Skylar Schneider captures crown for women at Sunny King Criterium

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Skylar Schneider continued the winning streak for L39ION of Los Angeles by taking the crown at the Sunny King Criterium for pro women. Her teammate Alexis Ryan provided the launchpad for the rocketing move on the uphill finish in downtown Anniston on Saturday night under the lights.

From a large front group, Maggie Coles-Lyster (DNA Pro Cycling Team) made a late move to blast into second place at the line, Ryan securing third place in the lead pack of 12 riders, who all finished with the same time, 1:03:11.

With the victory, Skylar Schneider takes the first lead in the American Criterium Cup for elite women. Sunny King Criterium, now in its 20th year, served as the lead event in the 10-race US series, offering support and prize money totalling $100,000 at the end of the season, to be divided equally among men and women. 

“Anniston is one of my favourite cities to race in and we were really happy to be here. I’ve been coming here since I was 15 to win this and I got it done,” Skylar Schneider said at the finish line.  “Coming around the last corner I knew I had to get it done because [my teammates] put it on the line. It feels great to pull off the win tonight and get to wear the crown!”

Now 23, Schneider finished fourth in her first appearance in Anniston in 2015. The next year, she moved up one spot while her teammate and sister Sam Schneider took the victory for the IS Corp team.  

“It’s a hard course and the wind on the course made it tougher. We had to change our original team plan about halfway through the race as the wind was stronger than we anticipated, making a breakaway nearly impossible.”

Before the race Skylar told Cyclingnews that if the race was aggressive, the final uphill finish, which “doesn't look like much” would make the difference. She was correct.

Halfway through the one-hour match L39ION put several riders at the front to push the pace and were joined by Coles-Lyster, and Anna Christian and Shannon Koch of Colavita-Factor Pro Cycling. The move was closed down, but four minutes later Cara O’Neill (Colavita-Factor Pro Cycling) made one of her many attacks. Along with teammate Christina Gokey-Smith, Skylar Schneider and two others, the move only lasted a few laps.

The 36-rider field stayed together as the sun set on the small Alabama city, Alexis Ryan shaking up proceedings with 11 laps to go, then O’Neill making a counter-attack. After that assault was nullified, she tried a final time with four laps to go, causing the field to string out in single file. Kendall Ryan then closed down the gap and it was all L39ION for the final three laps.

The L39ION women’s squad was the team to beat Saturday, having swept the top four places last month at Birmingham Hammerfest - Alexis Ryan taking the win, sister Kendall Ryun in third, and the Schneider sisters Skylar and Sam taking second and fourth, respectively.

The series continues on May 21 in Rochester, New York for the MVP Health Care Rochester Twilight Criterium. The bulk of the series offers seven races in seven states during the summer months and concludes on Labor Day, September 5, with the Benton Park Classic, the fourth and final day of the Bommarito Audi Gateway Cup.