Silber Pro Cycling’s Matteo Dal-Cin of Ottawa became the first Canadian in the Redland Cycling Classics 35-year history to win the general classification of the five-stage California race.

>>Before the Redlands TT Silber was busy fixing a garage door

Entering the Sunset Road Race on April 10 which annually is raced notoriously aggressively Dal-Cin sat two seconds back to race leader Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Sutter Home) after narrowing the gap in the Stage 3 time trial. Dal-Cin took a worrying fall in a pile-up in the crit on Saturday but his injuries were minimal. Dal-Cin and his Silber teammates entered Sunday’s stage with all intentions of racing aggressively to put pressure on the race leader.

“The race plan was to attack Jamis and force them to burn off guys early and often with big moves up the road,” said Dal-Cin’s teammate Michael Le Rossignol. After the team covered the early break, Dal-Cin and Nigel Ellsay escaped the peloton with a strong group on the fourth lap forcing Jamis to work on the front.

“The team was amazing,” said Dal-Cin. “Ben covered the initial break and pressured Jamis. Nigel made the break as well. Kris, Emile, Elliot and Nicholas were supposed to just survive the first climb to the time bonus before coming to help me. They did more than that, they were right by my side from the word go along with Mikey.”

Before the start, the circuit race was shortened to 11 laps from 12 following delays earlier in the day. By the ninth lap, the Jamis team was wilting under the pressure of the group up the road containing Dal-Cin and the race leader became isolated.

“Acevedo was forced to set the pace alone and try to bring back Matteo who was the virtual GC leader,” said Le Rossignol. “Jamis never could even bring the gap down. Lachlan Morton [Team Jelly-Belly] attacked a few times and shrunk the field. Elliot and Kris our two sprinters stayed in the select group of 40 with Ben and I the whole way and covered attacks. It was perfect.”

At the front of the race, Ellsay was driving the break and won the climber’s classification. “It was easy for me to turn myself inside out for a great leader like Matteo. The icing on the cake was learning that I had also won the KOM jersey,” said Ellsay.

“We started celebrating with 5k to go,” said Le Rossignol.

“I’m over the moon it was such a cool experience executing our plan to a tee,” said Dal-Cin. “Kris after he crashed and mangled his ankle was super motivating, he could have pulled out as he’s pretty badly hurt but to have him there today was awesome.”

Dal-Cin gave a lot of credit to his teammates who worked throughout the week. “Words can’t describe how great it was to have the guys looking out for me all week. It really helps you dig in that little bit more when you know your teammates have put their trust in you — you have to do your best ride after they sacrifice for you all day.”

Travis McCabe (Holowesko-Citadel) won the stage after going head-over-handlebars in the pile-up in the crit the day before.

In the women’s race, Sara Poidevin of Rally Cycling took the lead in the climbing classification following an aggressive race. She won the first points on offer in Stage 5 and didn’t look back. Poidevin wore the sprinters jersey for one day during Stage 2. Her teammate Jasmin Glaesser sprinted out of the peloton to take fourth on the final stage securing her fifth place position in the general classification. She came third in the stage three time trial.