two extra ACC races to shut out the season – August 27 at IU Well being Momentum Indy in Indianapolis after which the finale on Labor Day weekend in St. Louis.
American Criterium Cup standings
With two races remaining of the 9 for males, Feehery has a 498-point lead within the general standings to 373 factors taken by Intelligent Martinez (Blazers). Alfredo Rodriguez (Greatest Buddies Racing) has 296 factors, protecting him simply forward of Thomas Gibbons (Automated-ABUS), 281. Rodriguez, who crashed within the Bailey & Glasser LLP Twilight Criterium in Boise in early July when he had the general lead, is predicted to return to motion for the ultimate two races.
Feehrey is essentially a lock on the boys’s dash season-long standings, as he has an 85-point margin on teammate Crane. The following three riders are separated by 5 factors every, Hernandez in third, Gibbons fourth and Frank Traviesco (Blazers) fifth.
Within the ladies’s ACC standings, Maggie Coles-Lyster (DNA Professional Biking) leads Andrea Cyr (ButcherBox Biking p/b LOOK) in each the general and dash standings. The factors between the 2 are very shut, with 64 factors separating them within the general and simply 10 factors within the dash standings. Colavita Issue Professional Biking has Anna Christian and Christina Gokey-Smith in third and fourth place general, respectively, with Gokey-Smith third within the dash standings.
Like the boys, the L39ION ladies have collected a very good quantity podiums at ACC particular person occasions, however the factors collected don’t depend in the direction of ACC rankings. Each Skylar Schneider and Kendall Ryan have a trio of victories every, Ryan’s haul approaching the final three consecutive races.
The ladies have accomplished eight races, whereas the boys have simply seven, the distinction being on the MVP Well being Care Rochester Twilight Criterium in Rochester, New York in Might. Whereas the professional ladies’s contest was accomplished, heavy thunderstorms halted the boys’s race after three laps and officers then cancelled the race with lingering lightning and rain.
