August 17/15 13:17 pm - Whitten Wins NCC Rochester Twilight Criterium

Posted by Editoress on 08/17/15
 

Olympic Bronze medalist Tara Whitten put an exclamation point on her comeback season as she soloed away from a field containing the top criterium racers in North America at last Saturday's Rochester Twighlight Criterium in Upstate New York, part of the U.S. National Criterium Calendar series.

Supported by a full squad of teammates Whitten let her team animate the first half of the race before launching a decisive attack with 25 minutes of racing left.  Whitten clocked near identical lap times as she time trialled in front of a chasing field.  Her break hovered at just 10 seconds for several laps before the elastic snapped and her winning margin ballooned out to 30 seconds.

The Edmonton rider has been slowly finding her form as the season has progressed, with an 8th place finish overall at the Joe Martin Stage Race and a silver medal in the time trial at the Pan-American Championships, but this is her first win since she returned to racing.

For the Ottawa based The Cyclery-Opus team the win builds on a string of podiums by riders at big criteriums, as both Ellen Watters (Sussex, NB) and Annie Foreman-Mackey (Kingston, ON) scored podiums during BC Super Week.  While Watters took home the overall title at the Killington Stage Race earlier this year, this NCC Win is the first National Calendar win in the team's history.

Whitten will captain a smaller squat at this weekend's Chris Thater NCC event, with the squad split between the American Pro criterium in New York and the Ontario and Quebec Provincial Championships.  The complete team will then contest the Green Mountain Stage Race in Vermont.

Courtesy The Cyclery-Opus

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