Lauren Tamayo (UnitedHealthcare) took the USA Cycling Pro Criterium Championship Sunday in Greenville, South Carolina, by jumping away from a break group of three with two corners to go and then holding off Rally Cycling’s Elle Anderson and Visit Dallas-DNA Pro Cycling's Sara Tussey for the win.
"It's kind of surreal," Tamayo said in the finishing straight after the race. "Our plan coming into the race obviously wasn't for me to win. Coming into the last few laps I was off the front, and I saw that we had such a big gap, I thought, 'OK, this might come down to me and I better start thinking about how to win.' It's been such a long time since I've won a race for myself, so I had to change my thinking quite a bit."
A late-race breakaway of six riders put the pressure on the bunch, with Visit Dallas-DNA Pro Cycling's riders Anna Sanders, Beth Ann Orton and Tussey going off the front with Jessica Prinner (Rally Cycling), Coryn Rivera (UnitedHealthcare) and Christina Gokey-Smith (Happy Tooth Dental).
The peloton pulled the group back with 10 laps to go, and the race reshuffled for what looked to be a bunch sprint, but with three laps to go, Tamayo, Anderson and Tussey slipped away. Tamayo jumped away with two corners to go and opened the winning gap.
Full Results
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Rider Name (Country) Team
Result
1
Lauren Tamayo (UnitedHealthcare)
1:26:54
2
Elle Anderson (Rally Cycling)
0:00:01
3
Sara Tussey (Visit Dallas DNA Pro Cycling)
0:00:03
4
Coryn Rivera (UnitedHealthcare)
0:00:04
5
Tina Pic (Happy Tooth Dental Professional)
0:00:06
6
Christina Gokey-Smith (Happy Tooth Dental Professional)
Row 5 - Cell 2
7
Starla Teddergreen (KindHuman Pro Cycling Project)
