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Kristen Faulkner (EF Education Cannondale) earned the Stars and Stripes jersey after winning the elite women’s road race at the USA Cycling Road National Championships in Charleston, West Virginia.
Faulkner made the final move on the final climb and took a solo victory by 55 seconds over second-place finisher Ruth Winder (Human Powered Health), who ran away late in the race.
Faulkner’s teammate Colin Labecchi took third place in the chase group sprint, finishing 5 minutes and 39 seconds behind, giving EF Education Cannondale two podiums.
The victory gives Faulkner his first domestic elite title after a great start to the year that included a win at Omloop van het Hageland, two stages at Rosa’s Trofeo Ponente and a stage at La Vuelta Femenina. obtained.
“It feels great. It feels like the culmination of a lot of hard work and it’s been a really good season so far this year,” Faulkner said.
“We’re the USA team and it’s really special to wear the USA jersey. I’ve never worn it before. I like pink,” she said of the EF Education-Cannondale uniforms. “If there’s anything better than pink, it’s probably the Star-Spangled Banner.”
Edwards, who came out of retirement this season, won the U.S. National Championship in 2019, but couldn’t quite match Faulkner in the climbs.
“We’ve seen throughout Kristen’s career how strong she is, especially this spring, and I was happy to stay as far apart from her as possible,” Edwards said. “I tried to endure as much pain as I could, but she was really strong and she was just a little bit more ahead of me on the climb.”
Forkner said he chose to go just before the apex of the final climb, thinking he could develop enough power in the last 10 minutes of the race to get away.
“I knew I could hit a really good shot, but I also knew I didn’t want to hit it.” [Edwards] She has a pretty good kick, so she goes to the line. She really hadn’t sprinted in a long time, so she was fine as long as they didn’t push her to the line,” Faulkner said.
“There were a few moments where I thought I should attack, but that was kind of the ideal moment at the top of the last climb. If that didn’t work out, I thought maybe I’d do it at the bottom if there were a lot of them. I was able to jump her because I had so much speed, but she was really great there with me. It was really nice that she didn’t have to do it alone.
“From there it was just a matter of taking it home. It was going to be a hard 10-minute effort so I wanted to attack close enough to the finish and not go too far. In a way it worked out perfectly. did.”
Labecchi played a role in neutralizing Lauren Stevens (Siniska), one of the pre-race favorites, and stopping her pursuit.
“I’m happy with the weekend because we got a podium sandwich. I think it was good teamwork today,” said Labecchi.
Nicole Steinmetz (Siniska) was the top under-23 rider in sixth place, while Kaia Schmidt (Liv Al-Ula Jeiko) and Kayla Davis (Serious Cycling) rounded out the podium for Espoir.
“It feels great,” Steinmetz said. cycling news. “I couldn’t be happier. It wouldn’t have been possible without everyone who ran with the team today, the staff and everything else. It’s just amazing.”
how it unfolded
Elite women competed in a 127-kilometre road race at the USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships in Charleston, West Virginia. The 21.2km lap featured two important climbs that were decisive throughout the race.
In the early laps, the fast pace set by Siniska and EF Education Cannondale steadily chipped away at the peloton.
Taylor Quik-White (Goldman Sachs ETF) and Alison Murgal (Siniska) attacked on the second lap, Laurel Quinones (Blue Ridge, VA Twenty24) attacked on the third lap, and on the fifth lap. On the way to the start, Heidi Franz (Life Plus Wahoo) attacked. .
Franz opened up the biggest gap, opening up a 1 minute 15 second lead on the first climb of the lap, ahead of Kristen Faulkner and Colin Labecchi (EF Education Cannondale), Nicole Steinmetz and Lauren Stevens (Siniska), I encountered a group of riders, including Ruth Edwards. (Human Powered Health), and after crossing between the climbs, Lauren De Crescenzo (Factor/The Feed/Castelli/Maxxis/PER).
On the second climb on the penultimate lap, Stevens, Edwards, Labecchi and Forkner pulled away on the climb, leaving the elite quartet with little momentum to follow.
Faulkner made a move on the descent to Bell Lap and pulled away from Edwards. Edwards was willing to try to escape.
Stevens had to put Labecchi behind the wheel and give chase, but Steinmetz ran into De Crescenzo. The four cars chased after each other, but at the bell lap there was a 49 second difference.
Under-23 champion Steinmetz and Kayla Davis (Serious Cycling) were the next riders to lead the pack on the penultimate climb, one lap behind, and then jumped Stevens and tried to bridge before standing up. The group was separated. go.
De Crescenzo was dropped from the initial chase by a wave, but returned to town on the downhill, but the gap only widened, swelling to more than two minutes on the final lap.
Faulkner moved forward on the final climb and strengthened his bid for his first Elite National Championship title.
result
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