STAGE FOUR
Erhlich Sails into Pink and a Stage Win at the Palisades Time Trial
Rebecca Reza
May 5th, 2025
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Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty28 Emily Erhlich sailed to victory Monday to win the Builders FirstSource Palisades Time Trial at the 2025 Tour de Bloom. The course was set on a 30km out-and-back country road in Palisades, located about 30 miles from Wenatchee. Speaking with riders after the stage, many would state the course was suited to a pure time trial specialists. Ehrlich was the only rider to finish in under 40 minutes, setting a blazing time of 39:09, ahead of Lauren Stephens in second (40:22) for Aegis Cycling Foundation, and Ehrlich’s teammate, Marlies Mejias (40:47).
Stage 4 was set in the rural area of Palisades, a quaint town filled with apple orchards surrounded by canyons. Temperatures had risen ever so slightly to a comfortable mid-60s when the first rider left the starting house at 9 AM. Fount Cycling Guild’s Jennifer Wheeler set the first time to beat at 41:19, ahead of Skyler Goudswaard of Cyclery Racing at 41:40. The time would keep Wheeler in the hot seat for most of the stage, until Ehrlich burst through the finish line to win the stage.
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The general classification would see a big shake up at the end of the day. Lauren Stephens had been leading Alia Shafi by 12-seconds, ahead of Marlies Mejias in third another 21 seconds behind her. At the start of the day, Ehrlich was 54-seconds down on GC in 9th place, but would secure a new advantage above her rivals to move her into the pink jersey and overall lead. Lauren Stephens retained the Queen of the Mountains jersey, while the other classifications remained the same with Marlies Mejias (Twenty28) leading the points classification, and Mia Aseltine (Competitive Edge) in the Best Young Riders jersey.
The queen stage is set for Tuesday, for the Ed Farrar Memorial Road Race, this time starting with our Pro Men. The UCI Women start at noon for 3 laps of the Golf Course loop and the final lap up Joe Millar Road, the same training grounds as American Sprinter Tyler Farrar used during his professional career. The golf course loop includes a 1-mile climb at 5.7% gradient. After completing that three times, the peloton will face the final loop with a 6.4-mile climb averaging a 5.7% gradient before they hit the grand finale on the final 6.6-mile climb averaging 8% with a max gradient of 12.2% before crowning the first UCI Tour de Bloom champion.
Catch all the action live, on our YouTube channel starting at 8 AM with the Pro Men, followed by our UCI Women at noon.
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RESULTS
Please note:
- Points GC, Mountains GC, and Team GC results are included on the daily reports, below the results from that stage.
- There are no mountains reports for the Crit or TT, since no mountains points were awarded.
