The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team wrapped up the 2016 season with the huge success of overall victory in the USA Cycling Professional Road Tour for the men’s team. Tyler Magner also took the prestigious title in the individual competition, signifying his status as the best all-round road cyclist in the United States this year. The achievement is a big step for the first year signing on the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team.
Alongside racing, the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team has the goal of raising awareness of the importance of healthy living and an active lifestyle. As the team travels across the country, they meet and influence literally thousands of people for whom staying healthy is a challenge. During the season, the team hosted 41 events across 14 states of the United States, and in three countries total. These events are critical to the mission of the team. The riders of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team have dual roles as sports people, but also ambassadors of UnitedHealthcare. The athletes have worked hard all year and achieved great successes both on and off the race course.
The team also raised funds for the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation. The foundation helps families with healthcare costs that aren’t covered by their insurance plans, thus benefiting children from low income families across the country. The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team raised close to $50,000 for the foundation this year alone.
Ty Magner did not go into the season hoping to win the USA Cycling Pro Road Tour. As his first year with the team, his goal was to find his feet, figure out the dynamics of the squad and hopefully win some races. As the season developed, so did Magner’s results. By mid July, it was obvious that the Georgia-born rider would have a shot at the overall title, and the team responded by rallying around him for the final competitions of the season.
“To come on to UnitedHealthcare Team and win eight races and the series overall, it’s huge. I owe it all to my teammates and the support staff. We’re so well looked after. Without their continued support it wouldn’t have been possible” said Magner after securing the title.
As for what is in store for next season, Magner is modest in his goals, just hoping for the same consistency that allowed him to rise to the top this year, “I haven’t seen the schedule for 2017 yet, but I imagine it will be pretty similar. Another win would be huge, but I’d like to incorporate a few more stage races in there and see what happens.”
Magner’s eight wins came across the entire season, starting with victories on days one and two of the US Air Force Cycling Classic, before moving onto wins at the Tour of America’s Dairylands. The Andersen Bancucci Criterium came up next, and then the Intelligentsia Cup in Chicago. By July, Magner had won the Littleton Criterium in Denver, Colorado and the twilight criterium in Boise, Idaho. As the season came to a close, the PRT title was sealed with a win at the Chris Thater memorial criterium in New York, and a final win at the Gateway Cup in St. Louis, MO.
The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team opened the 2016 season as they mean to continue, with a resounding victory for Coryn Rivera on the opening stage of the Tour Femenino de San Luis. This was followed up by Katie Hall winning the fifth stage of the race and sealing the General Classification victory.
The men’s squad also found early season success in the Southern Hemisphere, as Johnny Clarke took third on stage two of the Herald Sun Tour in Melbourne, Australia. Teammate John Murphy then sprinted to win stage three of the same race. Murphy’s successes continued with the Tour of Langkawi in Malaysia with another sprint win.
Shawn Morelli opened her run up to the Rio Paralympic games with a World Record in the C4 pursuit, and a gold medal at the World Championships, showing promising form for the season ahead.
Back in the United States, the criterium season kicked off well for the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team, as Lauren Tamayo took victory in the USA Professional Criterium National Championships. That victory gave Tamayo the stars and stripes jersey for her last season of professional road racing.
The major United States stage races kicked off in May with the Joe Martin stage race in Arkansas. Coryn Rivera cinched the overall general classification victory with time bonuses on the final stage, making for exciting racing. Teammate Linda Villumsen previewed her early season time trialling form with a resounding victory on the opening stage of the same race.
Moving on to the Tour of the Gila in New Mexico, Daniel Jaramillo won the famed Gila Monster stage of the race to finish third on the general classification. His results also boosted the squad to the win in the team classification.
At the Tour of California, the women faced off against the strongest teams in the world. The opening Team Time Trial was a great success, as the squad finished in third place.
The USA Cycling Pro Road Championships saw Coryn Rivera take second place, and this was followed by more success on the domestic circuit as Marco Canola came third at the International Philadelphia Cycling Classic.
As the season progressed, Ty Magner began his streak of form with two victories at the Air Force Cycling Classic. Rivera also sprinted to a win at the Northstar Grand Prix.
The women’s squad headed over to Europe in July for La Course by Tour de France in the centre of Paris. The crashed marred race put the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling team on the biggest cycling stage in the world, and opened the women’s squad up to the reality of racing at the highest level. The experience paid dividends as Rivera went on to win a rainy stage of the International Thuringen Rundfahrt in Germany the following weekend.
The finale of the season produced exciting racing across a number of events. The highly ranked Tour of Alberta saw terrible weather, but Tanner Putt dug deep to prevail in a day long breakaway. His first professional win was well deserved and came after a long season of racing for his teammates.
In addition to racing under the colors of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team, riders within the squad took leave to compete for their country during the Summer Olympic Games in Rio, Brazil. Lauren Brown came home with a bronze medal from the team pursuit for Canada. Linda Villumsen and Rushlee Buchanan competed for New Zealand, with Buchanan walking away with a fourth place finish from the velodrome.
The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team started the season with a UCI win at the Tour Femenino de San Luis, and ended it with the overall series victory in the Professional Road Tour. In between, the athletes raced across four continents, met thousands of fans, and espoused a healthy lifestyle at every opportunity. The UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team would like to thanks it partners and fans for their enthusiasm and support throughout the season.
