Wyman finishes US trip with double wins in Providence

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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."

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