Newly crowned US criterium champion Kendall Ryan (Tibco-SVB) is set to debut her stars-and-stripes jersey during the stage 4 final criterium on Sunday at the Joe Martin Stage Race in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In an interview with Cyclingnews, the American sprinter spoke about how close she came to losing the title in a recap of the chaotic last lap of the championship race in Greenville, South Carolina last Saturday.
Ryan watched the replay of the USA Cycling Professional Criterium Championships on Youtube and gasped as she watched herself bomb through the inside line of the final corner and narrowly avoid the crash that had taken down defending champion Coryn Rivera (UnitedHealthcare) and Erica Allar (Colavita-Bianchi), while she sprinted to her first-ever national championship jersey in the elite category.
"The crash happened right in front of me, on the outside line, and I couldn’t believe that I had missed that. I missed that crash by an inch and I had to throw my bike to the far left to avoid it and still ended up in the gutter once I had straightened out," Ryan told Cyclingnews.
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"I had no time to think, I just had to go. It was 300 metres to the line, a long sprint slightly downhill and then flat into the finish. I put my head down and I could see my director Ed Beamon out of my peripheral vision jumping up and down and screaming. It made me think someone was right behind me drag racing, but there was nobody there. I couldn’t believe that I had won."
After crossing the finish line, her thoughts immediately turned to Rivera, and her lead-out rider Ruth Winder, who had slid out through the corner. "I was so happy that Coryn was OK. The first thing that went through my head after I crossed the line was that I hoped they were all OK."
Ryan, 22, crossed the line one second ahead of former six-time criterium title holder Tina Pic (Pepper Palace Pro Cycling) and another second ahead of third-placed finisher Brianna Walle (Optum Pro Cycling p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies).
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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