Mara Abbott (Amy D Foundation) confirmed her reputation as best climber in the country by taking out her fourth consecutive victory on the final stage of the Tour of the Gila, wrapping up her sixth career overall win.
Abbott stormed away on the final ascent, winning the stage over Scotti Lechuga (Hagens Berman-Supermint) and Mindy McCutcheon (Canyon). She extended her winning advantage in the general classification over Kristin Armstrong (Twenty 16-RideBiker), while Rally Cycling's Jasmin Glaesser gained just enough time in the finish to push Brianna Walle (Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank) off the podium and take third.
It was the same scenario on the stage that played out as prior years, Abbott attacking at the base of the climb, and the queen of the mountains contender Katie Hall (UnitedHealthcare) chasing behind. But this time Abbott faced a particularly spirited chase from a 10-rider chasing group that conspired to run down Hall with 500m to go and sprint to the line startlingly close, just 21 seconds behind Abbott.
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"The finish was actually pretty interesting, because the last they told me was that there was one chaser," Abbott said. "So when I saw them cross the finish line as a big group, that's a pretty different thing to be chasing you than one person. That made me feel a bit relieved when I saw that."
Abbott's win denied Hall the final polka dot jersey, while Glaesser reversed last year's heartbreak when she was in Walle's position, moving onto the podium by a single second.
"It was so close last year. I came into this day third last year and dropped down to fourth, so it's great to reverse that this year," Glaesser said. "It was really a team effort today. My team set me up perfectly, they made sure I came to the finish as fresh as possible. They gave me a good lead-out into the base of the climb and then I had Sara [Poidevin] making sure Katie Hall didn't escape. Today is really a credit to how strong our team is. It was great having them there in the front group with me and be able to control the gap."
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