Cycling: Sebastian-Haedo claims Martin win

FAYETTEVILLE -- Finishing up its 38th year as an event, the Joe Martin Stage Race continues to grow and establish and international flavor.

On Sunday, Lucas Sebastian-Haedo of Argentina won the Men's Pro Criterium with a time of 1 hour, 23.01 seconds.

"We had a good race," Sebastian-Haedo said. "We tried to come in here today and run a hard race and get a gap, but it was close all the way. We were able to make a little bit of a move at the end and come away with the win. It was a good day to race."

Sebastian, 32, and his teammates have raced at events all over the world and Sebastian said the Joe Martin race stops stacks up with them all.

"We had a great week of racing," Sebastian-Haedo said. "The course is great, very challenging and they have some great sponsors and organizers. It's a good race for the competitors."

Sebastian-Haedo also won a stage at the Redlands Bicycle Classic a few weeks ago in California and his stage win on Sunday in the criterium gave him the green jersey as overall points leader.

While weather threatened the event for a couple of days, the clouds mostly stayed away and the sun shined on the criterium on Sunday as the main event, drawing a good turnout of people to watch along the course route.

"We couldn't be happier with the way this year's event went," Joe Martin Stage Race promoter Bruce Dunn said. "We had the strongest field we've ever had and the biggest field in men's and women's pros we've ever had. We had some really strong international teams with the Argentines, and the teams from Columbia and Mexico and teams from 20 countries overall. After all these year, this event just keeps getting stronger and more interest from the national cycling community."

Virtually all the races were decided by just split seconds.

"We had the closest finishes we've ever had," Dunn said. "It just shows how close these guys are to each other at the very top of the sport and its just a second or two here or there in a long race that makes the difference. It makes for some great racing."

Sebastian-Haedo wound up second overall with 39 points while John Murphy of Team United Health Care won the individual title with 43 points.

In the women's pro division, Coryn Rivera held on to her lead from winning Saturdays' road race and finished with 40 points. Scotti Wilbourne of Little Rock managed to finish third in the women's field with 25 points.

Sports on 04/27/2015

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