Kirsti Lay races wrong peloton to seal a win
During the final stage of the Tucson Bicycle Classic, Kirsti Lay of Rally Cycling attacked on a descent. It preceded a righthand turn before the road went up, at about 34 km to go. “It allowed me to get a lot free speed on the descent and take everyone off guard. I don’t think anyone thought a rider could get away at that point,” she said. It turned out to be the right move.
The three-stage race came shortly after a March team camp in Tucson for Rally’s women’s squad. In the prologue time trial, the team was one-twothree on the podium: Kelly Catlin in first, Sara Bergen in second and Lay in third. Catlin then won the Stage 2 road race; Bergen was second. In the final circuit race, it didn’t matter who from Rally got the yellow jersey as long as the team dictated the race. After the first time-bonus sprint, Bergen and Lay got the go-ahead from team director Zach Bell to race aggressively.
After Lay got away from the field, she didn’t know what the time gaps were as they weren’t being called. She should see a pack behind her so she figured she was 40 seconds ahead. She was actually seven minutes up. “I really didn’t know what was happening. I thought it was the girls, but it turns out it was the Cat. 2 men,” she said of the group that had rolled out onto the course after the women. “I didn’t let off the gas until the last lap,” she said. “In the last 5 km, I figured out what was happening and thought, ‘All right, that’s better than I thought it was.’” She won the stage and the race overall.