Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf’s U.S. Open, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and quite a bit more, the sparkling little city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. In 1985, it all started when racing’s top cyclists showed up to compete. – Obrey Brown
Davis Phinney took over a post-race media conference after winning that yellow jersey at 1986’s Redlands Bicycle Classic.
Phinney was a cycling rock star.
He’d just ridden a handful of days, pushed over the line by teammate Raul Alcala, runner-up and an Olympic bronze medalist for his native Mexico a couple years earlier. Phinney also held off future teammate Jeff Pierce in that Memorial Day weekend event.
Interviews centered around, naturally, of Phinney’s Tour de France success. Wasn’t that big news?
Wouldn’t Redlands like to connect with a guy that was in cycling’s greatest race?
After all, he would eventually become America’s first-ever cyclist to win a stage at that European-dominated event. Americans, at that point, had rarely competed in Europe.
Team 7-Eleven had raced across that Atlantic Ocean in this globe’s most important cycling race. Until Greg LeMond came along, Americans weren’t successful at any level in Europe.
In Redlands, Phinney was trying to be kind, but he knew why he was there. Phinney’s presence, along with his pre-eminent 7-Eleven cycling team, had been whisked to Redlands in order to help try and send this one-year-old event to a much higher level of popularity among everyone – cyclists, followers, media, you name it.
There were enough questions about European racing. Mostly mine. I was thinking globally, not locally. Finally, Phinney stepped in.
“Let’s stop talking about the Tour de France,” said Phinney, in a manner of taking over that post-event media conversation, “and talk about the Tour of Redlands.”
Tour of Redlands?
Fair enough. We’re on U.S. soil. On hand for those moments were handfuls of Redlands race organizers, no doubt delighted over their guest’s manners in trying to highlight this local race.
Team 7-Eleven’s presence might have been paramount in keeping Redlands afloat. A quarter century later, well into these 2000s, it’s still pertinent and relevant in cycling’s world.
In 1997, that team was inducted into U.S. Cycling’s Hall of Fame. That original 7-Eleven squad had sent two teams to Redlands for that 1986 Memorial Day weekend trek.
Team manager Jim Ochowicz, a Hall of Famer in his own right, had organized a remarkable collection of mainly U.S. riders.
Racing in Redlands that weekend was Tom Schuler and Bob Roll, Ron Kiefel and Doug Shapiro, plus Alex Stieda, Roy Knickman, Chris Carmichael, not to mention Phinney and Alcala.
Don’t forget Eric Heiden, that Olympic speed skater who captured multiple medals at the 1980 Lake Placid (N.Y.) winter games while also qualifying as an alternate for Team USA’s cycling squad later that summer.
It was a showcase for Redlands, its area fans, perhaps, not yet connected to cycling.
And don’t overlook another Hall of Famer. Knickman, who rode for La Vie Claire and Toshiba-Look alongside the famous teams that included LeMond, Andy Hampsten and frenchman Bernard Hinault.
Team 7-Eleven’s presence in Redlands that 1986 race, I was told, came after plenty of negotiation – with top executive Jim Ochowicz, I believe – to help lift Redlands’ race to prominence. It was hard to bring his team west when most important competitions were in Europe.
Lying ahead was a huge historical level being highly raised at this Redlands event. Those 7-Eleven racers were followed by significant cyclists.
It’s story after story on that Redlands’ side of male cyclists notching a spot between 1985, its first race won by Thurlow Rogers, and its 2025 renewal.
Alexi Grewal, that 1984 Olympic road race gold medalist, showed up to win at Redlands in 1988.
LeMond, that first American ever to win a Tour de France? Did he show up? At Redlands? Not as a racer, but he came to lead a Redlands Bicycle Classic ride through a canyon a year, or so, following his retirement.
Lance Armstrong? Forget, at least for a moment, he had seven Tour de France triumphs wiped out over his behind-the-scenes usage of racing advantages. Having recovered from cancer in the mid-1990s, this U.S. Postal Service racer was seriously asked to race at Redlands during his return to cycling.
I was told by Craig Kundig, this race’s lengthy leader, “it was close.”
So close.
Armstrong’s U.S. Postal team, however, produced four straight champions at Redlands – Tomasz Brozyna, Dariusz Baranoski, Jonathan Vaughters and Christian Vande Velde. Those four racked up yellow jerseys from 1996 through 1999. Those last two guys rode as Armstrong lieutenants across that Atlantic.
Chris Horner captured his first Redlands yellow jersey in 2000 while racing for Team Mercury. A couple years later, Redlands’ 2002 champion was a Prime Alliance jersey-wearing star, Horner. In 2003 and 2003, Horner won wearing a Saturn uniform, then a Webcor, outfit.
Following that 2003 championship, Horner reflected that his age, 33, was a little beyond in seeking a career cycling overseas. Wrong! Over several following years, Horner racked up quite a few achievements over that ocean.
By 2011, Horner was Tour of California champion.
Spain’s Francisco Mancebo, a five-time top 10 finisher at the Tour de France, copped a pair of Redlands yellow jerseys.
Funny note on Horner, who also came in second place twice.
Phil Gaimon must have read my pre-race article’s 2012 interview on Horner, his strong hopes for notching victory No. 5 on yet another team. Gaimon, however, used that as motivation to race past everyone, beating three stage winner Patrick Bevin by just a couple seconds, Mancebo taking third, trailing by just a mere seven seconds.
Horner finished well behind.
Gaimon, who began racing on a “Team Redlands” squad known as Jelly Belly in 2009, repeated that Redlands triumph in 2015.
Almost each year, I approached Frankie Andreu just to see if something came up that wasn’t brought about in his book. Andreu, a former 7-Eleven cyclist, thought for a moment, shook his head, leaving me on my way. Why report something that was already brought out in his book?
Close men together, Armstrong and Andreu were quite well known over a few years.
Andreu, meanwhile, often came to Redlands – media, team manager, a women’s coach, you name it. Here was a guy who discussed his spot in Armstrong’s hospital room during his 1996 cancer days, telling medical practitioners what he was using for cycling. It turned into Andreu’s book. Wow!
*****
Perhaps spurred on by his Redlands success, Phinney won two stages at the Tour de France, copping that 1985 third stage, then the 12th stage a year later.
Phinney, meanwhile, was accorded a high honor in Redlands when its organizers proclaimed “Legendary” status on him at a 2012 ceremony.
It was a Hall of Fame moment, A Redlands Connection and a huge chapter for that city’s classic event.
