McGill Takes Third Stage Win for Project Echelon at Redlands

Redlands, California (April 13, 2024) – Scott McGill stole a third stage victory for Project Echelon at the 2024 Redlands Bicycle Classic on Saturday. Denver Disruptors were just behind, finishing second and third with Noah Granigan and Tyler Williams. Project Echelon arrived in Southern California after spending time in Europe for a short block of racing to help gain racing fitness and strength before the start of the season back home.

The Arrowhead Orthopaedics Criterium for stage 4 was a chaotic day of racing, with a massive crash in the peloton within 10 laps to go. After a short neutralization of the race to allow riders to visit the pit for service and others to be seen by medical, all riders were up and the race was started once again. Two laps were added to leave the peloton with 10 laps to go for another try. The stage 4 victory marks the third win out of the four days of racing for Project Echelon.

“The final few laps were probably the least stressful of the whole race, because I was just sitting behind the team,” McGill said. “When we were further back in the bunch, there was a lot of fighting for position. The team was super strong, we were just going to ride until two laps to go to keep the GC safe, but we were able to ride into the final lap with four guys. They were amazing today; I can’t thank them enough. We were able to win today and hold on to the GC so, yea a really stressful day.”

The team had dominated the race keeping a watch on the front of the field, marking any moves that escaped. A few riders tried their hand, including Will Gleason of CS Velo Racing, and Tyler Williams for Denver but were soon absorbed by the field.

“Tyler and I were going in it in the last lap; you can win it with three corners to go where we were one and two there,” Granigan said after the finish. “Scott is one of my really good friends, he was crafty and able to get by and get around Tyler in the head wind into the finish. It ended up working out for him. We had some small mistakes in those last two turns.”

Project Echelon kept their focus, keeping the yellow jersey safe at the front of the race. Other tactics came into play, marking the intermediate time bonus where Stites picked up two seconds behind Ryan Gorman (Voler Factory Racing) who held his lead in the sprint classification. Stites was happy, hoping to gain every second possible before the Sunset circuit finale.

“It was a stressful crit, quite a few crashes but after the restart we were able to take to the front as a team which really kept us safe,” Stites said after finishing. “It’s hard to pass a train once we’re up to speed on this course with so many turns. Scott was able to take the win, which was amazing.”

The last two years, the final stage on the Sunset circuit has delivered exciting racing for the finale, finishing within 30 seconds for the overall GC margin. Stites will start the final stage with a 43-second margin ahead of Ribble Rebellion’s Joe Laverick.

“It’s a really tough race where anything can happen,” Stites said. “We’ll need to come with our best legs and give it our best to defend.”

Meanwhile, after earning podium spots nearly every stage, Denver Disruptors will have one more chance for a stage win.

“We had the numbers [today], but it’s the first big stage race of the season,” Granigan said. “Scott’s a good rider so I can’t be too upset. I definitely wanted that one, but we’ll have numbers tomorrow so we’re looking for that.”

 

 

—> STAGE 4 MEN’S RESULTS (CLICK HERE TO VIEW)