USA CRITS: USPro Crit champions Kendall Ryan and Lucas Bourgoyne electrify Athens Twilight Criterium with elite victories

Kendall Ryan (Caldera Medical x Aurea Racing) and Lucas Bourgoyne (Team Cadence Cyclery pb Waldo Racing) each delivered last-lap uphill sprint victories in pro races at the Athens Orthopedic Clinic Twilight Criterium on Saturday, the second round of USA CRITS.

It was a double-barreled barrage of success for both Ryan and Bourgoyne, who won using similar team tactics. Each crossed the line in their stars-and-stripes jerseys as USPro criterium champions. Ryan last won in 2022 lapping the field as the US champion while Bourgoyne earned his first Athens Twilight title.

"Every single person on my team did an amazing job. They all covered attacks and were checking on me, making sure I was good. So I was sitting pretty," Ryan told Cyclingnews at the finish.

Ryan's teammates Chloe Patrick and Laurel Rathbun, who won Sunny King Criterium last week, finished in the top 10. In the sprint to the line, Ivanie Blondin and Arielle Verhaaren, both with Automatic Racing, completed the podium.

"There are a lot of fast ladies out here. And I really appreciate all of them coming and showing their best Athens at the show," Ryan said at the finish. "I really love the crowd, the energy. Alexis [Magner] said no one else was allowed to win today, just me, so I have to hold on to the crown for her until she gets back."

Ryan's sister and four-time Athens Twilight winner, Alexis Magner, did not return to defend her title as she was competing for EF Education-Oatly in Europe this spring.

A similar script followed in the pro men's race, with five riders from Team Cadence Cyclery p/b Waldo covering moves throughout the 80-lap race for their leader Bourgoyne. Brody McDonald (Modern Adventure Pro), the 2024 U23 US men's road nationals silver medalist, would finish second and 21-year-old rising talent Julien Ruhe (Kelly Benefits Cycling) took third.

"It has been such a journey to get here. In the last two weeks, I broke my toe, busted my knee, Danny [Summerhill] coming off an injury. To come back after Sunny King, where we dropped the ball in the first big show of the season, it was absolutely electric to learn then execute on the biggest stage today," Bourgoyne said at the finish.

"I owe every bit of that to them, because they made sure I didn't have to touch the front until 200 metres to go. And when they do that, we will win."

Last week at Sunny King Criterium, the USA CRITS opener, Foundation Cycling disrupted the Team Cadence Cyclery pb Waldo Racing tactics and won with Marcos Mendez, with Clever Martinez going second. Team Cadence missed the podium, Cesar Serna going fifth and Cade Bickmore seventh.

Once the lights went out for a 46th Athens Twilight Criterium, Rathbun held onto the women's individual lead in the USA CRITS series, while Martinez leapfrogged his teammate Mendez for the men's individual lead.

How it unfolded

In the women's race, Caldera Medical x Aurea Racing rode a defensive 40-lap race to control multiple attacks with the pace high from the start. Kingdom Elite Racing, with Liza Ray and Heidy Praderas positioned second and fourth in the early USA CRITS individual standings, were aggressive throughout as well as Automatic Racing's six riders.

There were very few laps where the pro women were bunched together on the one-mile circuit, instead a steady line of riders set a high pace on a hot day in Georgia. Single riders could not escape for more than half a lap. With 20 laps to go, five riders attempted to get away, but were reeled back quickly and solo riders went off for field primes.

Arielle Verhaaren (Automatic) launched a solo attack with seven laps to go but two circuits later her effort was closed by Caldera Medical's Yarely Salazar leading the peloton. The six-rider Caldera Medical squad ignited the action from there with the full squad protecting Ryan.

Ryan launched her sprint on the final 400-metre straightaway on Washington Street and sailed away for her second win in Athens. Automatic Racing duo Blondin and Verhaaren jumped on her wheel but could not close down the acceleration, the pair rounding out the podium.

The men took the same course at 8:30 p.m. local time with Foundation Cycling New York looking to repeat from success at Sunny King Criterium. Also in the hunt were European-based squads, Scottish Cycling and DCC Alpecin, the two-rider SpeedStudio p/b Basso squad of Cole Davis and Michael Garrison, and a lone ranger from Modern Pro Adventure, Brody McDonald.

Team Winston Salem Flow, with last year's runner-up Will Hardin, and Foundation Cycling's Bryan Gomez, a two-time Athens winner, were at the front of the race as the halfway point approached. An hour into the race, Cade Bickmore (Team Cadence Cyclery), USA CRITS leader Martinez of Foundation and McDonald tried to escape as a trio, but that threat was closed when Garrison went to the front of the peloton.

The race was back together with 23 laps to go, with Team Cadence Cyclery using their full arsenal to keep the race intact. A crash on the back side of the course with four laps to go forced a split, with the favourites escaping and Danny Summerhill picking up the pace for his team leader Bourgoyne.

Garrison led for the final one-and-half-laps, but once into the final corner, Bourgoyne launched his sprint with McDonald holding his wheel but unable to go around.

"I was trying to chase across to the lead break [when the crash happened]. There were four splits at once, but I was in front of the main split in the field," McDonald told Cyclingnews.

"I was a bit shocked at the start how hard [everyone raced]. Usually the first 30 minutes are kind of hard, then it just chills out for like an hour. So I just decided I'll hedge my bet if a break goes, and I'm just gonna wait for the sprint. So I kind of got lucky, I guess".

USA CRITS continues Sunday with the third round of the eight-race series in LaGrange, Georgia. Pro races will be streamed live at the USA CRITS YouTube channel and at Outside.TV.

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