The Jelly Belly p/b Kenda team fans out this week to two big U.S. races, the Tulsa Tough and Philadelphia International Cycling Classic.
Led by defending race champion Brad Huff, four Jelly Belly riders will head to Tulsa for the three-day race June 4-6. It features two criteriums and a circuit race on the final day.
Watch for Huff, Will Dickeson, Jeremy Powers and Sean Mazich during these three days of exciting competition.
“These races are dead-flat criteriums. They’re not long,” said team director Danny Van Haute. “Sean and Brad are good sprinters. Dickeson is a good worker for those guys, and you’ve got Jeremy Powers who can lead out those two guys who can win from a breakaway too.”
The goal this year: a repeat on the podium.
“I would like to repeat that victory, with Brad or whoever it may be. We’ll see what happens after the first day,” Van Haute said.
For Philadelphia, Van Haute sends a force of five riders to what is widely regarded as the most important single-day road race in the United States.
Bernard van Ulden, Mike Friedman, Will Routley, Kiel Reijnen and Anthony Colby will compete for Jelly Belly p/b Kenda alongside a world-class field of riders on Sunday, June 6.
Van Haute said he aims to have a Jelly Belly rider finish in the top 10.
“That’s a funny race. It could go either way, a breakway or a field sprint,” he said. “The last few years it’s been a huge field sprint, like 40 guys coming to the line.”
At 156 miles, the course is a fierce endurance test. But with long tours under their belts already this season, Van Haute said the distance won’t be a problem for his team.
“I expect all five of those guys to finish that race,” he said.
