Rivera strikes first for UnitedHealthcare

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Coryn Rivera (UnitedHealthcare) pulled on the stars and stripes jersey as the winner of the 2014 Smart Choice USA Cycling Professional Criterium National Championships on Saturday evening after some impressive team work from UnitedHealthcare.

The womens' race stayed together for the duration of the 90-minute event, with the racing heating up in the finals laps with several attacks and a four-rider crash. With one lap to go, the UHC blue train managed to take its familiar position at the front of the pack to set Rivera up for the win.

"Once I saw that Alison (Powers) had gone down, it was a quick reset because you know it was just the four of us," Rivera said of her UnitedHealthcare team's teamwork during the last laps. “That’s the beauty of a real team. Despite the adversity of the end of the race, we were able to pick up the pieces and put them together. It just goes to show that we are a team that comes out on top.”

Rivera was followed in second by National Criterium Calendar leader Erica Allar (Colavita-Fine Cooking) and in third by Samantha Schneider (Team TIBCO). It was her first title.

"I think I proved over the season and last weekend that I had really good legs, especially for a criterium. I think they (UHC) had full confidence in me and I had full confidence in them that we would win this race today," she told USA Cycling after the win.

"This is definitely number one. It's my first professional national championship. I've had a few with juniors and collegiate and one U23 title. This one is definitely special."

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