Mackie dominates bunch sprint in Glencoe GP

Emma Mackie (Tibco-To the Top) won the bunch sprint at the BTIG Women’s Glencoe Grand Prix on Saturday outside of Chicago, Illinois. She out-paced Emily Collins (Vanderkitten-Focus) who took second and her own teammate Jo Kiesanowski in third.

"It was nice to have the sprint today because I’m usually the lead-out but I think I have a good sprint," Mackie explained to Cyclingnews. "I went down the right side and came around Jo, down the finishing straight. I knew that Emily was coming down the left side. It was a good race, aggressive and it was great to get the win."

The Pro-Cat 1-2-3 women’s field contested a 70-minute criterium for a prize purse of $3000USD. The course was some-what of a dumb-bell shaped that included 10-corners and one challenging ascent.

"The course was quite technical and it was a fairly long lap," Mackie said. "It was technical on the back side with sharp corners that went right into a climb on the course. The climb wasn’t huge but it hurt going over it so many times."

"There was some good competition with our team, we had three riders, and Vanderkitten who had Emily Collins and we knew to watch her in the sprint," Mackie said. "We wanted to be aggressive in the second half and let Jo go for the sprint."

The race was aggressive; however, most teams and individual riders seemed content to keep the field together for a bunch sprint. Jasmin Hurikino (Vanderkitten-Focus) led the field through the final corner with Kiesanowski and Mackie in tow, followed by her teammate Emily Collins. Kiesanowski got the jump on the field and Mackie sprinted passed her on the way to the finish line.

"I was fighting the whole last lap on Jo’s wheel to not let anyone else get on it because that was our plan," Mackie said. "Emily must have been on my wheel. I started my sprint down the right side and Emily on the left – it worked out well."

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