Daniel Holloway of the Bissell team placed fourth at criterium nationals — behind three foreign riders. But as the first American to cross the line, he won the crit champion’s jersey.

Jelly Belly team director Danny Van Haute said the first part of the race went well for his squad, with riders getting into breakawys and protecting sprinter Brad Huff.  Jelly Belly riders Mike Friedman and Bernard van Ulden got in the one break that stayed away, with Friedman getting caught right at the end.

“We had some mistakes that cost us the race, and at this level when you make those mistakes you’re always playing catch up,” Van Haute said. “It hurts us in the long run.”

But the season not over yet. Next up are the USA Cycling road and time trial national championships in Greenville, S.C., on Sept. 18-19.

“The team has done alot of racing internationally and nationally these last six months, so the approach to time trial and road nationals is to train at home, get some good rest and homemade cooking for the next 3-1/2 weeks,” Van Haute said. 

The team is coming off some strong racing: Kiel Reijnen, third at the Tour of Qinghai Lake, and Mike Friedman, fourth at the Tour of Elk Grove.

“For the time trial nationals, we will count on Mike and Bernard to be on the podium. They both have a good chance to be in the top three,” Van Haute said. “In the road race we have many possibilities to win. We’ll have to be alert at all times in the race and make no mistakes.

“If we do this, we will have a rider on the podium again two days in row.”

The team will bring a force of seven riders to the competition at the Glencoe Grand Prix. Newly crowned Canadian National Champion Will Routley will help in the effort with teammates Brad Huff, Mike Friedman, Jeremy Powers, Sean Mazich, Bernard van Ulden and Sergio Hernandez, Jelly Belly’s newest addition.

“This should be the winning line up,” said team director Danny Van Haute. “Bottom line, I don’t think anybody can beat us. Period.”

Check back with jellybellycycling.com or our Facebook page for the team’s results.

Brad Huff, also of Jelly Belly p/b Kenda, finished 18th. Jonathan Cantwell of Fly V Australia was the overall victor.

“The team did their best to win the overall,” said team director Danny Van Haute. “We put a plan together and we put all our marbles in one basket and we came up just short.”

The next race is the Criterium National Championships in Downers Grove, Ill., Aug. 14-15.

Mike Friedman came in second by just .19 of a second behind winner Peter Latham of Bissell. Bernard van Ulden was ninth.

In addition, Brad Huff placed 15th and Carter Jones was 19th.

“Not bad – two riders in the top ten and four riders in the top twenty,” said team director Danny Van Haute. “We are sitting pretty good right now for stage two.”

The race continues Saturday with a 155-km circuit race and concludes Sunday with a 115-km criterium.

Hossein Askari of Tabrz Petrochemical won the yellow jersey with Radoslav Rogina of Loborika in second.

On the first sprint, three laps into the 66-km stage, Jelly Belly riders Bernard van Ulden and Sean Mazich led out Reijnen. Mazich ran second and Reijnen won, giving him a two-second advantage over Mitja Mahoric of Slovenia, who started the day in third place.

“I got on the radios with the guys and said, ‘let’s seal this up and go for the next sprint,’” said team director Danny Van Haute. “And the boys helped Kiel win the next sprint.”

That gave Reijnen a four-second margin – good for third place in the final standings.

“I’m very pleased with the performance of Kiel and the Jelly Belly p/b Kenda riders,” Van Haute said. “They did an outstanding job. It wasn’t easy.”

[Photo courtesy cyclingnewsasia.com]