King solos to second title in two days

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After winning the previous day’s US criterium title, Ben King (Trek-Livestrong) soloed to his second consecutive stars and stripes jersey at the US Under 23 Road Championship race held in Bend, Oregon on Saturday. Defending Champion Alex Howes (Holowesko Partners) placed second ahead of Andrew Dahlheim (Metro Volkswagen Cycling).

“I’m so proud that this week worked out the way that it did,” King said. “For me, the criterium win was an added bonus because I was really focused on the road race. The ultimate goal was to work for the team because it doesn’t matter who takes the win, but I am proud to have been the guy.

“I think this win will move me in the right direction,” he added. “A national championship is very special and I think it will do a lot for my career. Half the guys who were on the podium moved to the ProTour last year. My plan is to stay with Trek-Livestrong for one more year. I am super happy with everything the team has done for me.”

King dedicated his victory to a close friend and Under 23 cyclist Connor O’Leary (Race Lab U23 Cycling Team) who was recently diagnosed with testicular cancer.

“He is my good friend, we raced together on the US National Team and is a super solid kid,” King said. “He was diagnosed with cancer very recently. During the race today I definitely had him in mind. As a team that is sponsored by Livestrong and represents that cause, it has given me a unique experience. I wanted to give him a shout out to let him know that from the team and as a friend, I am thinking about him.”

The Under 23 Men’s racing concluded with the US Road Championship’s Awbrey Butte Circuit Race. The tough course includes two decisive back-to-back ascents in a 27 km loop. The most grueling climb over Archie Briggs Rd. was positioned inside the last few kilometres of the circuit and was followed by a fast descent to the finish line.

“Last year I was third here and I was really motivated to come back and improve on that,” King said. “I’ve been looking forward to this course all year. We did the same course during the Cascade Cycling Classic where I got fifth so this course suits me.”

King attacked with one and half of the six laps remaining, roughly 40 kilometres from the finish, with Nathan Wilson (Lateral Stress Velo-Kelly Benefit Strategies-LSV) and David Williams (Bissell) in tow. The trio gained a three minutes lead on the 115-man field, which included strong riders such as US Under 23 Time Trial Champion Andrew Talansky (California Giant Berry Farms), Alex Howes, Danny Summerhill, Peter Salon and Walker Savidge (Holowesko Partners), Jacob Rathe (Jelly Belly-Kenda) and Shane Kline (Bissell).

“It was just another crazy attack,” King said. “We rolled through for a while but once we started to hit the climbs I wound up by myself. At first the gap wasn’t that big and I knew there were teams that would try to bring it back and use up their teammates. I just kept my head down and thanks to the work of my team early on, I had the energy to make it stick.”

King made it over the final two ascents with more than a minute advantage to the chasing riders behind. He descended the final few kilometres and arrived to the finish line in a victory salute to capture his second consecutive national title.

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