American Criterium Cup: Marlies Mejias and Alfredo Rodriguez dominate sprints at Momentum Indy Mass Ave Crit

Marlies Mejias Garcia (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY24) won the elite women’s race at the IU Health Momentum Indy criterium this past weekend, while REIGN Storm Racing went one-two with winner Alfredo Rodriguez and runner-up Jordan Parra.

Both Friday night races under the lights in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana came down to bunch finishes, with points on the line for the fifth of eight stops on the American Criterium Cup series.

Mejias crossed the line several bike lengths ahead of second-placed Paola Muñoz (Goldman Sachs ETFs Racing). The women’s peloton stayed together for the majority of the 70-minute race, only Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers) making a big attack to reel in the mid-race ACC sprint points. She then stayed close to the front and finished in third place, earning her fifth podium in the American Criterium Cup series. 

Skylar Schneider retained the lead in the individual standings for women, two DNA Pro Cycling riders – Rylee McMullen second 23 points back and Makayla Macpherson third 9 more points back. McMullen has a one-point lead over Schneider in the sprint competition.

“It was very exciting and I had to be very patient,” Mejias said after the race. “It’s also a very technical race so you have to be at the front. The plan was to only spend energy at the key moments of the race.”

Last year’s winner Kendall Ryan (L39ION of Los Angeles) was not on the start line, but  reigning US criterium champion Coryn Labecki (EF-Oatly-Cannondale) took part in only her second ACC race this season and finished one spot off the podium in fourth.

The men’s race on the Mass Ave crit course was focused on the solo breakaway of Josh Burnett (Mitoq-NZ Cycling Project), to see if he could stay away after going clear in the first 10 minutes on the twisty,‘bow-tie-shaped course. REIGN Storm went into serious chase mode with 10 laps to go and caught Burnett, who at one time had a 40-second margin, on the bell lap.

“We were really calm the whole race,” Rodriguez said after the race. “We had to put the whole team on the front for the chase to get the guy back. [Burnett] was really strong, we were really pushing.”

Summerhill, who extended his sprint classification lead, led out his teammates for the one-two finish. It was the fourth victory in five races for REIGN Storm, the trio on the Indy podium holding strong in the men’s overall standings – Parra first with 56 points, Rodiguez second at 10 points back and Summerhill third another four points back.

The next installment of the ACC takes place July 27 at the 12th annual Northwestern Medicine Lake Bluff Criterium outside Chicago, Illinois. It is part of the 10-day Chicago Grit collection of criterium races, formerly branded as Intelligentsia Cup.

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