Los Angeles rider jumps out to fast start

Skylar Schneider began her title defense in the Walmart Joe Martin Stage Race with a bang on Thursday.

Schneider of L39ION of Los Angeles held off InstaFund’s Rylee McMullen in a field sprint to claim the race’s first pink jersey. Shayna Powless, Schneider’s L39ION teammate, finished third.

The win didn’t come without some adversity. A ripping headwind greeted the riders for the first part of the nearly-70 mile race that wound down to Devil’s Den State Park near Winslow before coming back north to finish outside of Baum-Walker Stadium on Razorback Road in Fayetteville.

“At the least opportune time I got a rear flat,” Schneider said. “Without hesitation my sister [teammate Samantha Schneider] told me to switch bikes with her. I was able to catch back on to the leaders at the base of the Devils Den climb, but not being on my own bike made the rest of the stage pretty uncomfortable.”

Thanks to that headwind, the peloton was all together headed into the day’s queen of the mountain points climb at Devil’s Den. Austin Killips of Team Wolfpack snagged the QOM points, 3T Q+M’s Emily Marcolini was second and EF Education-TIBCO- SVB’s Emma Langley was third over the climb. The three formed the day’s first breakaway after the climb. Heidi Franz of InstaFund eventually joined the group.

The breakaway’s gap swelled to over two minutes at times. But, the chase group riders eventually caught the break at mile 44, not long after the day’s lone sprint point. Franz won the sprint followed by Langley and Killips. The peloton of 23 riders stayed together the rest of the way.

“There were a few breakaway attempts after that but Shayna [Powless] and Alexis [Ryan] kept it together for me,” Schneider said.

McMullen was cramping with 12 miles to go.

“I wasn’t sure how I was going to hold up in the final sprint, but I stayed focused and followed wheels to set myself up as best I could as we got closer to the line,” McMullen said. “I put in a good dig and just couldn’t quite match Skylar.”

Stage 2 is 67.1 miles, with about 4,000 feet of climbing. The race will start at Walker Park in Fayetteville, go south down U.S. 71 through West Fork and on into Devil’s Den again before heading north through Hogeye and finishing atop Mount Sequoyah.

“After my teammates rode so selflessly for me all day, it was really a pleasure to reward the team with the stage win,” Schneider said. “I think the GC battle will be harder this year than last year. We’ll do our best and take it day by day.”

In pro men’s action, Jonathan Clarke of Wildlife Generation picked up a solo victory.

There was a group of three chasing Clarke, but in the end finished 34 seconds back. Clarke’s teammate Noah Granigan won the sprint out of that group. Project Echelon’s Tyler Stites finished third and Sergio Henao placed fourth.

“Once we turned into the tailwind and started heading back towards Fayetteville, the racing heated up,” Stites said. “I went in a small move with 25 kilometers to go and we managed to stay away to the finish but we never caught the solo winner.”

A group of 16 came across the line 50 seconds back, including last year’s overall winner Tyler Williams of L39ION and Little Rock native Tanner Ward of Best Buddies Racing.

Stage 2 today is a 112.8mile road race with just over 6,000 feet of climbing. The men will roll out of Walker Park and head east to Wesley before going north through Hindsville and Clifty. The route turns south down Arkansas 23 where there will be sprint points available outside of Forum and Witter. The day’s KOM points are on the line just north of St. Paul. The men will also finish atop Mount Sequoyah.