Abbott enjoying the rise

A day after wrapping up her second and third American national titles, Boulder's Mara Abbott (Webcor Builders) says her mind is still coming to terms with her accomplishments. After a break-out performance at the Montreal World Cup, where she finished second on debut, Abbott bas claimed three national titles in the past week - the Under 23 women's individual time trial, and both Elite and Under 23 road race titles.

In Monday's road race, the 21 year-old college student out-sprinted TEAm Lipton's Kristen Armstrong for victory. The youngster dubbed the finish "special", with the climber showing she can sprint with the world's best - including reigning world and American Elite women's ITT champion Armstrong.

"It sort of takes a long time for your mind to catch up with what you're doing sometimes," Abbott told dailycamera.com of her success. "[The] race was really special because I haven't been known as a sprinter. That made me aware that there were even more things that I can do than I thought, so that was really fun."

Abbott's recent success will bode well for the World Championships in Salzburg, Germany in September, where she will take on the world's top road racers including defending champion Marianne Vos (Team DSB Bank).

The Webcor Builders rider, who will feature in a Cyclingnews interview later this week, secured her position on America's world championships team following her Montreal performance. In the mean time Abbott will wear the National Champion jersey for the first time at the International Tour de Toona on July 23-27.