2009 San Dimas Stage Race winner, Ben Day, managed to duplicate the feat Sunday afternoon after a strong effort by his Fly V Australia team resulted in a finish safely in the main field in Sunday’s criterium.

Day took the overall lead after the first stage with a near record time on Glendora Mountain. He rode a 12:53, which brought him within 8 seconds of Oscar Sevilla’s lightning ascent in 2008. Sevilla’s time is all the more impressive considering the Spaniard had a significant mechanical en route.

The final stage, a 90 minute criterium, went to Bahati Foundation’s Aussie sprinter, Hilton Clarke, in a tight three-way sprint with Jamis-Sutter Home’s Alejandro Borrajo and Holowesko Partner’s Raymond Kreder, who finished second and third respectively.

Clarke’s victory was a pleasant return to the glory days of 2008 with Toyota United when he spent a season barnstorming across the United States winning crit after crit. He got the nod to move to the big leagues in 2009, and spent a forgettable season on the ProTour with Fuji-Servetto. Clarke has returned to his bread and butter in 2010 and looks set to regain his mantle as one of the most feared and successful criterium racers in America.

A break of six imposed itself on the early proceedings, but in the span of just over a lap, the break’s fire was extinguished. A number of attacks parried valiantly, but in the end, a bunch sprint was on the cards with Fly V doing a lot of work to protect Day’s fragile lead. A crash on the last lap caused some unsurprising disruptions, but still allowed some of American racing’s best sprinters to do battle on the long finishing straight.

The National Racing Calendar kicks off next week not far down the road at Redlands. San Dimas is usually a good indicator of who to watch at Redlands, so it would be advisable to keep an eye on this weekend’s Top 10.

Stage 3 Results
1. Hilton Clarke (Bahati Foundation)
2. Alejandro Borrajo (Jamis-Sutter Home)
3. Raymond Kreder (Holowesko Partners)
4. Ken Hanson (Team Type 1)
5. Rahsaan Bahati (Bahati Foundation)

Final General Classification
1. Ben Day (Fly V Australia)
2. Sid Taberlay (Cal Giant) 00:18
3. Paul Mach (Bissell) 00:21
4. Luis Amaran (Jamis Sutter Home) 00:24
5. Rory Sutherland (United Healthcare) 00:29
6. Andrew Talansky (Cal Giant) 00:31
7. Cesar Grajales (Bahati Foundation) 00:31
8. Tim Roe (Trek Livestrong) 00:47
9. Taylor Shelden (Holowesko Partners) 00:47
10. Tyler Wren (Jamis Sutter Home) 00:49

While the men’s race was a mostly straightforward affair, the women’s 60-minute criterium provided a surprise of memorable proportions. HTC-Columbia’s ace sprinter, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg, started the day 1:23 down on Peanut Butter and Company’s Mara Abbott. 83 seconds is an almost unheard of margin to eliminate, and Teutenberg not only covered that margin, but added another 18 seconds to it by the end of her dominating performance.

Teutenberg entered the day with nary an inkling of the drama that would unfold due to her tenacious move: “It was unexpected today. Initially our plan was to try to get Evelyn [Stevens] the time bonus seconds as she was only 16 seconds behind Mara in GC. But she only got three seconds in the first bonus sprint so we had to go for the stage win instead.”

Teutenberg bided her time in the early minutes of the race and seized the opportunity to get up the road after a particularly quick start provided by race leader Mara Abbott’s Peanut Butter and Co. Team.

“It was a really fast race. Peanut Butter made it fast from the beginning which surprised me a bit but it ended up being perfect because I needed the field to be a little tired when we attacked. We attacked 35 minutes into the race. It was really hard to make the break happen but the four of us all worked really well together. I was lucky to have Meredith Miller in the break because she was really strong today.”

The early fast pace left Abbott vulnerable to attack. The four-up move was packed with power and immediately pushed out to a wide 1-minute margin.

“I wasn’t thinking that we could make enough time in a break for me to have a chance at GC but we got the gap up to a minute and we were holding it so I knew I had to give it everything.”

The first step for an upset was complete. Teutenberg had erased most of her deficit to Abbott, but there still remained the threat of the riders in her own break, namely Robin Farina (Vera Bradley) and Carmen Small (Colavita) – both of whom sat ahead of Teutenberg on GC.

“At one point I thought we were starting to slow down a bit in the break so I knew I had to attack the towards the end, even though I felt bad doing that. Carmen and Robin were also in front of me in GC and at the end of a hard race I wasn’t sure that I could beat them.

“I attacked with four and a half laps and I had to dig really deep to stay away. I’m happy we pulled it off. It was an exciting finish and it made up for things not going to plan yesterday.”

Stage 3 Results
1. Ina Yoko Teutenberg (HTC-Columbia)
2. Meredith Miller (Tibco) 00:38
3. Carmen Small (Colavita) 00:38
4. Kelly Benjamin (Colavita) 1:11

Final General Classification
1. Ina Yoko Teutenberg (HTC-Columbia)
2. Mara Abbott (Peanut Butter & Co.) 00:18
3. Evelyn Stevens (HTC-Columbia) 00:34
4. Carmen Small (Colavita) 00:46
5. Robin Farina (Vera Bradley) 00:48