US Cyclocross Nationals: Kira Mullins powers away on final lap to win women junior 17-18 title

Kira Mullins (Bear National Team) mounted a three-lap chase to catch and pass Ada Watson (CXD Trek Bike) on the final lap to win the junior 17-18 women’s title at the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships presented by The Meteor on Saturday.

After pulling away on the first lap with two other riders, Mullins (17) watched Watson (17) power with an over 10-second lead after the first lap. Joined by 16-year-old Tessa Beebe (BYRDS Cycling), the chase duo closed down the gap by the bell lap, until Mullins made her move to solo to victory.

Beebe crossed the line 26 seconds later to claim the silver with Watson, almost a minute back to get the bronze medal for the second year in a row.

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Graden Baume (Team Stampede/Five Valley Velo) pulled away from a second chase group to get fourth place, eight seconds ahead of Nicole Clamman (Blue Ridge Cross).

“I was with Tessa for the majority of the race, just kind of sitting on her wheel. And I heard people saying that Ada, who was leading, was making mistakes and stuff. And I just noticed that the gap kept getting smaller and smaller, and I saw her, and Tessa seemed a little tired or was not trying to catch her,” Mullins told FloBikes announcers Brad Sohner and Ellen Noble after her win.

“So I passed Tessa, and very quickly caught on to Ada's wheel, and then basically went immediately right past her and just hammered it from there and didn't really look back. And it worked out.”

Mullins, Beebe and Watson all returned from Europe, where they raced two junior UCI Cyclo-cross World Cups, where Watson had the best result of the trio with an 8th place in Flamanville.

“I was pretty happy with my results,” said Mullins, who finished 41st in Tábor and 20th in Flamanville. “I mean, it being my first World Cups, I was kind of thrown into the deep end, especially on first lap. I, like, so much faster about first lap than over here, but I think it honestly, really prepared me well for this race, and I'm super happy with that.”

On a cool, overcast day, 27 junior 17-18 women faced a fast 2.1-mile (3.4km) course in Centennial Park in Fayetteville, Arkansas, featuring sandy loam soil, long stairs with 38 steps and a few tricky off-chambers.

After taking the holeshot, Watson was briefly joined by Mullins and Clamann until she powered away after the stairs. Meanwhile, Beebe overcame a slower start to catch the chase group. After the first of four laps, Watson had a gap of 13 seconds on Beebe and Mullins, and 16 seconds on Clamann, with Daume and Adeline Hamilton (Boulder Junior Cycling) not far behind.

Though it looked like Watson was racing away with the title, her gap started to decrease, down to 10 seconds, by the end of the second lap, as Watson was showing signs of issues with head shaking and looking back behind her.

Mullins and Beebe continued to take turns setting the pace in the chase group, with Mullins making a move at the end of the third lap, slowly closing the gap to Watson.

As the bell rang for the final lap, Watson only had three seconds on Mullins while Beebe was a further two seconds back. Daume, Clamann and Hamilton were together, over one minute behind.

Mullins continued to push the pace, catching and passing Watson to continue on solo to take the victory, as Beebe also surged ahead of Watson to take second place.

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