Cole Avery at Big Bear(Image credit: Whole Athlete - Specialized Cycling Team)
Casey Williams at Mont-Sainte-Anne(Image credit: Whole Athlete - Specialized Cycling Team)
Casey Williams at the Mellow Johnny's Pro XCT(Image credit: Whole Athlete - Specialized Cycling Team)
Casey Williams at the Bonelli Park Pro XCT(Image credit: Whole Athlete - Specialized Cycling Team)
This year proved to be the Whole Athlete-Specialized Team's most successful season to date thanks to the team's riders such as Kate Courtney, Lucas Newcomb and Haley Batten.
Courtney opened the season with the junior women's Pan American title, then earned her second World Cup win at Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, making her the number-one UCI rider going into the world championships. Her sixth-place finish there foreshadows amazing things likely to come.
Teammate Newcomb ascended the World Cup podium in Mont-Sainte-Anne as well, with an impressive second place. And 15-year-old Batten won the Sankt Vith Grand Prix in Belgium, her first-ever European race.
Stateside, Batten, Courtney and Newcomb took home a total of four US Junior National titles. Fourteen-year-old Cole Avery earned six wins this season, including the Sea Otter Classic. And Casey Williams brought in two cross country victories in only his first year as a U23 rider. In the Pro XCT series, Whole Athlete/Specialized juniors earned a total of 10 cross country wins.
In its short, five-year history, the team has averaged 65 wins per year and qualified a total of 12 American riders to the world championships. In 2012, the team achieved what no other US development program has as Courtney became the first-ever American junior woman to win a World Cup.
Yet victories and podiums are only part of the team's success. The team's primary goal continues to be the mastery of a three-point philosophy of dedication, integrity, and fun in both sport and life. With a focus on the process rather than the outcome, the riders having been thriving within Whole Athlete's holistic approach.
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