Rivera and Brown win USA Cycling road national titles

KNOXVILLE, Tenn, June 25, (AP): Coryn Rivera had won national championships by the dozen, at every level of her sport, yet the top step of USA Cycling’s road racing ladder had always eluded her by the slimmest of margins.

Three straight years, Rivera had finished second at nationals.

Yet she arrived in Tennessee this week as perhaps the biggest favorite, her form on point after a stellar spring season. And she used that form to catapult herself forward from a reduced bunch, overcoming three-time champion Megan Guarnier for one of the sweetest victories of her career.

In the men’s race, Jonny Brown rode away from his breakaway companions before finishing solo in his adopted home town. Robin Carpenter was second and Jacob Rather finished third.

The road cycling national championships are ostensibly every rider for themselves, but those riders who have professional teammates have an advantage. Guarnier could work with Skylar Schneider, her teammate on Boels Dolmans, and third-place Emma White had her strong Rally Cycling squad behind her.

Rivera leaned on Team Sunweb’s Ruth Winder, who sacrificed her own aspirations for her teammate. It was Winder that answered every attack by their closest rivals in the final six miles, using whatever energy reserves she had after nine laps of the eight-mile course ending in downtown Knoxville.

The final bunch of about a dozen riders pulled back the last remnants of the breakaway with about two miles left, setting up the sprint finish. Guarnier was the first to go, using a short incline before the final corner to launch her sprint, before Rivera came rushing by on the outside.

Guarnier and White rounded out the podium while Winder had enough left to secure 10th place.

The victory for Rivera came on the heels of her triumph at the prestigious Ovo Energy Women’s Tour in Britain, where she also won Stage 2 and the points classification. Rivera also won two stages and a points jersey at the German race Thuringen Rundfahrt der Frauen earlier this year.

The men’s race covered 15 laps of the same course on a sweltering, humid afternoon, and the attrition was evident by the dozens of riders that failed to reach the finish.