The cycling events at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, Canada, concluded Saturday with the road races, and Canada's Jasmin Glaesser won the women's race for her fourth medal of the Games.
"I was trying to remember the last time I won a bike race, crossed the line first, and I can't tell you when that was so it's the first race I've won in a really long time," Glaesser said, according to The Canadian Press. "I couldn't think of a better place to do it than right here in Toronto in front of a home crowd."
The 16.5 kilometre route for the race started on Lakeshore Blvd next to Lake Ontario, heading west and then north into High Park, one of Toronto's largest urban green spaces for the first climb of the lap. It then went south back towards the lake before heading north again for the second climb of the lap, a steep little switchback climb after a sharp descent. From here riders heading east around the top of High Park and back south to the lake, where they rolled past the start-finish on the opposite side of Lakeshore Blvd before a final turn to the finishing straight. The women did 5 laps for 82.5 km.
The women's race started out conservatively, with Canada and Cuba, the two strongest teams, covering any small moves. A brief rain shower dampened the roads through High Park, but they dried out within a lap.
The decisive move happened near the end of lap three, when Glaesser attacked and Marlies Mejias (Cub) bridged across. The U.S. tried to chase but, without the support of Canada and Cuba, they could not close the gap, and Lauren Tamayo (USA) crashing into a parked bike at the start of the final lap did not help.
The two leaders went over a minute clear, but as they entered the final half lap began to play cat and mouse. Mejias, based on the track events, was clearly the faster sprinter, however, Glaesser played it smart, forcing the Cuban to the front. Out of the final corner, the paired weaved across the road, with Mejias trying to get Glaesser into the lead. The Canadian was patient and with less then 200 metres to go jumped from the back and held off Mejias at the line. Canada's Allison Beveridge easily won the field sprint for the bronze.
“I was really getting tired there the last 30 kilometres off the front. At the same time . . . knowing that the crowd was behind me just brought me through all the way to the line,” Glaesser said to the Toronto Star. “I think I rode it really smart at the finish. I let the Cuban rider lead it out a little bit and waited until the last possible moment to jump past her."
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