Farina claims women's championship

Robin Farina (NOW-Novartis-MS Society) won her first national title at the US Women's Elite Road Race Championships held on Sunday in Augusta, Georgia. The Charlotte resident out-paced her breakaway companions Andrea Dvorak (Colavita Forno D'Asolo) and Amanda Miller (HTC-Highroad). Sam Schneider (Tibco-to the top) placed tenth on the day and won the women's Under 23 stars and stripes jersey.

"This hasn't set in yet and I'm still in a little bit of shock but it's been pretty amazing so far," Farina told Cyclingnews. "It's been a rough week for our team with Christina Gokey-Smith breaking her arm in the criterium and Devon Gorry hurting her knee in the road race, this was a good way to end the week of racing."

"When the break happened and I saw that we had time, I was going over in my head what the correct move was for me and how I was going to win the race," she said. "I knew that once the three of us separated on the climb, I knew that I could out kick them, I just had to be on them and I couldn't go too early."

The Elite and Under 23 combined women's field lined up under cooler morning temperatures to contest five laps of an undulating 23.5km circuit for a total of 120km. Each lap boasted 1421ft of elevation gain making for a challenging championship circuit. Noticeably absent from the race was defending champion Mara Abbott (Diadora-Pasta Zara) who is recovering from a concussion sustained after she crashed three weeks ago.

A group of three riders emerged that included Alison Starnes (Peanut Butter & Co Twenty12), Jennifer Wheeler (Tibco-To the Top) and Kasey Clark (Primal-MapMyRide). The trio gained three and half minutes on the main field. HTC-Highroad did the majority of the work setting pace on the front of the peloton to keep the breakaway at a manageable time gap.

Starnes was the only rider to continue on alone after Wheeler and Clark feel off pace, maintaining a gap of just over one minute over the next three laps. However, her efforts to stay away to the finish came to an end and the field came back together with one lap to go.

"Our team was doing a lot of work to try to bring back the breakaway and then Alison," Amanda Miller said. "My teammate Ally Stacher was on the front pretty much the whole day, Evie Stevens crashed at one point and Ally went to bring her back up to the group, and then stayed on the front again. She was a rock star today. That helped save myself, Amber Neben and Evie for later in the race."

With 15km to go, Evie Stevens (HTC-Highroad) attacked, followed by a counter attack from her teammate Miller. She initiated the winning breakaway over small ascent and was followed by Farina and Dvorak along with former US champion Meredith Miller (Tibco-To the Top) and Kathleen Billington (Danbury Audi).

"Once Alison was caught, we at HTC-Highroad were being pretty aggressive and attacking a lot," Miller said. "I was the one who started the break, attacked on the climb and there were seven girls who came with me. But, two girls weren't able to keep with us, so we ended up being five."

"We established a good gap right away with about 35 seconds for quite a while and everyone was working good," she said. "Five of us got to the base of the climb but only three of us made it over the climb and too the finish line together. I'm happy with the way HTC-Highroad rode today. I just wish that I could have pulled off the big W."

The leaders hit the final climb with one kilometre to go a mere 30 seconds ahead of the peloton. Dvorak attacked at the top of the climb with 500 meters to go and was followed by Miller and Farina, and Meredith Miller and Billington fell of pace. The field crossed the line roughly 10 seconds behind the breakaway.

"Andrea hit it a bit more than 500 metres out, Amanda followed her and I followed Amanda," Farina said. "We gapped off Meredith and Kathleen. I knew that I had to be patient at the finish because it was a long, long way. I followed the two of them, Amanda punched it passed Dvorak and then she tried to come around Amanda again, that's when I came around the both of them with about 25 metres to go. I was patient."

Full Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Robin Farina (Now Cycling/Now And Novartis Fo)3:16:34
2Andrea Dvorak (Colavita - Forno D'Asolo)Row 1 - Cell 2
3Amanda Miller (Htc Highroad Womens Team)Row 2 - Cell 2
4Kathleen Billington (Team Danbury Audi/Pedal And Pum)0:00:05
5Meredith Miller (Tibco To The Top)0:00:07
6Theresa Cliff-Ryan (Colavita - Forno D'Asolo)0:00:21
7Emily Kachorek (Team Primal Racing/Primal/Mapmyride)Row 6 - Cell 2
8Carmen Small (Tibco To The Top)Row 7 - Cell 2
9Amber Neben (Htc Highroad Womens Team)Row 8 - Cell 2
10Samantha Schneider (Tibco To The Top)Row 9 - Cell 2
11Lauren Robertson (Fcs/ Metro Volkswagen/Fcs Cycli)Row 10 - Cell 2
12Megan Guarnier (Tibco To The Top)0:00:22
13Kristin Sanders (Colavita / Forna D'Asolo)Row 12 - Cell 2
14Lindsay Myers (Team Danbury Audi/Pedal And Pum)0:00:23
15Lauren Hall (Colavita / Forno D'Asolo)Row 14 - Cell 2
16Hilary Billington (Team Danbury Audi/Pedal And Pum)Row 15 - Cell 2
17Evelyn Stevens (Htc-Highroad)Row 16 - Cell 2
18Melissa Ross (Team Kenda Presented By Geargri)0:00:24
19Anna Mcloon (Missing Links Coaching & Traini)Row 18 - Cell 2
20Kathryn Donovan (Southern California Velo)0:00:25
21Patricia Buerkle (Virginia Asset Group P/B Trek)Row 20 - Cell 2
22Elizabeth Morse Hill (Zmotion Racing Team)Row 21 - Cell 2
23Tiffany Pezzulo (Team Primal Racing/Primal/Mapmyride)0:00:27
24Emily Thurston (Touchstone Climbing)0:00:28
25Gray Patton (Century Road Club Association)Row 24 - Cell 2
26Kelly Crowley (Metromint Cycling)Row 25 - Cell 2
27Kristin Armstrong Savola (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty 12)Row 26 - Cell 2
28Erin Silliman (Virginia Beach Velo/East Coast)0:00:33
29Erika Graves (Now Cycling/Now And Novartis Fo)0:00:34
30Cinthia LehnerRow 29 - Cell 2
31Amy Mcguire (Wheelworks Racing)0:00:38
32Amber Pierce (Diadora-Pasta Zara)0:00:40
33Alexis Ryan (Team Tibco Ii)0:00:43
34Samantha Brode (Carbon Racing)0:00:44
35Jacquelyn Crowell (Us National Team)0:00:52
36Marianne Holt (Carolina Masters /Painpathways)Row 35 - Cell 2
37Debbie Milne (Absolute Racing Team/Msmoc)0:01:00
38Shelley Olds (Diadora-Pasta Zara)0:01:06
39Alison Starnes (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty 12)0:01:31
40Kelly Benjamin (Colavita / Forno D'Asolo)0:01:37
41Alisha Welsh (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty 12/P)0:02:59
42Tayler Wiles (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty 12)Row 41 - Cell 2
43Kaitlin Antonneau (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty 12/P)0:03:09
44Nicole Evans (Team Primal Racing/Primal/Mapmy)0:04:26
45Jamie Dinkins (Athens Velo Club)0:10:16
46Jessica Prinner (Abd Cycle Club/Abd Cycling Team)Row 45 - Cell 2
47Mary Elizabeth Maroon (Alto Velo Racing Club/Webcor/Al)Row 46 - Cell 2
48Mary Mayhew (Scenic City Velo/Krystal / Warp)0:10:20
49Kasey Clark (Team Primal Racing/Primal/Mapmy)0:10:25
50Whitney Schultz (Veloforma/Checkmark Pb Veloform)0:10:29
51Coryn Rivera (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty 12/P)0:10:31
52Ally Stacher (Htc Columbia Women'S Team)Row 51 - Cell 2
53Janel Holcomb (Colavita / Forno D'Asolo)Row 52 - Cell 2
54Mackenzie Woodring (United States Paralympic Nation)0:13:09
55Kathryn Clark (Team Kenda Presented By Geargri)0:13:33
56Shannon Koch (Gg Events Management)0:14:58
57Rebecca Wellons (Team Danbury Audi/Pedal And Pum)0:19:46
58Kayla Sterling (Rouse Bicycles)Row 57 - Cell 2
59Giselle Weekes (Greenville Spinners Bicycle Clu)Row 58 - Cell 2
60Erin Burton0:19:59
61Michele Moulton (Heritage Bank/Pcp)0:20:10
62Jerika Hutchinson0:20:14
63Judy Jenkins (Missing Links Coaching & Traini)0:20:17
64Amy Horstmeyer (352 Racing P/B Bikes And More)0:36:59
65Molly Hubbard (Clemson University)Row 64 - Cell 2
DNFJennifer Wheeler (Tibco To The Top)Row 65 - Cell 2
DNFJennifer Rasmusson (Team Kenda Presented By Geargrinder)Row 66 - Cell 2
DNFThea Kent (Carolina Masters /Painpathways Cycling Team)Row 67 - Cell 2
DNFMara Abbott (Diadora-Pasta Zara)Row 68 - Cell 2
DNFKristin Mcgrath (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty 12)Row 69 - Cell 2
DNFDevon Gorry (Now Cycling/Now And Novartis For Ms)Row 70 - Cell 2
DNFMolly Van Houweling (Metromint Cycling)Row 71 - Cell 2
DNFRachel Warner (Missing Links Coaching & Training Systems/Missing Link Training Systems / Specia)Row 72 - Cell 2
DNFMaura Kinsella (Vanderkitten)Row 73 - Cell 2
DNFJacqueline Kurth (Team Kenda Presented By Geargrinder)Row 74 - Cell 2
DNFSara Tussey (Hincapie Cycling/Hincapie/Green Creation Cycling Team)Row 75 - Cell 2
DNFKendall Ryan (Tibco To The Top)Row 76 - Cell 2
DNFNichole Wangsgard (Team Primal Racing)Row 77 - Cell 2
DNFJennifer Purcell (Team Danbury Audi/Pedal And Pump)Row 78 - Cell 2
DNFKirsten FeeRow 79 - Cell 2
DNFChristina Gokey-Smith (Now And Novartis For Ms)Row 80 - Cell 2
DNFKimberley Turner (Seattle Super Squadra)Row 81 - Cell 2
DNFLauren Tamayo (Peanut Butter & Co. Twenty 12)Row 82 - Cell 2
DNFMary Zider (Juvederm Specialized)Row 83 - Cell 2
DNFJennifer SchubleRow 84 - Cell 2
DNFAddyson Albershardt (Now Cycling/Now And Novartis For Ms)Row 85 - Cell 2

 

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Kirsten Frattini
Deputy Editor

Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.

Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.

She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.

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