Team VBF’s Powers 5th and Farina 7th at Redlands Classic Prologue

by Lenny B

Friday, March 26, 2010 at 06:50 AM EDT

Redlands, CA - The women of Team Vera Bradley Foundation took the Redlands Classic prologue by storm today, placing two riders in the top 10 and four riders in the top 20, in a star studded 112-rider field. Alison Powers took 5th place, 31 seconds behind winner Amber Neben (BMW-Bianchi) and Robin Farina was 7th, 35 seconds off the leader. Rounding out the podium were Mara Abbott (Peanut Butter and Co/Twenty12) and HTC-Columbia's Evelyn Stevens in 3rd. HTC-Columbia's Ina Teutenberg was 4th.

Sunny skies and mild temperatures greeted the riders this morning for the 3.1 mile, hilly prologue course. "There wasn't much wind out there today," said Farina. "That can make a difference with times." Farina bested her 2009 time by 45 seconds this year. "I wanted break the top 10 and I'm really excited." Amber Neben's winning time of 10:56 was 16 seconds slower than 2009. Alison Powers rode the course in 11:27. "My time was a little slower than last year, but I am really pleased with my ride." said Powers.

Team VBF's Kristin Sanders and Alexis Rhodes took 18th and 20th respectively, giving the team four riders in the top 20. "We are in a great position going into tomorrow's road race," stated team director, Lisa Hunt. Tomorrow's road race course features a new addition to the circuit. "The additional climb in Banning is going to make the race harder and a lot more interesting. It's going to be exciting."

This article originally appeared on Triple Crankset.