Dygert dominates in Tour of the Gila time trial

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Twenty20-Sho Air's Chloe Dygert took her second stage win in two days Friday at the Tour of the Gila, covering the 26km out-and-back course in Tyrone with a time of 39:39, 13 seconds better than runner-up Sara Poidevin (Rally Cycling) and 18 seconds better than race leader Katie Hall (UnitedHealthcare), who held onto the red jersey for another day.

Poidevin's effort pulled her to within seven seconds of Hall in the general classification, with Hall's teammate Leah Thomas in third at 2:07. Edwige Pitel (QCW) finished 12th on the day and dropped to fourth, 2:44 off Hall's pace. For her effort, Dygert moved to fifth overall at 3:11 back.

Dygert has never raced at Gila before, so she relied on advice and information from her coach, Kristin Armstrong, a multiple world champion and Olympic old medallist in the race against the clock.

"I really have an awesome coach who's done a lot of time trialing, so I was able to get a lot of information from her and also Mari [Holden, Twenty20 director – ed.], so I was going into it really confident," Dygert said. "I'm really pleased with the result."

Dygert also had to overcome her fear of racing at altitude, which she says is not her forte despite the past two days' results.

"Leading into it I was really nervous because I don't do well at altitude," she said. "So I was super nervous about that, but everyone said there's a long downhill where you can make up for it. So I just believed in them and had to trust to just give it everything I had."

Dygert is the reigning world champion on the track in the individual and team pursuits, and she got a confidence boost from those results as well.

"I really had no idea what to expect," she said. "I just made sure I gave 100 per cent, and seeing the final 3km to go, I'm like, 'I have the world record in this. I can go. I can push even more.'"

Hall may not be a world champion pursuiter, but her solid ride on Friday kept her in red and put more time into all of her GC rivals except Poidevin, who pulled five seconds closer. Nevertheless, Hall was happy with the day's effort.

"I've been working really hard on my time trial, and sometimes I can have a good time trial and sometimes I can't," she said. "I'm happy to have had a good time trial today. It's big for me."

Hall said she is excited for the next two stages of racing, and her team has shown the strength over the first three days to defend her lead against the expected assault from Rally and Poidevin, who also told Cyclingnews she looking forward to the fight.

"I'm looking forward to some good, aggressive racing," Poidevin said.

How it unfolded

The Tyrone time trial just outside of Silver City features a 26km out-and-back course with 362 metres of climbing. The riders started climbing immediately to the summit of Little Burro Pass about 7.5km into the stage. A corresponding descent led to the turnaround. The riders summited Little Burro Pass once more with about 7.5km of fast descent to the finish remaining.

Heavy winds blew across the course for most of the day, with crosswinds buffeting the riders on the way out and the way back to the finish.

Rally's Gillian Ellsay set the early fast time at 42:58, a mark good enough to keep her in the hot seat until teammate Emma White crossed the line in 40:31. White's time held for just a few minutes until Dygert blasted across the line almost a minute quicker.

The hot seat would not change hands again, although Poidevin and Hall tried their best to depose Dygert. Hagens Berman Supermint's Jennifer Luebke crossed the line in 41:38, good enough for eighth on the day. Dygert's teammate Allie Dragoo put in a time of 42:20 for 11th on the stage, while Rally's Kirsti Lay finished ninth at 41:41. UnitedHealthcare's Leah Thomas just missed the podium, stopping the clock at 40:19, while Twenty20's Jasmin Duehring was sixth at 41:09.

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