photo credits @ USA Pro Challenge
Kristin Armstrong edged out her teammate, Allie Dragoo of Team Twenty16, to claim the opening stage, the individual time trial, of this year’s inaugural women’s USA ProChallenge today.
Armstrong finished the 8.5-mile ITT in 21:24.59 seconds, with Dragoo 0.12 of a second behind.
Meanwhile, Amanda Miller (Visit Dallas) rounded out the podium in 3rd place, with a time of 21:48.55.
The first half of the race was relatively flat, but then the riders faced the notorious climb on Moonstone Road, topping out at 10,088 feet.
“I felt super strong,” Armstrong said. “None of us have raced at 10,000 feet. Typically in a time trial, I lay it all out there and I never pace myself. (Friday) my coach and I said it was critical to pace myself because of the altitude. I felt like I did a good job doing that. There’s no do-overs. I’m happy to be on top.”
After the climb, riders faced a white-knuckle descent to the finish in the center of town at 9,603 feet – knowing every second could be precious.
“When I was coming down the descent there were a couple of those sweeping corners where my coach was telling me to trust him, set it up, and there’s three times I didn’t trust him,” Armstrong said. “I’m the one on the bike, going so fast. I had so much thought: (Thursday) the wind caught my front wheel a couple times. I knew I was going strong, so I didn’t want to take any risks going down.”
Armstrong, 42, retired after the 2012 London Olympics but returned this season.
“I think the biggest reason I came back — I think a lot of athletes would relate — when you’re in the moment, it’s really hard,” Armstrong said.
“There’s a lot of times I (tell) myself, ‘It would be a lot easier to not be doing what I’m doing.’ I told the girls (Thursday) in the press conference: Enjoy every moment of this, because it’s the time of your life.”
Top 20 Finishers
1 Kristin Armstrong (USA) Twenty 16 P/B Sho-_-Air 0:21:24 2 Allie Dragoo (USA) Twenty 16 P/B Sho-_-Air 3 Amanda Miller (USA) Visit Dallas P/B Noise4Good 0:00:24 4 Abigail Mickey (USA) Unitedhealthcare Professional 0:00:28 5 Tayler Wiles (USA) Dna Cycling P/B K4 0:00:41 6 Breanne Nalder (USA) Dna Cycling P/B K4 0:00:45 7 Mara Abbott (USA) Amy D. Foundation 0:00:47 8 Katharine Hall (USA) Unitedhealthcare Professional 0:01:03 9 Lauren Komanski (USA) Twenty 16 P/B Sho-_-Air 0:01:05 10 Linda Villumsen (NZl) Unitedhealthcare Professional 0:01:14 11 Julie Emmerman (USA) Amy D. Foundation 12 Robin Farina (USA) Bmw P/B Happy Tooth Dental 0:01:20 13 Olivia Dillon (Irl) Visit Dallas P/B Noise4Good 0:01:34 14 Joanne Kiesanowski (NZl) Team Tibco – Svb 0:01:35 15 Andrea Dvorak (USA) Twenty 16 P/B Sho-_-Air 0:01:37 16 Lex Albrecht (Can) Optum P/B Kelly Benefit Strategies 0:01:38 17 Whitney Schultz (USA) Colavita/Bianchi P/B Fine Cooking 18 Lauren Hall (USA) Twenty 16 P/B Sho-_-Air 0:01:40 19 Chloe Dygert (USA) Twenty 16 P/B Sho-_-Air 0:01:44 20 Patricia Schwager (Swi) Team Tibco – Svb 0:01:51
General classification after stage
You must be logged in to post a comment.
