Coryn Rivera wins Winston Salem Cycling Classic Criterium

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After the profound disappointment of narrowly missing out on the US national road race title on Saturday, for the second year in a row, UnitedHealthcare's Coryn Rivera rallied on Sunday night to take the win in round six of the USA Crits in rainy downtown Winston Salem.

Erica Allar (Rally Cycling) sprinted in for second ahead of Kimberley Wells (Colavita-Bianchi).

Wet roads and a technical route made for a difficult, attack-filled race, so Rivera had to rely on one teammate, Iris Slappendel, for the final lap.

"It was definitely not an easy course. It's not flat, so we didn't have our entire team [at the end] like we usually do in a criterium. We know what it takes to win races and it doesn't come by panicking. We knew what we had to do and it wasn't sitting on the front with five [laps] to go," Rivera said. "The key to this course with Iris and I left, and Anna [Diana Penuela], was to keep it fast in the second to last straight so that's all Iris needed to do for me and that's what we executed."

The victory was very welcome for Rivera who finished a close second in Sunday's USA Cycling Professional Road Championship. "It's a little bit better to come out of it with a win. But a championship is still a championship, I am still bummed out on that. But today was definitely a good day. It's nice to have a little bit more teammates too, now that it's not just all the Americans."

Americans Lindsay Bayer of Hagens Berman Supermint Pro Cycling Team, Alison Jackson of Team Twenty16-Ridebiker and Ilaria Sanguineti (Italy) of BePink were some of the riders who tried to escape to no avail.

As the rain stopped and the roads dried, Skylar Schneider (USA) of ISCorp presented by Smart Choice MRI managed a solo escape with 17 laps to go in the race. Though she stayed away for six laps, her gap stayed under the 15-second mark, with the reigning USA Professional Criterium Champion Lauren Tamayo of UnitedHealthcare controlling the front of the field.

Attacks continued to fly off the front of the dwindling field but it was obvious with three laps to go that a bunch sprint was imminent. On the final lap, Rivera's teammate Iris Slappendel (Netherlands) took the front to keep the speed high until Rivera started her sprint at 350 meters to go. Celebrating her victory, Rivera crossed the finish line with over a bike length on second-place Erica Allar (USA) of Rally Cycling. Australian Kimberley Wells of Colavita-Bianchi was third.

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