Fayetteville, Ark. – Team Type 1’s Chris Jones didn’t have time to sit up and enjoy his first win of the season.
Had he conserved a single pedal stroke near the end of Sunday’s 90-minute criterium at the Joe Martin Stage Race, the Auburn, Calif., resident would not have won the National Racing Calendar event.
“Thankfully it was an uphill sprint,” Jones said. “It wasn’t an easy way to win it, but it worked out very well.”
Jones crossed the finish line one second ahead of Luis Amaran (Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light), who had been his breakaway companion for the final eight laps. Amaran finished two seconds ahead of the charging pack that was led in by his teammate, Lucas Sebastian Haedo.
“Once Amaran and I got away, I was waiting for Darren (Lill) to come across,” Jones said of his Team Type 1 teammate. “But once we figured he wasn’t going to make it and the time gap was coming down, we both started riding hard. The pack was coming fast so I wasn’t sure if we were going to make it to the line.”
As the pair screamed down the final straight toward the turn leading to the uphill finish, Amaran went right. Jones surprised the Cuban by steering his Orbea left and got enough of a gap to secure the sixth victory of his career and the team’s 14th of the year. Team Type 1 also finished second in the four-day race’s team standings behind Bissell Pro Cycling.
Assistant Team Director Gord Fraser said the victory comes at a most opportune time.
“As far as tangible success, this win was nothing short of what this team needed,” he said. “Last weekend at the Tour of the Gila, the level of competition was kind of intense and we definitely missed out on a couple of days where we deserved to win.”
Rory Sutherland (OUCH presented by Maxxis) won the overall title while Lill scored a team-best, eighth-place finish.
