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Jelly Belly take Tour of Thailand

Will Routley and Team Jelly Belly, presented by Kenda, worked hard to keep their momentum going at the Tour of Thailand road race last week, building on their team's success at the Redlands Bicycle Classic in California.

Will Routley and Team Jelly Belly, presented by Kenda, worked hard to keep their momentum going at the Tour of Thailand road race last week, building on their team's success at the Redlands Bicycle Classic in California.

Routley placed third in the general classification at Redlands against a strong international field after winning the first stage.

Thailand was a different story, with a heat wave and humidity driving temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius.

"As a team we really wanted to do everything right and start the tour off with a bang," he wrote. "In the 45 degree heat we kept cool with lots of ice and dousing bottles, we brought the right equipment, had ice baths the night before and we went out and swept the podium in time trial."

Routley was third on the first day, behind teammates Kiel Reijnen and Michael Friedman. Teammates William Dickenson and Jonathan Chodroff rounded out the top five.

Routley's dreams of placing on top of the general classification faded with about 20 km remaining on the second stage with a double flat.

"One of my teammates waited for me to get a wheel change, and it was just the worst time for a flat," he said. "The two of us lost three minutes. This meant I was out of the GC on only stage two. But we still had Keil in the yellow jersey. So with the team riding so incredibly strong it was time to defend the jersey."

The team worked together to protect Reijnen's lead on the four remaining stages, and according to Routley a Team Jelly Belly jersey led the field for about 950 km of the 1,000 km race.

"We actually lost the jersey on stage five by 19 seconds, but then just smashed the final stage six and launched Keil into a small group at the end of the final stage where he rode incredibly well and took back nearly a minute to more than secure the overall win.

"It was probably the best team effort I've been a part of and leaves me, and I think all of us, ready for more."

Next up for the team is the Tour of Korea, a 10-stage race that gets underway on April 18. After that the team will have a week to rest and recover before the Tour of California - now one of the biggest road races in the world.

"I've ridden several of the courses for California and am really charged up about it," said Routley.