The final kilometer of the professional men’s first and second category (Cat 1/2) was an all-out battle between three riders, with Stephen Bedford inching ahead in the last 100 feet Sunday to capture the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association state championship and the road race stage of the 2013 High Desert Omnium.

“It was very close and the riders at the end were all very strong,” Bedford said after the race. “So I was unsure what was going to happen. I just had a better sprint at the end.”

Bedford, 35 and of Portland, was among the many breakaways throughout the 85-mile road race staged at Edison Sno-park near Sunriver. With 5 kilometers remaining in the race, he and two other riders broke away from the lead pack, and from there Bedford ultimately secured the victory.

“There was a breakaway through most of the race,” Bedford said. “We got word that our guy in front had fallen out of the race, so our team (HPChiro-RPM Mortgage Cycling Team) worked really hard to bring back that break, and I counterattacked at the end.”

The annual High Desert Omnium consists of three stages — a time trial, a criterium and a road race. The time trial and road race were both held on Saturday at the Bend Municipal Airport. Dillon Caldwell, 23 and of Bend, won the time trial with a time of 19 minutes, 0.9 seconds. The winner of the criterium was Marshall Greene, 31 and of Bend.

Caldwell was the overall professional men’s Cat 1/2 winner. He placed fourth in the criterium. Although he was not among the top five finishers in the road race, his accumulated 24 points from Saturday allowed him to win the omnium.

“We had a good day for the team (Team Oregon presented by Laurelwood Brewing) and I had a good weekend, a really good day yesterday,” Caldwell said. “I wasn’t trying to contest the road race, it was more about the team.”

On the women’s side, Rachel Lee, 24 and of Corvallis, won the women’s Cat 1/2/3 road race. Lee — who was classified as a Cat 3 rider — finished with a considerable lead in front of Cat 1 and Cat 2 racers.

Lee, who races for Upper Echelon Fitness and Rehabilitation, said she excels in road races, which is why she chose not to compete in the time trial or the criterium. Without racing on Saturday, she was still able to place third in the Cat 3 overall standings.

“It went pretty well today,” Lee said. “(Bend Memorial Clinic) Total Care had a lot of riders out, and they were in the front and attacking. So they had their strategy down pretty well. Then after mile 37 (or) 38 I caught up to the lead rider again. They kept attacking and I was staying with them.”

BMC Total Care Racing Team’s Lisa Magness, 54 and of Bend, won the omnium in women’s Cat 1/2. Magness placed first in the time trial with a time of 21:01.5, and she placed second in the criterium behind teammate Michelle Cunha.

“We just tried to make it fun and hard,” said Magness. “Most of us on BMC are 40 and above. So it’s kind of fun to go out and try and be competitive, which we are.”

Magness placed second in the road race behind Lee, but she rode alongside Lee for about 18 miles until the winding hill to the finish line where Lee took the lead.

“I got a gap and Rachel was with me so we started working together,” Magness said. “She worked her little legs off, that’s for sure! She pretty much rode away from me once we started to climb this last hill.”

An omnium format is a multistage race in which points are awarded depending on a racer’s placing in each stage. The High Desert Omnium is a standard format omnium, which includes a time trial, a criterium and a road race in a span of two days.

“It (an omnium format) takes a little bit of strategy for winning rather than a stage race,” said Cate Hass, High Desert Omnium race director. “A stage race you have to race in every event, and here you don’t. So if you aren’t a very good time trialist, you can opt not to race that and therefore save some energy and place better in the other two.”