Wyman finishes US trip with double wins in Providence

The UCI Elite Women's event started with a bit of uncertainty as the day's rains came just minutes before the start whistle. Gabby Day (Rapha-Focus) was the first rider off the pavement ahead of fellow Brit Helen Wyman (Kona Factory Racing) and Kaitlin Antonneau (Cannondale p/b CyclocrossWorld).

Heading into the first off-camber section running opposite the finish stretch it became obvious which riders made the right changes to their bikes for the weather conditions as many riders found themselves on the ground.

Day, Wyman, and Antonneau extended an early lead over the rest of the field within the first half lap of the race, but heading into the hairpin corner at the bottom of the Stan's NoTubes run-up, Antonneau was the only rider of the lead three to find herself on the ground. When she picked herself up and attempted to remount, Antonneau realized she had broken her rear derailleur and was forced to run the rest of the lap to the pits for a fresh bike.

Ahead of the carnage, Wyman opened up a small lead of less than ten seconds over Day and while Day would go on to ride a race free of mistakes; she would never get any closer to Wyman.

Behind the leaders, 42 year old Mary McConneloug (Team Kenda/Seven/NoTubes) used her experience and technical skills to ride sections of the course where most riders behind struggled and by the end of the first lap found herself alone in 3rd place ahead of a chasing Andrea Smith (LadiesFirst) and Caroline Mani (Raleigh/Clement).

When asked about her technical prowess on the course today McConneloug offered, "I was sitting back in 10th at the beginning of the first lap and riders just kept sliding down the hill crashing and I was keeping it upright. My tires were really hooking up; I ran really low pressure."

By two laps to go, Wyman's lead was comfortable enough over Day that it looked like the only positions that might change place were between 3rd place McConneloug and 4th place Smith but McConneloug was able to ride the run-up each lap and this was enough to keep Smith at bay.

Helen Wyman held on for the win, finishing ahead of Day by 18 seconds. McConneloug was a distant 3rd, finishing another 1:22 back. Smith and Mani rounded out the top five. As Wyman and Day crossed the line for the last time, it was obvious that neither made many mistakes as the skinsuits of both riders were still clean while nearly every other rider in the race showed some evidence of hitting the ground at least once.

Wyman said after the race, "It was a really technical course, but if you didn't go full gas, you didn't crash. It wasn't as hard as yesterday because a lot of the corners were really slippery and you couldn't really get the power down quick enough."

Results

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#Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Helen Wyman (GBr) Kona Factory Team0:42:34
2Gabriella Day (GBr) Rapha-Focus0:00:18
3Mary McConneloug (USA) Team Kenda/Seven/Notubes0:01:40
4Andrea Smith (USA) LadiesFirst Racing0:01:56
5Caroline Mani (Fra) Raleigh-Clement0:02:14
6Laura Van gilder (USA) Mellow Mushroom0:02:23
7Elle Anderson (USA) LadiesFirst Racing0:02:25
8Arley Kemmerer (USA) C3-Athletes Serving Athletes0:03:01
9Kaitlin Antonneau (USA) Cannondale p/b Cyclocrossworld0:03:14
10Natasha Elliott (Can) The Cyclery0:03:21
11Nicole Thiemann (USA) Team CF0:03:50
12Anna Barensfeld (USA) pedalpowertraining.com0:03:56
13Brittlee Bowman (USA) pedalpowertraining.comRow 12 - Cell 2
14Kathleen Lysakowski (USA) Cycle Lodge0:04:00
15Cassandra Maximenko (USA) Silverbull targettraining0:04:48
16Crystal Anthony (USA) Cyclocrossworld.com0:05:42
17Jenny Ives (USA) Favata TRT-Unovelo cross team0:05:48
18Kathleen Wulfkuhle (USA) C3-Athletes Serving Athletes0:05:52
19Jamie Gilgen (USA) Kallisto/Wheels of Oakville0:06:03
20Frances Morrison (USA) J.A.M. Fund/NCCRow 19 - Cell 2
21Amanda Carey (USA) Volkswagen Boise Cycling0:06:25
22Jessica Kutz (USA) Team EPS/CSS p/b Shebell & Shebell0:07:07
23Catherine Sterling (USA) Bikeman.com0:07:09
24Ellen Noble (USA) Trek Cyclocross Collective0:07:13
25Deirdre Smith (USA)0:08:41
-1lapJocelyn Mauldin (USA) NEBC p/b Cycle LoftRow 25 - Cell 2
-1lapElizabeth Allen (USA) Danielson Adventure SportsRow 26 - Cell 2
-1lapSarah Krzysiak (USA) Nycross.com p/b VOmaxRow 27 - Cell 2
-1lapEmily Flynn (Can) Tommy & Lefebvre CyclingRow 28 - Cell 2
-1lapSheila Vibert (USA) Sunapee Racing TeamRow 29 - Cell 2
-1lapAlice Henriques (USA) Zanconato RacingRow 30 - Cell 2
-1lapChristina Tamilio (USA) LadiesFirst RacingRow 31 - Cell 2
-1lapKate Powlison (USA) The Service Course | World Bicycle ReliefRow 32 - Cell 2
-1lapVanessa McCaffery (USA) Corning/NoTubes Race Team/Swan CyclesRow 33 - Cell 2
-1lapPatricia Dowd (USA) Cyclocrossworld.comRow 34 - Cell 2
-1lapVickie Monahan (USA) Expo WheelmenRow 35 - Cell 2
-1lapMarian Jamison (USA) LadiesFirst RacingRow 36 - Cell 2
-1lapStacey Barbossa (USA) Colavita/espnW NJRow 37 - Cell 2
-2lapsCait Dooley (USA) Geekhouse BikesRow 38 - Cell 2
-2lapsMolly Hurford (USA) Colavita/Espn-WRow 39 - Cell 2
-3lapsElizabeth Lukowski (USA) NYCross.com p/b VOmaxRow 40 - Cell 2

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