Redlands, Calif. — Oscar Sevilla’s fourth place led three Rock Racing riders in the top 20 in Thursday’s Sun Prologue Time Trial in Redlands, Calif.

Sevila finished nine seconds behind winner Rory Sutherland (Health Net presented by Maxxis), who covered the 3.1-mile (5 km) distance in nine minutes and 51 seconds. Ben Day and Dominique Rollin (both of Toyota-United Pro Cycling) finished second and third, respectively.

“I did better than I thought I was going to do,” Sevilla said. “This time trial wasn’t as steep or as long as the one last week in San Dimas. I rode as hard as I could so I have no excuses.”

Santiago Botero, the 2002 world time trial champion who is competing for the first time in the U.S. this season, finished 19th, 27 seconds behind. Rock Racing Teammate Fred Rodriguez finished in the same time for 20th place.

Rock Racing’s other finishers Thursday were: Tyler Hamilton, 33 seconds behind in 32nd place; Victor Hugo Peña, 35th place, 34 seconds behind; Mike Creed, 73rd place, 54 seconds behind; David Clinger was 118th, 1:22 behind and Kayle Leogrande was 121st, one second behind Clinger.

Friday’s Stage 1 is the City of Beaumont Road Race, a new course that features 85 miles (138 km) of climbing during five laps of a 17-mile circuit. With 25 riders within 30 seconds of the lead, plenty of aggressive racing is expected from the 19 teams in the race.

— RRC—