At the Prologue of the 2009 Redlands Bicycle Classic Thursday, the Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team rode strong, with Matt Crane finishing in 12th and Kiel Reijnen only four seconds behind in 20th. After the Prologue the time gaps were incredibly small, giving all the riders a chance to change things quickly on Friday.

Despite strong cross-winds, the Jelly Belly Team showed up in full force Friday as well, at the Stage 1 Beaumont Circuit Race. Kiel Reijnen placed 2nd in the KOM and overall, only one point away from grabbing 1st. In the final Sprint, Canadian Will Routley grabbed 2nd with Jonny Clarke not far behind in 11th. At this point BMC took over the Yellow Jersey.

The Sunset Road Race concluded Stage 3 of the 2009 Redlands Bicycle Classic, and is touted as one of the hardest circuits in the North American racing circuit, since it usually finishes with a group of about 30 riders. BMC rode hard early on to keep the Yellow Jersey. This caused the field to split the first time up the climb. By the time we were halfway though the circuits, there were only 35 guys left in contention, Reijnen said. At two laps to go the attacks came fast and hard on the climb, with Will pushing hard and putting in a huge solo effort to try to escape. BMC reeled everyone in and kept the 22-man field together on the big down hill ride into town. Attacks were plentiful in the finishing laps too, which saw both Kiel and Will off the front at various points. In the end, Will finished in 8th overall and Kiel finished in 10th overall.

-Molly Saunders, PR Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team