Santa Cruz Classic Criterium - M Cat 4
Race: Santa Cruz Classic Criterium - M Cat 4
Date: March 22nd, 2026
AVRT racers: Adam Beliveau, Colin Vignon, Suhith Rajesh
Top Result: Adam. (1/45)
Course: A short, flowy circuit featuring a downhill hairpin into a fast descent, followed by a short uphill rise, a tight turn, and a steady uphill drag to the finish
Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/17819571055
Nutrition: ½ 90g bottle before, hammer nutrition bar after
Recap (written by Adam):
Suhith and I both raced Cat’s Hill, but I still felt pretty fresh coming into this race. The majority of the field had also raced the day before, so I knew who to look out for. It was also Colin’s first crit in the US. We didn’t really have a team plan, but I knew I wanted to stay near the front and maybe go for some attacks.
Our race was scheduled for 8:00 AM, but it was clear we weren't going to start on time, as they were still towing cars off the course. The race ended up starting at 8:30 AM, and officials announced that all field races would be shortened, starting with ours dropping from 40 minutes to 35 minutes (or at least, that’s what they said as the actual race lasted 30 minutes).
VeloSport brought a big team, and their presence was felt during the race as they took turns attacking. However, none of their riders posed a major threat, since they always attacked alone and were brought back by the next lap. With four laps to go, I opened up a small gap simply by continuing my effort past the first part of the hill. It wasn't really planned, but I decided to keep pushing, bringing one Cal Poly rider with me. At the time, there was a small breakaway consisting of one VeloSport rider and one Dolce Vita rider. I knew I could bridge to them, but right before making the catch, the peloton started working together and brought the move back with two laps to go.
At that point, it was clear the race would end in a sprint finish. By then, I knew I could win because the hill felt easy on every lap. I positioned myself on the fourth wheel going into the last corner. In front of me was the rider who had finished second at Cat’s Hill. I wanted to use his draft for the final sprint, but coming out of the corner, the pace was slower than what I knew I could do, so I launched. I started my sprint from the bottom of the hill and rapidly opened up a gap. Colin was on my wheel but couldn't follow. I kept the power down cresting the hill to the finish and secured the win.
Combined with my fourth-place finish at Cat’s Hill, I also secured the omnium win and all the upgrade points I needed to move up to Cat 3.
Fun weekend.