Coryn Rivera's surprise Tour of Flanders victory in April proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that she's more than 'just a sprinter'. The American held tough with some of the sport's best climbers on that day and, with a tough World Championships course facing her on Saturday, Rivera is not shying away from the challenge.
"I've shown this year when it comes to the one-day races it is my thing," Rivera told Cyclingnews from her hotel in Bergen, Norway earlier this week. "It is my style of racing. Those climbs won't stop me, and I think that I've proved that this year."
Rivera has been named alongside the Dutch powerhouses of Anna van der Breggen, Marianne Vos and new time trial world champion Annemiek van Vleuten, and the likes of former world champions Lizzie Deignan and Pauline Ferrand-Prevot as a potential winner in this Saturday's road race. If she can stay within touching distance over the already infamous Salmon Hill, then there are few in the bunch that can beat her in a sprint.
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Before speaking to Cyclingnews on Tuesday, Rivera had her first chance to see the course and, with one of the longest women's road races ever, she is expecting a very selective affair.
"World Championships are hard to predict sometimes," she explained. "I rode the Salmon Hill for the first time. That was a pretty decent hill and thinking about doing that eight times, it will be pretty straining on some riders' legs. It's a pretty challenging course, similar to the team time trial where it is constantly changing in terrain, left and rights and everything. I'm not really sure what the team tactic is or how the race will go down, but it will probably be a reduced bunch sprint or a small breakaway."
Thanks in large part to Rivera's success this season, the United States has a full line-up of six riders in this year's World Championships. Among their seven are Megan Guarnier, Amber Neben and Lauren Stephens. Between them, Rivera is confident that the team will come home with a medal. If it is gold, it will be the first for the USA in the road race since 1980.
Over the rainbow
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