World champion Amber Neben (Team Veloconcept) put in a perfectly paced, powerful performance to take out the time trial title on Saturday at the USA Cycling Professional Road Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The 42-year-old had anticipated that just seconds would separate the top riders on the three-lap, 23km test, but instead, she pulled out a commanding 32-second victory over Lauren Stephens (Team Tibco-Silicon Valley Bank). Third-place finisher Leah Thomas (Sho-Air/Twenty20) was a distant 1:04. Emma White (Rally Cycling) was the best U23 rider in 15th.
Although Neben has been quite accomplished at the elite level over her career, with two world titles and numerous stage race and time trial victories, this is shockingly only her second national title.
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"It's funny, honestly I don't know how many second places I've got," she said. "It's probably in the double digits - eight or 10 [10 podiums in the ITT, four in the road race - ed.] ... It's been an elusive championship. So it's extremely special to win it. You don't ever take it for granted, and I didn't take today for granted. There are too many talented riders who can bring it. I knew I had to ride well, it just feels good to put it together and get it done on race day."
Overnight rains soaked the course, but by the time the last wave of riders went down the start ramp the sun had come out, the course dried up and the temperatures had risen to sauna level, making pacing over the three laps critical. Neben was down on Stephens by five seconds on lap one, but pulled back 13 seconds on lap two and another 24 on the final circuit to claim her victory.
"The humidity and the heat was going to make it hard, and it was a hard course," Neben said. "It was hard to find a rhythm on it. For me, I just knew that first lap, especially the first three minutes I had to be patient. I was patient early with the intention of being strong later, and it worked out for me."
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