Race Report: 2025 Tucson Bicycle Classic – Men’s P12
Race: TBC Marana Time Trial - Men’s P12
Date: February 21nd, 2025
AVRT racers: Cameron O’Reilly, Florian Costa, Devin Wilson
Top Result: Flo - 24/113
Course: 4.5 mile flat TT on a bike path.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13689155783
Recap: Written by Flo Costa
The Tucson Bicycle Classic started off with a short time trial in the town of Marana, just north-west of Tucson. Given the late morning start, Cam, Devin, and I decided to ride to the race from our AirBnb. This way we could spin out our legs and warm up without the stress of driving and finding a last-minute stretch of road to warm up on. It’s always convenient to be able to ride to the start of races, and I find that it’s both relaxing and effective as a warm-up (as long as you are not running late). For all categories this year, the TT had to be ridden on a mass-start legal setup meaning TT bikes and aero discs were off the table. This meant it would just be me and my road bike, and my aero helmet, my aero bottle, my aero socks, my aero shoe covers, and my long-sleeved Eliel skinsuit.
Based on the distance and (lack of) elevation, I was targeting a 10-11 minute effort all out. My legs weren’t feeling great during the warm up, but as soon as I got to the start line I locked in. My only focus was to push as many watts as I could while staying aero. About 6 minutes in I caught my 30-second man, which gave me a small respite as I made the pass. My legs were hurting, but this was more motivation to keep cranking out the power. I continued to stay aero, but my form slowly deteriorated as my whole body started to ache. With 800 meters to go I could see the finish area and emptied everything I had left until the line, just passing my 1-minute man at the finish.
I finished 24th on the day with a time of 10:11 - a solid result by my standards. More importantly, I had completely emptied myself and my legs responded well, so I was quite happy with the effort. Still, there were a couple things I could have improved on. First, I should have done a recon of the course in the days before the race to familiarize myself with the one turn on the course. The day of the race I came into the turn with a lot of speed and was too conservative not knowing how much I needed to slow down. Next, towards the end of the TT my aero position broke down a bit. Here I could have been more disciplined to stay in position, and could have done a better job working on my flexibility as a part of regular training. All in all a good effort on a fun course. After the race, I immediately had to switch my focus for the Crit that same evening.
Race: TBC Twilight Crit - Men’s P12
Date: February 22nd, 2025
AVRT racers: Cameron O’Reilly, Florian Costa, Devin Wilson
Top Result: Flo - 18/113
Course: 45 min crit near downtown Tucson on a fast P shaped course featuring a small hill and a tight hairpin turn.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13691883378
Nutrition: Bottle with Gatorade and Malto. Gels and Caffeine before the race.
Recap: Written by Flo Costa
After the TT earlier in the day, I ate a solid lunch and took a nap. The Twilight Crit was after sunset at 8pm under the lights. The course was pretty unique for a criterium, with the main feature being a very tight 180 degree hairpin turn after the longest straightaway. This was going to be a fast race, and positioning would be critical given the technical nature of the course. Watching the previous races and seeing the results confirmed this, as prior races had completely shattered on the course. With a good nap and some caffeine, I was excited and ready to race.
Things were pretty messy at the start line area and unfortunately I didn’t get a good starting position, with about half of the field in front of me. This meant that for the first 5 or so laps I worked fairly hard to get to the front. Starting position is really important for hard crits like this since the cost of moving up is so huge. With the tight hairpin and a rapid succession of turns on the back side, the field got strung out very quickly. To make matters worse, the group would bunch up going into the hairpin which meant it was an all out sprint out of the turn to catch back up to speed. However, in the first 10-15 wheels, the turns were much smoother and it was easier to carry speed. Once I got near the front, I had more control of my lines and didn’t have to burn as many matches to sprint out of corners.
The race was still quite hard, and with bonus seconds available at the finish of every lap, the pace never settled down. Gaps were opening up in our field and people were hanging on for dear life. I was in full race mode, and got in a nice groove figuring out the places on the course where I could move up and how I could be efficient in the turns. On a couple occasions I was in the right position to grab bonus seconds, but both times I was passed right at the line, and didn’t want to spend too much energy sprinting in the middle of the race. In hindsight, this probably would have been worth it to move up in GC.
There were a few crashes but overall it didn’t feel too dangerous. We were going full gas and the field thinned out significantly. With around 3 laps to go, I was battling to stay in the top 10 wheels for the finish. This is always a key point in the race as everyone has the same ambition to be in front. At this point, my mentality is to keep moving forward at every opportunity, even the slightest. However, any small mistake results in you instantly losing 10+ positions. Unfortunately for me, an ambitious line on the outside gutter resulted in me pedal-striking the curb, causing me to drop my chain. I quickly caught it and put it back with my front derailleur, but by then I had lost momentum and lost many precious places in the group. I slowly inched my way back forward in the last couple laps, but the best I could do was 18th in the end.
Another solid result in the end, but still room for improvement. I made a crucial mistake in the last few laps and had still not been aggressive enough to be near the very front in the end. Ultimately, the order of riders entering the final hairpin turn was nearly identical to the finishing results, showing how important positioning is in a race like this. This race was incredibly fun and I enjoyed racing in front of all the spectators that came to watch.
Race: TBC Sauhiritia Road Race - Men’s P12
Date: February 22nd, 2025
AVRT racers: Cameron O’Reilly, Florian Costa, Devin Wilson
Top Result: Devin - 24/113
Course: 4 laps of a 20.5mi loop. 1000ft of climbing per lap. Mostly flat, with a shallow climb heading into the finish. Max gradient ~3%. FAST course.
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13699583633
Nutrition: Bottle 1: ~60g 1:1 glucose:fructose. Bottle 2: electrolyte mix. A few GU’s in the pocket. Nothing super heavy for this stage.
Recap: Written by Devin Wilson
Entering the road race, everyone was coming off not much sleep from the late night crit the day before. Luckily, we had a mid-day start which made things a bit easier on us rather than the 8am start for the first wave. The later start did mean we were out in the heat of the day at a whole 75 degrees. Paired with the dry weather though, it was good to have a feeder out there. Our goals coming into this race were to get Flo in the break as he was sitting highest in GC. With 3 riders in a 100+ rider peloton, this was a bit easier said than done.
The race started off pretty quick (as they usually do) but things kept together for the most part. The first lap was pretty chill, I moved up to the front to check things out and to stay out of whatever business was happening in the rear of the group. iSpeed, Landis/Trek, Tag, and ABC, and Kelly Benefits U23 were the main players in this race. Project Echelon was in the GC lead, but with only 2 guys it was going to be hard for them to keep things together.
There was a pretty nasty crash about 20-30 wheels back on lap 2. A lot of guys didn’t end up making it back after that one… I was right behind it and even had to put my foot down, but made it out quick enough. Flo & Cam were right there with me which was quite reassuring knowing our GC guy didn’t get caught up in anything. Of course, the group surged after the crash. This meant that the second lap up the climb was also our fastest - where I believe we were going around 25mph up the 2% grade.
Breaks had been going all day at this point, with smaller groups of riders sneaking away plus a few more bridging up. The most notable breaks of the day happened during lap 3 on the climb and at the start of the last lap. Flo did make it into the last break of the day, but Kelly had a guy drill it on the descent into the feed zone to bring it back.
Coming into the finish, people were trying all sorts of last minute solo moves as the teams were setting up their lead outs for the sprint. I sat myself right about 20 wheels back, trying to stay out of the wind but far enough forward to follow an attack if need be. The teams kept things together, so none of the solo attacks stayed away for very long. The finish itself was really just a game of positioning - nobody behind 10th wheel was in for much of a sprint. I managed to keep myself forward amongst the battle to stay forward and managed to place 24th of 110 or so riders. Since I was a bit further back, it was really just a seated acceleration into the finish.
I’d say this was one of the less difficult national level road races I’ve done. Being swept along at 28mph for 80 miles can be pretty fun, but it can also be scary, especially being one of the first races of the season (and with a 40+mph descent). I felt pretty confident having done a few races already heading into TBC, but for many of the riders this was their first road race of the season. All around, a great race with not much TSS heading into the circuit.
Race: TBC Oro Valley Circuit - Men’s P12
Date: February 23nd, 2025
AVRT racers: Cameron O’Reilly, Florian Costa, Devin Wilson
Top Result: Flo - 14/113
Course: A 4-corner circuit with some slight twists & turns. A fast, but slightly pitchy climb into the finish (~7%). Overall a very fast and fun circuit!
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/13710309683
Nutrition: Just water for the race. Heavy breakfast due to a late start.
Recap: Written by Devin Wilson
This one was a fun one. Right from the start, people were sending moves off the front (namely iSpeed) trying to get away. The course was a lot more dynamic than the day before, with a very quick descent coming into a short flat section followed by the climb into the finish. The top and bottom ends of the courses were the places to move up or to relax, while the descent / climb were where things really lit up. The bottom end of the course however was a great spot for riders to send an early attack up the climb or to reinvigorate a chase.
Things split up pretty early on in the race with a massive breakaway of 15-20 riders. There was a good representation from each team, but Project Echelon wasn’t in it. There were also several other teams who weren’t happy with the move, so all we had to do was sit in and let them chase. At no point in the race did things let up - there was always someone trying to chase down the break or to attack up the climb to be the first across the line for the lap.
I made sure to sit toward the front as much as I could, but it was difficult to maintain a good position without being shuttled to the front or being caught with riders shooting up one side or the other. This made for some good fun but it did make it slightly tedious to stay forward. At a few points in the race I found myself attempting to solo bridge to a move, only to find that I had the entire field on me (my mistake).
Coming into the last few laps, Flo and I were trying to stay close together so we could place him as far up as possible. If I could get him on my wheel and drop him off somewhere near the front, he’d have a good chance at moving up in GC. This was going to be sort of an ordeal given the high pace, but by the end of the race it was easier to predict where the forward momentum would be going in the field.
Coming into the finish was pretty fast. There was a lot of squeezing into small gaps and fighting for position just as one would do in a crit. What made things unnecessarily interesting, however, was the crash about 20 wheels back with only 400m to go. With some stroke of luck, Flo & I were just behind it, and managed to move around it pretty fast. I gave it my all into the finish, not knowing if Flo was on my wheel or not. In the last 100m or so I watched him fly by me to come in 14th as I rolled in 16th behind a POA rider. Cam managed to roll in unscathed with the main peloton.
