Since I'm only a lowly Cat3 (suck) I decided to go watch the U23 crit with Frost and Jose. We left early afternoon and braved the traffic down to Anaheim for the event at "Angel Stadium of Anaheim". Home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim! Man I hate marketing.


We arrived a few minutes before the start, just in time to see the riders finish warming up and make it to the start line.

Nick Martinez (center) and Lucas Binder (right, in red) in the front.

As expected the race was fast and aggressive from the gun. Starting on the first lap it was attack city. Garmin/Felt-VMG controlled the race, putting multiple riders in every break and covering moves like white on rice.

Binder chasing

The field looked pretty on edge for most of the day and it was pretty apparent that nothing was going to stay away. There were a few large and well represented breaks that appeared to have a shot, but there were to many loners who would try to bridge and drag the field back with them. This was a race that everybody wanted to win, and no one was willing to let a break get away.


With about 5 laps to go the Garmin train came to the front and drilled it hard to set up the sprint for Daniel Holloway. Coming into the bell lap there was a big crash that shattered the pack.

Alex Jarmin, post crash. UCSD had a rough day. Jarmin and Rob Carr both crashed.

Only a select group at the front made it through, and the sprint came down to three riders. Justin Williams (Rock) and Jacob Keough (Kelly Benefits) came across neck and neck with Holloway about half a bike length behind. Initially the anouncers called it for Keough, but after reviewing the photo they gave the win to Justin Williams. There were probably 20-30 people at the finish cheering for Williams and when the official anouncment came through they went absolutely crazy.