Bommarito Audi West County Gateway Cup ACC Recap
Written by: Zach Nehr
You couldn’t have scripted a better finish to the American Criterium Cup than an Italian winning the Giro Della Montagna in St. Louis. We’ve had Kiwis, Australians, Chileans, Germans, and Brits line up during this year’s ACC, but rarely have we seen an Italian on the start line, let alone an Italian WorldTour rider.
But that’s exactly what we saw on a beautiful night in St. Louis for the final round of the American Crit Cup. There were countless storylines in need of a conclusion, and it was all going to be written on the toughest course in the ACC. The Hill is one of the Italian neighborhoods of St. Louis, one that offers a hilly route and downhill sprint. Getting to the final lap in the lead group is a feat of its own; winning the final sprint at over 40 mph is like trying to play chess on a rollercoaster. This was the final round of the American Crit Cup at the Giro Della Montagna.
A two-rider breakaway animated the opening half of the Pro Women’s race, and they were able to go 1-2 in the Davis Phinney Foundation Sprint Prime after 30 minutes of racing. Holly Breck (L39ION of Los Angeles) had been leading the Sprint Prime classification, but there was still another high-value position left. That opened the door for Claudia Marcks to make a last-chance go at the green jersey, and she was able to take enough points to overtake Breck and win the ACC green jersey from MUMU Apparel.
In the second half of the race, a few riders made their way off the front in ones and twos, but it all came back together for an elbow-to-elbow field sprint. With one lap to go, HigherDOSE | Renova led through the finish line, but they were completely swarmed by Turn 1 where the field went four riders wide. As the peloton snaked its way through Turn 2, the leaders accelerated at more than 35 mph down the backstretch. Coming into The Hill, Claudia Marcks was tucked into third wheel, while the red jersey was even further back.
There wasn’t a dominant team at the front of the field, which meant that it was every rider for themselves coming into the final two corners. Marcks and Schneider were battling for position, while Kendall Ryan and Barbara Guarischi were moving up on their own accord. Coming out of the final corner, Ryan moved into the lead as the high-speed sprint made its way towards the finish line. Schneider was too far back, while Marcks started losing positions as soon as she launched her sprint. Ryan had a clear sight of the finish line, but there was one rider able to pull alongside her: Guarischi started inching towards the lead, matching Ryan pedal stroke for pedal stroke, and overtaking the American Crit Champion in the final 50 meters.
In the famous Italian neighborhood of St. Louis, it was none other than Italian WorldTour rider Barbara Guarischi who took the win on The Hill. Ryan crossed the line in second, while Marlies Mejias Garcia (Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28) rounded out the podium in third. Skylar Schneider beat Marcks for fourth, earning more than enough points to seal the overall victory in the American Crit Cup.
“I was never really here to race crits, so really that’s my first time,” Guarischi said after the race. In between questions, you could hear Italian chants coming from the crowd, a bit of a homecoming for the 35-year-old Italian. Guarischi also explained how she made her winning move, saying, “I tried to position myself as best I could in the last two corners, and then I waited because I knew with the headwind it was best to stay covered as much as I can.”
That quote would turn out to be a key piece of foreshadowing as the Pro Men’s race got underway. A healthy tailwind helped push riders up The Hill on the backside of the course, but as they rounded the final two corners, that helpful breeze turned into a stiff headwind on the finishing straight.
But that didn’t stop a three-rider breakaway from holding off the Pro Men’s peloton for the majority of the race. At the midpoint of the race, they rolled across the line to take maximum points in the Davis Phinney Foundation Sprint Prime competition, but none of them were close enough to overtaking Owen Gillot for the leader’s green jersey. Gillot took home the jersey from MUMU Apparel after a season-long battle for the midrace prime points.
50 minutes into the race, Gillot himself was the one pulling back the three-rider breakaway. The Australian closed the gap with seven laps to go, setting up a field sprint for a peloton that was slowly tiring out on The Hill. Multiple riders tried breaking away in the final few laps, but just as quickly as one gap opened, another gap would close and everything would come back together.
On the Renaissance Financial final lap, L39ION of Los Angeles had control at the front of the bunch, with ACC Overall leader Justin Williams in tow. Team Cadence Cyclery p/b Waldo Racing took over with half-a-lap to go, but the swarm was coming on The Hill. Dan Holloway jumped first out of the final corner, but it was far too early with the stiff headwind. Luke Fetzer was next to jump, taking the lead and looking like he was going to be first across the line.
But charging up the side of the road, Preston Eye squeezed along the barriers to beat Fetzer on the line by a tire width. Jim Brown rounded out the podium, while Justin Williams finished 8th in the chaotic field sprint. Only a few weeks after getting his appendix removed, Lucas Bourgoyne made a miraculous comeback to finish 11th at the Giro Della Montagna. That meant that Justin Williams is the overall winner of the American Crit Cup, with Eye in second, and Bourgoyne in third.
“So much of my family is here, my family is from St. Louis, and it just means the world,” said an emotional Eye in his post-race interview. It has been a long season in the American Crit Cup, and Eye has been one of the most consistent riders in the field. After so many near misses, Eye took the biggest win of his career in front of family and friends at the Giro Della Montagna. “I’ve been here since I was a junior, and today was finally my day. “