Cal Giant’s Rand Miller wins Watsonville Criterium

Cyclists spin through the streets of Watsonville during the first race of the Watsonville Criterium on Saturday at the corner of Rogers and Cerrito Streets. Bill Lovejoy/Sentinel

Watsonville teen is the top local finisher in pro field

San Francisco resident Rand Miller, a pro cyclist with the Cal Giant Berry Farms/Specialized team, wasn’t about to let the win go two years in a row. After finishing second to Steve Reaney in 2011, Miller pedaled to victory in the men’s pro Cat 1/2 division of the 34th annual Watsonville Criterium on Saturday.

Miller was followed by Oakland’s John Wilk [Webcor/Alto Velo], and San Francisco’s Rainier Schaefer [Team Mike's Bikes] in third place. The top Santa Cruz County finisher was teen Matt Schaupp, of Watsonville, who finished fourth. Schaupp, 17, rides for the Ritte Elite U23 Development Team.

Other Santa Cruz County riders to make the top five of their divisions were as follows: Santa Cruz’s Morgan Raines [unattached] was second in the men’s masters Cat 4 35-and-over age division and Santa Cruz’s Kimberly Sperling [RED Racing] was third in the women’s Cat 1/2/3/4 division.

Results in this report are from USACycling.com.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Watsonville cyclist Matt Schaupp takes bronze in criterium at road nationals

Santa Cruzans Devon Gorry, Tobin Ortenblad each have top 25 finishes

Watsonville resident Matt Schaupp secured the bronze in the junior men’s 17-18 criterium at the USA Cycling Juniors U23 Elite Road Nationals in Augusta, Georgia, on Friday.

Schaupp, who rides with the Ritte Elite U23 Development Team, finished the race in the same time as winner Brendan Rhim of Norwich, Vt. They crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 6 minutes, 21 seconds as did runner-up Alexandre Darnville of Santa Barbara. Rhim rides for Woodstock Bicycle Club/Killing and Darnville rides for Hammer Nutrition-CMG Racing Team.

The first 14 riders came across the finish line with the same time.

Schaupp also raced in the road race Sunday, when he placed 75th [2:26:48]. Ritte teammate Tobin Ortenblad took 23rd [2:25:22] in that race after suffering two DNFs in earlier races. Miami’s Miguel Bryon won in 2:25:22. The first 39 cyclists across the finish line recorded the same time.

Santa Cruzan Devon Gorry [NOW and Novartis for MS/Now Cycling] placed 14th in the time trial, crossing the finish line in 41:59.355. Specialized-Lululemon’s Amber Neben of Lake Forest won in 39:27.375.

Gorry also took 23rd in the criterium, finishing in 1:10:04. Theresa Cliff-Ryan [Exergy TWENTY12], of Cedar Springs, Mich., won in 1:09:27.

Results in this report are from USACycling.com.

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets

Santa Cruz’s Tobin Ortenblad, Steven Sperling shine at Cat’s Hill Classic

Santa Cruz residents Tobin Ortenblad, the defending state high school mountain biking champion, and Steven Sperling rode to victory in the Mike’s Bikes Cat’s Hill Classic criterium in Los Gatos on Saturday.

Ortenblad, a Pacific Collegiate School student who rides for the Ritte Elite U23 Development Team, edged teammate Matt Schaupp for the win in the junior men’s 17-18 division. Schaupp, of Watsonville, placed second and Petaluma’s Kenneth Gonzales [Team Swift] was third.

Sperling [unattached] won the men’s Cat 4 division over runner-up Chris Leibman of Palo Alto [Webcor/Alto Velo] and third-place finisher Daniel Green of Oroville [Chico Corsa Cycling Team].

– Christina Gullickson, on Twitter @CGullTweets