Less than two weeks after dominating the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Time Trial, Alison Powers took to the starting ramp at the USA Cycling Professional Time Trial National Championships today with hopes of repeating her 2008 victory and earning the coveted stars and stripes jersey for the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team. The 2014 course in Chattanooga, Tennessee was relatively long at 30.9 kilometers with rolling hills and technical turns. Alison has shown great form recently with fantastic strength and stamina, allowing her to power through the undulating course with speed and precision. Top form, flawless equipment, and determination all converged for Alison Powers today, as she devoured the course and claimed the victory by a margin of 30 seconds.
Alison adds this accomplishment to her already impressive résumé which includes the current US national professional criterium championship jersey, the 2013 national racing calendar points title, 2014 Tour Femenino de San Luis overall victory, and many more. Elated with her result, Alison Powers commented, “I am super happy– everyone believed in me, and to go from huge disappointment last year to sheer happiness this year is incredible. The team’s belief in me and the support they’ve given me have been big contributing factors.” Sports Director Rachel Heal added, “Alison had an amazing start to this year and we knew she had the form to get a great result here. She’s worked really hard for this and it’s fantastic to see her pull off the win. It was a full team effort with the support from Adrian, Tavis, Mike (team staff) and our sponsors playing a big part in ensuring Alison only had to focus on riding her bike… very fast!
BMC Racing Team’s Taylor Phinney Wins his Second National Time Trial Title
Phinney’s 51-second margin of victory over runner-up Tom Zirbel (Team Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies) was the largest in the event since 2009. Phinney went 1:24 faster than third-placed David Williams (5-Hour Energy presented by Kenda) while adding to the national time trial title he won in 2010. “I was surprisingly nervous today,” Phinney said. “I sort of felt like all I could do was lose. So I was really happy when I was out there and feeling good and feeling fast and getting positive time splits.” Phinney’s win was his fourth of the season. In February, he won the Stage 1 individual time trial of the Dubai Tour on the way to winning the overall. Last week, he soloed the final 25 kilometers to win Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California. “It is always a huge honor to come here and be able to win,” Phinney said. “I won four years ago, so to come back after missing nationals two years in a row is a special feeling.” His victory was the BMC Racing Team’s 14th of the season.
Crouched low on his BMC timemachine TM01, Phinney led Zirbel by 13 seconds at the halfway point of the 30.9-kilometer race on two laps of an out-and-back course. That margin kept growing as BMC Racing Team Sport Director Max Sciandri relayed time splits from the Acura TSX Sport Wagon. “Taylor took a little bit of a beating from (Bradley) Wiggins in the time trial in California,” Sciandri said. “But it pushed him a little bit harder in training. He went straight home after the race, came out here a day early and then it was like a piece of a puzzle that falls into place. The pressure is off now that he has won it. We will let it sink in tonight and then tomorrow we start thinking about the road race.” Phinney will be joined by teammate Peter Stetina for Monday’s 165.5-km national championship road race that includes four ascents of Lookout Mountain. “I am relaxed now, this is a big weight off my shoulders,” Phinney said. “Now I can go into Monday a little bit more relaxed and kind of take it easier, put the pressure on the other teams and just kind of follow wheels.”Phnney’s 51-second margin of victory over runner-up Tom Zirbel (Team Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies) was the largest in the event since 2009. Phinney went 1:24 faster than third-placed David Williams (5-Hour Energy presented by Kenda) while adding to the national time trial title he won in 2010. “I was surprisingly nervous today,” Phinney said. “I sort of felt like all I could do was lose. So I was really happy when I was out there and feeling good and feeling fast and getting positive time splits.” Phinney’s win was his fourth of the season. In February, he won the Stage 1 individual time trial of the Dubai Tour on the way to winning the overall. Last week, he soloed the final 25 kilometers to win Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California. “It is always a huge honor to come here and be able to win,” Phinney said. “I won four years ago, so to come back after missing nationals two years in a row is a special feeling.” His victory was the BMC Racing Team’s 14th of the season.
Photo by Jonathan Devich
