Shafi Celebrates Another Stage Win, Extending Overall GC Lead

 

Big Bear, California (April 10, 2025) – Alia Shafi notched another stage victory, crossing the line solo atop the Onyx Summit for Stage 2 at the Redlands Bicycle Classic presented by San Manuel Band of Mission Indians..  The Fount Cycling Guild rider extended her overall lead to over a minute on GC. SpeedBlock pb Terun rider, Kira Payer, finished shortly behind Shafi in second, earning the Queen of the Mountains jersey for her efforts. Best Young Rider Sidney Swierenga rounded the podium in third, for the second day of racing.

The pro women set off for Stage 2 Thursday, completing six laps of the new circuit that was added this season, hoping to split the peloton prior to reaching the foot of the summit. Anticipating the long climb ahead, the women’s peloton stuck together, waiting for the imminent attacks.

Eventually, the winning move would launch in the feed zone midway up the climb. Kira Payer (SpeedBlock p/b Terum) and Shafi gained some distance, setting a pace others found too difficult to keep. The battle continued between the duo until Shafi gave a final jump to drop her breakaway companion and post for the win.

“The altitude was really tough, you could feel it in that last 10KM,” Shafi said. “Kira [Payer] was super strong, she tried to launch a few attacks, but I held her wheel. We went basically up to 250m together until I went. Big shout out to her, she is super strong and I had lots of fun racing with her today.”

“The team crushed it today. We had roughly seven girls out of about 25 or 30 towards the end,” Shafi continued. “They controlled the pace and protected me well. It went according to plan. It’s awesome to see us come out after a couple of years coming so close.”

Last season Payer contracted Long-Covid and admits she thought she would never be able to race again.

“Fount and I ended up on the descent and I hopped on to the train. As soon as the speed dropped, I blew it up a bit,” Payer said. “Eventually, Alia and I traded pulls which was able to drop the other girls. Sydney bridged up to us with a super strong ride. I put in some digs to try and shake Alia. It cracked Sydney but ultimately Alia outsprinted me at the end.

“My plan was to go for it from the bottom. My girls did an amazing job keeping me cool and hydrated,” Payer added. “This was a pretty big day for me, because last year racing this stage I realized I had Long-Covid. I spent the entire year until September recovering from Covid. I didn’t know I would be able to race again, so to come back a year later and feel like myself again is a pretty big achievement for me.”

The classification jerseys shuffled around with Kendall Ryan taking over the Sprint Points Classification, Payer taking the first Queen of the Mountain jersey of the week, while Swierenga maintains the Best Young Rider jersey, and Shafi in yellow.

Pro Men’s Race

Owen Cole soars to victory atop Onyx Summit for Team Winston Salem
Photo: ©Veloimages

The men began the day early, starting their stage at 9:30, facing 10 laps of the added circuit before facing the climb. The circuit saw several crashes and extensive action at the front of field, desperately attempting to set a breakaway. Multiple riders and teams were in the mix. During the last two laps riders were picking up the pace and establishing a front group with roughly 35 riders.

Little by little the group split up and the front breakaway was left with a handful of riders, including Ricky Arnopol (Project Echelon). Owen Cole (Team Winston Salem), Alex Gil (Canel’s –Java), and Stephen Schaeffer of Llandis Trek. Around 30km to go, Arnopol launched an attack with Gil countering. The duo gained a slight advantage that would balloon to over a minute ahead of the stragglers behind them.

Owen Cole (Team Winston Salem) set his pace in the chase group behind, slowly gaining time and would eventually catch and drop the two leaders to reach the finish solo, celebrating his victory and taking over the yellow jersey. Arnopol would finish second, securing his lead in the King of the Mountain classification, with Luke Elphington in third for Kelly Benefits Strategies.

“I wasn’t trying to get the KOM, I really wanted the win,” Arnopol said. “I didn’t really get any help, it was just me and one other guy (Gil) for the entire thing, and then I was solo for the last 25km. I got caught with a kilometer to go. Owen[Cole] was just stronger and I couldn’t stay on the wheel. I just ran out of legs at the end. I got second which is a bummer, but I guess it was a good day.”

At about the midway point up the climb, Arnopol had two other teammates in the chase group, including Hugo Scala, Jr. who had been second on GC after the stage 1 time trial. Unfortunately, Scala had suffered a front wheel puncture and shortly there after, slide and crashed. The team would later report that Scala escaped any  major injuries but was forced to abandon the race.

Meanwhile, as the Arnopol and Gil duo were seeing roughly 20km to go, Gil began cramping from the heat unable to keep Arnopol’s wheel. He would try to regain the distance lost but would eventually finish outside the top 20.

Maintaining his rhythm, Cole had Arnopol in his sights, and would catch his wheel within 3km to go, eventually dropping him to go on for the win. Eder Frayre of Golden State Blazers was also close behind but ran out of real estate, finishing fourth on the stage.

“There weren’t many thoughts in the final kilometers, other than trying to keep breathing,” Cole said at the finish. “I had my guys yelling in my ear the entire way, that was the only thing keeping me going at that point. Just trying to go all in. We went really early at the bottom of the climb. We started pushing the pace in the main peloton. A couple of us got away and just went at it the entire day. I had a minor crash in the circuits at the beginning. My teammates were amazing and brought me back up, luckily everything was okay.”

For Stage 3 on Friday, riders will face the Crafton Hills circuit race, a new addition to the Redlands Classic that includes a 250m gravel section. Cole holds a 50” advantage over Arnopol in the GC standings with Joe Laverick (Good Guys Racing) i

n third, 1.24” back. The pro women will race first, starting at 9:30 AM followed by the pro men at 10:45.

Podium photos © Above Four Media