Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) secured 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 her winning move on the final climb and soloed to the victory 55 seconds ahead of late-race breakaway companion and runner-up Ruth Winder (Human Powered Health).
Faulkner's teammate Coryn Labecki won the chase-group sprint for third place, which crossed the line 5:39 back, giving EF Education-Cannondale two on the podium.
The victory gives Faulkner her first elite national title after a stellar start to the year that included a win in Omloop van het Hageland, two stages in the Trofeo Ponente in Rosa and a stage of La Vuelta Femenina.
"It feels great. It feels like a culmination of a lot of work and a really good season so far this year," Faulkner said.
"We're an American team, and to have the American jerseys is really special. I've never had it before. I kind of like the pink," she said of her EF Education-Cannondale kit. "If there's one thing better than pink, it's probably the stars and stripes."
Edwards, who came out of retirement this season, won the national championship in 2019, but couldn't quite match Faulkner on the climb.
"We've seen throughout Kristen's career, and especially this spring, how strong she's been. And I was happy to keep the gap to her that I could," Edwards said. "I just tried to suffer the best I could. But she's really freaking strong, and just had a bit more to open that gap on me on the climb."
Faulkner said she chose to go just before the crest of the final climb, knowing she could put out enough power over the final 10 minutes of racing to stay clear.
"I knew I had a really good shot, and I knew I didn't want to take [Edwards] to the line because she has a pretty good kick. I haven't sprinted in a really long time, so as long as I didn't take her to the line, I was good," Faulkner said.
"I had a few moments where I thought would be good to attack, and that was kind of my my ideal moment at the top of that last climb. If that didn't work, I figured maybe at the base, if there's a lot of speed, I could jump her so but she was really great to have out there with me. It was really nice not to have to do that alone.
"From there, I was just taking it home. I wanted to attack close enough to the finish that it was going to be a really hard 10-minute effort or so, and I didn't want to go too far away. So that kind of worked out perfectly."
Labecki did her part by discouraging the chase, neutralising one of the pre-race favourites, Lauren Stephens (Cynisca).
"We got a podium sandwich going, so we're happy with the weekend, and I think it was good teamwork today," Labecki said.
Nicole Steinmetz (Cynisca) rode in for sixth as top under-23 rider, with Kaia Schmid (Liv-AlUla-Jayco) and Kayla Davis (Serious Cycling) rounding out the espoir podium.
"It feels amazing," Steinmetz told Cyclingnews. "I couldn't be happier. It would not be possible without every single person who rode today on our team and all the staff and everything. It's just amazing."
How it unfolded
The elite women faced 127 kilometres in the road race of the USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships in Charleston, West Virginia. The 21.2km lap had two significant climbs that proved decisive throughout the race.
In the early laps, a brisk pace set by Cynisca and EF Education-Cannondale steadily whittled down the peloton.
Attacks came from Taylor Kuyk-White (Goldman Sachs ETFs) and Allison Mrugal (Cynisca) in the second lap, Laurel Quinones (Virginia's Blue Ridge Twenty24) on lap three and Heidi Franz (Lifeplus-Wahoo) en route to the start of lap five.
Franz opened up the biggest gap, gaining 1:15 before a group of riders came across on the first climb on the lap, including Kristen Faulkner and Coryn Labecki (EF Education-Cannondale), Nicole Steinmetz and Lauren Stephens (Cynisca), Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) and, after briding across between the climbs, Lauren De Crescenzo (Factor/The Feed/Castelli/Maxxis/PER).
On the second climb of the penultimate lap, Stephens, Edwards, Labecki, and Faulkner pulled away on the climb, making for an elite quartet with little impetus to chase behind.
Faulkner made a move on the descent heading into the bell lap and drew out Edwards, who was more than happy to work to stay clear.
Stephens had to chase with Labecki on her wheel, but had Steinmetz coming across with De Crescenzo. The four came together in pursuit, having a 49-second deficit at the bell lap.
Steinmetz, easily the under-23 champion as the next rider on the road, Kayla Davis (Serious Cycling) was a lap down, buried herself leading the chase into the penultimate climb, launching Stephens to try to bridge before sitting up and letting the group go.
The surge knocked De Crescenzo out of the first chase, but she made her way back on the descent back into town, but the gap just kept going out, ballooning to over two minutes on the last lap.
Faulkner made her move on the final climb and powered her way solo to her first elite national championship title.
Results
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