Leah Thomas wins US time trial national crown

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Leah Thomas (Trek-Segafredo) scorched the 23.2km course and won the US women’s time trial national title. Four-time US time trial champion Amber Neben repeated as the silver medalist, 44 seconds off the winning pace of 29:38. A surprise among the 27 riders in the field was 20-year-old Zoe Ta-Perez (LUX-CTS p/b Specialized), who held on for the bronze. 

Thomas was the only rider to go under the 30-minute mark for the full two laps along the banks of Melton Lake on a familiar 11.6km flat course. 2021 silver medalist Neben was the final rider on the course, but could not make up enough time, leaving Thomas to savor the first national title of her career.

“It feels really great. I worked hard at time trials and I finished third here many, many times in a row and haven’t really gotten it together,” Thomas said after the finish. “Really what I was trying to focus on doing my best time trial. I can’t control how fast anyone else goes. I think I PR’d it by something like 40 seconds, so I was just really happy with my effort. This one is really special and I’m just really happy.”

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Lauren Stephens (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB) recorded the fastest split time from the first of three waves of riders, clocking 15:54. Once the final wave took the course, the split time kept getting lower, with Thomas posting the only sub-15-minute lap, recording a time 19 seconds faster than Neben.

With her third-placed finish in the overall, Ta-Perez also took the U23 honours for women. She put in a solid ride that was well ahead of a trio of EF Education-TIBCO-SVB riders - Stephens, who was fourth 27 seconds behind the youngster, Veronica Ewers and Emily Newsom.

“Oh my gosh, it feels amazing,” said Ta-Perez, after accepting a stars-and-stripes jersey as the top U23 woman in the TT and wearing a bronze medal from the elite standings. “My only goal, really, was just to focus on the execution today and it’s amazing when it goes to plan.”

Ta-Perez last raced US Nationals in 2019 when she won the junior time trial crown, and went on that year to finish seventh in the junior TT at the world championships in Yorkshire.

One-third of the field was comprised of riders from two teams - LUX-CTS p/b Specialized fielded five riders in the race against the clock, and EF Education-TIBCO-SVB with four riders. Four of the five LUX riders were eligible for the U23 division.