London — Rock Racing fans of all ages – and even Harrods Owner Mohammed Al-Fayed himself – turned out to meet the pro cycling team at a special engagement at the renowned store in the heart of London on Monday.

Hundreds of people turned out at Harrods to meet Rock Racing’s six riders who competed in the Tour of Britain. Rahsaan Bahati, Santiago Botero, Tyler Hamilton, Victor Hugo Peña, Fred Rodriguez and Oscar Sevilla signed autographs and posed for pictures.

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The Rock Racing team successfully protected the 54-second lead Santiago Botero had gained while soloing to victory on Stage 1 on Friday in Beaumont. Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United) finished second overall and Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell Pro Cycling) was third. The result was Botero’s first-ever win in the United States and the Colombian also took home the red jersey of best climber in the four-day race.

The Rock Racing team made sure that Redlands was not a repeat of previous weekend’s San Dimas race when they lost the lead in the last stage by one second, by controlling the front of the field throughout the race, never letting a rider get more than a one-minute gap.

After his Colavita-Sutter Home team executed a perfect leadout train in the ultimate lap of the five laps of Saturdays’ criterium course, Alejandro Borrajo won the field sprint ahead of Tony Cruz (BMC) and Rory Sutherland (Health Net p/b Maxxis).

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Winner of the 2000 Tour de France KOM, Colombian Santiago Botero (Rock Racing) easily dropped his 5 breakaway companions on the last lap of the Redlands Bicycle Classic Beaumont Stage Race, and won with over fifty seconds gap over his competitors. Sebastian Haedo (Colavita/Sutter Home) won the sprint for second place with Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell) rounding out the podium.

“We needed to do a hard race, the reason because me and the other riders were always in the attack and the breakaways. In the last lap, Mariano told me to attack in the hill, this is your opportunity, Sebastian is fast, you need to take seconds in the general.” said Botero after the stage.

Santiago Botero (Rock Racing) cruises to the finish line

“When he attacked, nobody could really try to go with him, the group decided to go steady together to try and close the gap but he was super strong, it was 35 seconds, then …. he was super strong in the climb.” said Haedo about Botero’s final attack on the last climb.

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