The Jelly Belly cycling team scored its biggest win of the early season by winning the Redlands Classic this past weekend (March 22-25). Andrew Bajadali won the biggest race of his career with the help of Alex Candelario, Nick Reistad, Mike Jones, Matt Rice, Bryce Mead, Brian Dziewa and Mike Cody. Danny and the riders were extremely happy to beat all the “Big” teams and win the most important race in California behind the Tour of California.

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The week started on Monday when Mike Jones, Nick Reistad, Bryce Mead, Mike Cody and Brian Dziewa went to the Lexus of Riverside car dealer to drop off the team cars and meet and greet the sponsor. The team activities continued on Tuesday when the boys went to Smiley Elementary school and talked to a 3rd grade class about bicycle safety and what its like to be a professional bike racer. The kids asked a lot of good questions and the guys passed out lots of Sport Beans to keep the kids up all night. At the end all the kids got autographs and were fired up to do the kid’s race on Sunday at Redlands.

The race finally started on Thursday with a three mile prologue with a hard steep climb for the last mile. Andrew was the team’s top finisher in 17th place with Symmetrics Svein Tuft winning the stage. The next day the team raced the 97 mile Oak Glen Road Race, the first 70 miles of the race were flat to rolling with constant attacks and a really fast pace. The guys did what they could to stay at the front, cover attacks and keep Andrew out of trouble. The last 26 miles of the stage had three KOM’s and were basically up the whole way, just like in stories your Grandpa would tell about walking to school, except it really was uphill the whole way. The team did delivered Andrew to the bottom of Oak Glen at the front of the pack and ready to battle for the stage up the brutal six mile climb to the finish. At the end Andrew finish fourth just off the pace that ageless stage winner Scott Moninger of BMC set. Unfortunately for the team Bryce Mead crashed twice on the stage and the second crashed caused Bryce to need six staples in his left knee and he withdrew from the race to go to the hospital. Luckily for the Danny Bryce took over Assistant D.S. duties and helped work the radios to get information out to the guys in the races.

Saturday was a fast technical criterium where the guys just tried to keep Andrew out of trouble and cover breaks. The team was not able to make the break which stayed away to the finish with Rory Sutherland of Health Net winning the stage. Andrew maintained his fourth place overall with the team ready to give it everything on the Sunset road race Sunday. The team was ready to throw-down on the Sunset loop to try and take the lead from Scott Moninger. On the second lap of the race Andrew and Alex got into a 14 man break with Andrew being the highest placed overall. The break went out to 1:20 then fell to just 20 seconds on the ninth and that is when Alex became an animal and went to the front and the gap went up to 1:45 on the group of Scott Moninger who had no teammates left. The gap went up to over three minutes and in the final 9 miles Andrew had to defend himself against attacks from Phil Zajicek (Navigators) and Ben Jaques-Maynes (Priority Health), but in the end held on to win the overall by 10 seconds over Zajicek.

After the race everyone was super pumped because of the big win and beating all the “big” teams and Danny was very excited to have directed a team to the Redlands overall win. The team celebrated its hard work that night and the grit and intelligence of Andrew and Alex in the break to win the overall. This win gave the team a big boost of confidence for the rest of the season, because now the guys have proven they can beat anyone in the U.S.

This past weekend the Jelly Belly cycling team had five guys racing the San
Dimas Stage Race in San Dimas, California.  The team consisted of Mike  Jones,
Mike Cody, Nick Reistad, Bryce Mead, and Brian Dziewa.  It was a  weekend of
mixed fortunes for guys as Friday’s uphill time trial went well with  Mike
Jones in 10th, Brian Dziewa in 17th and Nick Reistad in 20th, but no one  could
match Scott Moniger’s (BMC cycling team) time as he won by almost 30  seconds.
With three guys in the top 20 the teams goal was to be very  aggressive to
try to win the stage or get a rider on the overall podium.   All the riders were
very aggressive early on getting into breaks, one of those  breaks helped
Nick earn the KOM for the weekend, but mid-race when Mike Jones  got into a
promising break that could have earned him enough time bonuses to  move on to the
podium when Lady Luck reared her ugly head.  Mike  double-flatted out of the
break and a lap later four of the riders were taken  down in a crash near the
front.  Nick and Mike Cody made the second group  after the crash as only 12
guys were in the front group with Ben Brooks  (Navigators) winning.  Mike Jones,
Bryce Mead and Brian  had to shake off blows to the head or bad wheels and
just chase to make the time  cut.  It was a tough day, but at least Nick got the
KOM jersey.

The weekend ended a little better as Mike Jones and Bryce  Mead got into the
early break of 12 that went away in the crit and stayed  away until the end.
Mike ended up fifth and Bryce Mead just buried  himself to help Mike have a
chance to win.  Back in the pack the other guys  just tried to stay fresh in
case the break came back and in the end Mike Cody  won the field sprint.  What
started good on Friday got ugly Saturday and  ended up alright for the Jelly
Belly team, and in the end it was great training  for Redlands.

This past week in Albany, Georgia, Nick Reistad raked in a great win for the Jelly Belly Cycling Team. The Georgia Cup race hosted a strong field, giving Nick the chance to show the form he had earned while racing at the Tour of California. ” After one of the mid race primes i put in an attack. I had one other rider with me, and we were able to hold off the field.” commented Nick. In the end, Nick was the one with the legs to get across the line first. A big congrats to Nick on a great win.

Photo thanks to Kim Mickalonis

Powers in the middle: Jeremy has a laugh at the start (click to enlarge).

The second annual Amgen Tour of California has come and gone, and the excitement it generated exceeded the high expectations created by last year’s race.

Brice gets his shoes on before the prologue (click to enlarge).

Making their race debut as a team, the 2007 Jelly Belly Pro Cycling Team was cheered wildly by the over 1.6 million spectators who lined the streets over the 8-day stage race.

The race has quickly earned a reputation as the most prestigious and competitive stage race in the United States, and having competed in last year’s event, the Jelly Belly riders knew what was in store for them and arrived much better prepared.

The Jelly Belly Mobile and the team car parked in San Francisco (click to enlarge)

According to Team Director Danny Van Haute, “The riders’ conditioning coming into this race was much, much better than last year. This year they were at about 80-85% of their top fitness levels, which is where you want to be this early in the season. You don’t want to peak too early; you want to get fitter over the course of the year. We’re off to a great start.”

Team Jelly Belly outside the San Francisco Ferry Building (click to enlarge)

The pair of first-year pros, Bryce Mead and Brian Dziewa (pronounced “ja-va”) felt a bit awestruck amid so many legendary competitors and on one of the toughest courses in the world, but they rose to the occasion according to Van Haute.

“Brian and Bryce were a little surprised. They’ve never raced at this level and were kind of thrown into the lion’s den. But they did everything they were asked to do. They got bottles from the car. They protected Andy (Bajadali) from the wind. They were the workhorses of the team. They were actually a little disappointed with their performances after the race, but they should be pleased with their performances. I was.”

The Baj takes off in Solvang (click to enlarge).

The team managed some terrific results, especially considering the difficulty of the race and the elite competition (no fewer than nine ProTour teams raced in The Tour). Veteran sprinter Alex Candelario finished in 8^th place on Stage 6.

“All the guys ahead of him were ProTour guys,” recalled Van Haute. “We knew Alex was one of the best sprinters in the country; now we know he’s one of the best in the world.”

The guys get ready in San Luis Obispo (click to enlarge).

Alex also got 14^th on the final stage, while Nick Reistad nabbed 13^th on the same stage and Brice Jones got into the top 10 at 9^th.

Even more impressively, the Jelly Belly boys won the team classification on the 7^th and last stage. That means the cumulative time of all the stage finishers on team Jelly Belly was lower than all the other teams in the race that day. Van Haute is especially pleased.

Brice greets a young fan (click to enlarge).

“This year’s Jelly Belly riders are gelling better on and off the bike than any other team I’ve managed. I’ve never seen anything like it. The right chemistry is definitely there. I’m very encouraged for the season ahead.”

As usual, team Jelly Belly was a big hit with the fans.

“You can see from the team car that everyone’s cheering for us,” said Van Haute. “Of course, it doesn’t hurt that my mechanic Drew (Jimenez) and I are always tossing Jelly Belly jelly bean samples out to them. Our team car definitely gets more cheers than anyone else’s.”