Race Report: 2026 Tucson Bike Classic Men’s 2/3
2026 Tucson Bike Classic Men’s 2/3
Date: Feb. 19-22, 2026
AVRT racers: Henry Mallon, Jack Lund, Keegan Worcester, Kevin Kauffman, Leo Minami, Levi Ritter, Michael Bektas, Paul Levy, Ryan Dyke, Wil Gibb
Day 1: Prologue Time Trial
Top Result:
Paul Levy 6/80
Michael Bektas 9/80
Course: A 4.4 mile one-way time trial along a bike path, with a large S-turn at 0.6 miles including a tricky decreasing-radius turn in the middle, and a small but perceptible gradual uphill rise from the start to the finish of the course. There was a strong tailwind that steadily increased through the day.
Strava: TCB Cat 2/3 - Stage 1 Marana TT | Ride | Strava
Nutrition: Juicy Burst pouches throughout the warm up and a caffeinated GU 15 or 20 minutes before my start time.
Recap (written by Paul): The morning was unexpectedly rainy which put a damper on categories earlier in the day. Fortunately for us the course was totally dry by the time we arrived to warm up. A portion of the bike path next to the start but in the opposite direction of the TT course was a designated warm up area and I mostly just rode laps of that. Some team members ventured off elsewhere. There were plenty of decent roads to warm up on surrounding the course. I felt like my effort during the TT was solid and I didn’t finish feeling like I’d left anything out there, but potential improvements could include:
A harder warmup, but conversely
A more conservative start to the TT itself,
Preserving more speed through the tight turn, although I did pre-ride it a few times at packet pickup the day before, and
More practice in a strict TT position.
The pre-race favorite, Gavis Sherry, won by a large margin. This may have been a blessing in disguise as it increased awareness of his strength and clearly marked him for the whole field. This potentially took some attention away from us as the largest team at the race.
Day 2: Sahuarita Road Race
Top Result: Michael Bektas 19/83
Course: 3 laps of a mostly flat 20 mile loop with some gradual rollers and 2-3% gradients at the finish. Significant headwind from the final turn to the finish (~3 miles).
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17464670481
Nutrition: The feedzone is located on a slight uphill slightly after the finish. Starting with two 1L bottles with mix was plenty for 60 miles and moderate temperatures.
Recap (written by Henry):
The prologue was a mixed bag for us. Michael and Paul posted solid times in the top 10, but many of us were hoping to do a bit better. I felt miserable during the TT and was hoping it was just the 8 hour drive (but really knowing I was starting to get sick). Needless to say, I had pretty low expectations for my ability to support the team or execute a leadout in the road race. That said, we had by far the largest team and, in my completely unbiased opinion, the best sprinter to finish it off.
The strategy was simple: keep things together and line it up for Michael in a field sprint. We expected the key section to be the cross-tailwind after the start/finish, so our goal was to stay near the front there and watch for strong solo riders trying to move.
The large field, narrow road, and centerline rule made positioning a constant battle. Riders were also aggressive about bumping and squeezing through gaps. There were quite a few moments where riders took a hand off the bars to push me aside and move up. Still, with our numbers we usually had a few guys near the front at the key moments. The crosswind wasn’t quite enough to split the field, and the uphill drag to the finish was mostly neutralized by block headwind.
At one point Leo followed an attack and got a free tow up to a breakaway. When he was brought back, we assumed the field was together, but in the end one rider was still off the front. Because of this miscommunication we didn’t organize early enough to bring it back, so we were sprinting for second.
With the long headwind finish and the work everyone had already done, it was just Paul and me on the front for the last three miles. Paul mostly set the tempo while I tried to save what little I had left to sew up the expected late attacks from strong solo riders like Gavin Sherry and Garrett Horner.
A semi-truck had stalled in the racing lane near the finish, so each lap we had to divert into the opposite lane and cross back about 500m before the finish. On the final lap a pickup truck also stopped in the gap we needed to pass the semi. After Paul finished his pull, I did about a two-minute leadout and pulled off just before the semi. Honestly, it didn’t seem worth sprinting between a semi-truck and a pickup. Things got messy and Michael couldn’t quite find his way through to open his sprint.
Overall, we learned a lot about positioning and communication in hectic races. With the vehicles on course creating a pretty dangerous situation, we were mostly happy to finish safely and move on to the next one.
Day 3: Downtown Criterium
Top Result:
Michael Bektas 26/83
Leo Minami 29/83
Course: 3 sides of a normal 4 corner crit with an extended side leading into hairpin
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17476563961
Nutrition: 500ml water with Maurten 320 (80g carbs)
This one was really hard.
After taking a look at the course the day before and talking with teammates who had done the race before, we had a pretty simple plan to line up early and make the race as hard as possible. This would, theoretically, allow us to use our big team to wear down the field as we knew the hairpin turn right before the finish was going to be carnage. Turns out basically everyone else had exactly the same plan…
The race started on the preview lap with significant pushing, shoving, divebombing from everyone to try and start the race as close to the front as possible. A few of us were able to start in the front quarter which we knew would help us save considerable energy.
This positioning quickly meant nothing as I flatted in the first lap. After dumping tubeless sealant over everyone, I realized it wasn’t sealing and I needed a neutral wheel. After a couple laps in the pits and an explosive restart, I spent the next handful of laps fighting back through the field. When I was finally back to where I wanted to be, I got taken out going into a corner and dutifully head back to the pits. The heat, flat and crash all started to take its toll as I had to continue to sprint hard to make it back to the front of the race. The attrition got the better of me and I was pulled in the last two laps. A frustrating one for sure, but that’s just bike racing!
Day 4: Oro Valley Circuit
Top Result: Michael Bektas, 7/64
Course: 3 Mile rectangular ish loop. 45 minutes. One most of the course is a gradual descent except for the main climb on the finishing straight.
Strava: https://strava.app.link/Jwl36jk8i1b
Nutrition: 1 bottle with 120 g carbs
Recap (written by Leo Minami): The goal of the day was to stay safe and conserve energy until the final climb to the finish. A breakaway was unlikely to go since the race was so fast. The first few laps were spent testing the corners at speed and experimenting where it would be the easiest to move up. We had the whole road on the final corner into the finish climb. I found it was fairly easy to move up if I took that corner wide at high speed so I decided to chill out in the pack until the last lap when I would make my move on this corner. A massive crash in the middle took a lot of the field and thinned the peloton considerably but unfortunately ended the race for some of our teammates. I was in the back of the peloton going into the final corner and was able to use the outside line to move up to about 15th wheel as planned. The sprint was super chaotic and had to end up having to slow up and go around a group of guys that were bumping into each other. I ended up finishing 15th not being able to move up past the people who started their sprint early. In hindsight it probably would have been better to start the sprint a little closer to the front as opposed to 15 wheels back. I would have still had the advantage of sitting in a draft while having a cleaner path in front of me to sprint.