ISLAS WINS KOM JERSEY, HOEHN 8th OVERALL AT REDLANDS CLASSIC
May 2nd-6th, 2018
REDLANDS, Calif. – The Aevolo team made its presence known this past week at Redlands Bicycle Classic. Each challenging stage was met with tenacity and doggedness by the entire team, and it paid off.
The final stage, Sunset Loop Road Race, saw Fernando Islas claim the king of the mountains jersey while Alex Hoehn sealed an excellent eighth place overall.
“I am very happy,” Islas said. “The team is working a lot for me and for Alex, I am satisfied that I was able to gain this result. It’s a big victory for me because it’s such a big event here. I am happy to be able to continue helping the team, and to continue to learn and improve each day. Of course, the team is happy after winning our first stage last year with Gage Hecht and now the KOM classification. It shows we did the job well, little by little. We’re all young, and it was up to me to fight for this classification but we’ll see because we have plenty of strong riders, like Luis, Alex, who finished in the top ten on GC. We continue racing and doing a good job.
“The team was keeping on point. I was listening to my director, Mike Creed, over the radio who was keeping count on the points. We didn’t worry about winning the sprints, only to gain some points because most of the riders in the competition were further back. Not just to fight for every point but what was necessary.”
Islas said he plans to go back to Mexico and recover before planning his next race.
Despite the busy schedule, the team still found quiet time to work on school work, as well as memorize each other’s birthdate and birthplace, an impromptu competition first conquered by recent birthday boy Tyler Stites.
Hoehn performed consistently over the course of the four day race, finishing in the top ten almost every day to capture one of the biggest results of his career.
“Being in the top ten is really surreal for me,” Hoehn said. “I’ve never done this well at a stage race this big so it is really an honor to kick some butt with my green and yellow hitters. I love being able to race well for the team. It means a lot to me when they sacrifice themselves so that I can stay out of trouble and be fresh for the finish. No one works harder than my team.”
The Aevolo team will head to Minneapolis, Minnesota for North Star Grand Prix next, starting June 13-17.
All Photos by Casey B. Gibson