About this time last September, Kate Courtney made history as the first US woman to win the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships, which was the second rainbow jersey in her career. But this year it was all about the road.
She entered her first USPro Road Nationals event in the summer, won that, and then signed a pro road contract with FDJ United-Suez. Momentum was on her side for a debut at the UCI Road World Championships. Instead of a medal of any colour, she came away with unexpected bruises in black and blue, but a desire to prove her fitness.
"The race was not great, obviously, not the perfect day today," she said with a smile and a laugh to media, including Cyclingnews, in the mix zone afterwards, one shoulder and one hip exposed from a ripped Team USA kit.
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"I was in the perfectly wrong place, just close enough to see it [the start of the crash], not far enough back to react. So we will just lick our wounds and come back for more."
After an opening section of 72.8km on the east side of Montréal, the first of eight laps of the Mount Royal circuit began with USA's Natalie Quinn and Norway's Marte Berg Edseth setting the pace in a two-rider breakaway. It was on the next lap, with 95km to go, that a major crash reset plans for many teams, including Team USA.
The crash was sparked by several riders going down on the right side of the road, including defending champion Magdeleine Vallieres (Canada), who remounted slowly. However, Caroline Andersson (Sweden) and Lauretta Hanson (Australia) were not able to continue from there, needing medical attention.
Courtney recalled it was just a "fast" chain reaction in the peloton of riders going down across the wide avenue, creating a split.
"We were going fast. It was one of the fastest parts of the course. It was the descent where the course doubles back, and that's quite a big fight for positioning there.
"It's the classic [scenario] - someone was moving up, two riders come together, and if you're too close to that, you don't have time to react. So there was no time, a couple of riders in front of me.
"I'm obviously a little banged up, but it was quite a serious crash, and there were some girls laying on the ground when I walked away, and that was really honestly the worst part. So hoping that everyone's OK."
The USPro road champion made it around the circuit twice more, then pulled out.
"I was feeling great. We were well positioned, and we were working really well as a team, which was exciting. Alexis [Magner] did such an awesome job positioning me on the flats, and then Lauren Stevens was pulling me up there in the climb, and we were all in a really good position. We had Natalie [Quinn] in the breakaway, Grace [Arlandson] was with me as well," Courtney extolled about her teammates.
"I worked really hard for this race. I felt really strong coming into it, and I know that at some point, hopefully the next couple years, I'll get to show that fitness in a bike race."
The disruption at the halfway point in the 180.1km race proved to be an immediate end to the plans for Team USA, with Courtney tabbed as team leader in her debut at these championships.
The top US finishers were Kristen Faulkner in 21st position, in a small group 8:34 off the winning pace of Demi Vollering (Netherlands), and Lauren Stephens in 40th, 15:31 back. Courtney's effort went down as a DNF, alongside another debutant for the team, Grace Arlandson, the bronze medallist at the USPro Road Championships.
Arlandson had a flat just before the crash and helped shepherd Courtney on the final kilometres.
"We had the super experienced girls on the team there to position her, and I think that was going really well. It's kind of cool to be a part of learning alongside Kate," Arlandson told Cyclingnews.
"She's kind of learning things too. Kate's already just stepped right up to the level," she added, showing off a yellow hair band that was on her wrist.
"Kate made us these hair ties. So I think all of us are wearing them. Mine kept falling out of my hair. But yes, also ideally the colour of a medal [we wanted]."
Courtney will finish the road year with FDJ United-Suez at two races in Italy in October, the Giro dell'Emilia and Tre Valli Varesine.
"I'll be headed back to Italy to do a couple more races with the team, and then end the season. So, some good ones coming up, and mostly just a head start on getting ready and seeing what we need to do for next year. Mostly not crash, I think would help," she added with another signature smile.
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