Coryn Labecki (EF Education-Cannondale) notched up her 74th national title, coming out of the last turn in the downtown Charleston, West Virginia course like a rocket and sprinting past solo breakaway rider Elizabeth Dixon (Fount Cycling) just before the finish line.
"I just had to stay a little patient - she was right in front of us, so we could see her the whole time," Labecki said. "I think a bit of luck worked in my favour, and I just went immediately out of the last corner because she was still winning off the front solo."
Dixon smartly attacked as rain began to fall midway through the 75-minute race. Riding solo for half an hour, she built up a lead of 15 seconds and held it until the last lap, when a concerted chase from DNA Pro Cycling and Human Powered Health halved her advantage.
A crash disrupted the lead-out on the final lap, splitting the field. Labecki, without teammates in the race, avoided the mayhem and started her effort early, just managing to get past Dixon.
"I didn't expect it to last as long as it did," Dixon told Cyclingnews about her breakaway. "We were trying to animate the race and keep it hard. At the time that I went away, there were lots of attacks going, and I guess that was enough to sort of create a gap, and then I just kept it rolling. I thought that they would start chasing and close the gap quickly.
"It was a very shocking last lap - I was I couldn't believe that I was still off. And then at the end, I saw Coryn coming up on the side with a sprint - there was no way I could have matched it."
Labecki came back to the US after her spring campaign and raced in the Speed Week criterium series last month before heading to the national championships, showing off the stars and stripes jersey she won in the criterium in Knoxville last year.
"I always do the crit for fun - no expectation. I just love racing it. I think it's a good warm up going into Sunday," she said of the road race championships. "That's how I approach it every year. And some years I'm lucky, some years I'm not. And I think this year it worked out really well for me."
Elite Women Criterium Results
| Rank | Rider (Team) | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coryn Labecki (EF Education - Cannondale) | 01:15:14 |
| 2 | Elizabeth Dixon (Fount Cycling Guild) | 0:00:00 |
| 3 | Kendall Ryan (L39ion of los Angeles) | 0:00:00 |
| 4 | Skylar Schneider (Miami Blazers) | 0:00:00 |
| 5 | Lily Williams (Human Powered Health) | 0:00:00 |
| 6 | Chloe Patrick (Cynisca Cycling) | 0:00:04 |
| 7 | Shayna Powless (DNA Pro Cycling) | 0:00:04 |
| 8 | Marielle Coy (La Sweat Racing) | 0:00:04 |
| 9 | Mia Aseltine (Competitive Edge Racing) | 0:00:04 |
| 10 | Katherine Sarkisov (Cynisca Cycling) | 0:00:04 |
| 11 | Taylor Kuyk-White (Team Goldman Sachs ETF's Racing) | 0:00:04 |
| 12 | Minori Minagawa (Fount Cycling Guild) | 0:00:04 |
| 13 | Andrea Cyr (Team Goldman Sachs ETF's Racing) | 0:00:04 |
| 14 | Elizabeth Gunsalus (Ccb p/b Levine law Group) | 0:00:04 |
| 15 | Alexis Magner (L39ion of los Angeles) | 0:00:04 |
| 16 | Brittany Parffrey (Velocious Sport) | 0:00:04 |
| 17 | Cassidy Hickey (Ccb p/b Levine law Group) | 0:00:04 |
| 18 | Katherine Rusch (Ccb p/b Levine law Group) | 0:00:04 |
| 19 | Chloe Mauvais (Monarch Racing) | 0:00:04 |
| 20 | Rebecca Lang | 0:00:08 |
| 21 | Nicole Steinmetz (Cynisca Cycling) | 0:00:09 |
| 22 | Katherine Seiler (Ccb p/b Levine law Group) | 0:00:09 |
| 23 | Elizabeth Harden (Work Hard be Humble) | 0:00:10 |
| 24 | Holly Breck (DNA Pro Cycling) | 0:00:12 |
| 25 | Edwards, Tess ivy Eleanor (Cynisca Cycling) | 0:00:26 |
| 26 | Betty Hasse (Ccb p/b Levine law Group) | 0:00:26 |
| 27 | Kathryn Aman (United Cycling) | 0:00:26 |
| 28 | Ellexi Snover (Fount Cycling Guild) | 0:00:35 |
| 29 | Madeline Wayman (Kingdom Elite Racing) | 0:00:40 |
| 30 | Ella Sabo (Virginia's Blue Ridge Twenty24) | 0:00:58 |
| 31 | Aubrey Drummond (Goldman Sachs ETF's Racing) | 0:00:58 |
| 32 | Sabrina Hayes (Ccb p/b Levine law Group) | 0:00:58 |
| 33 | Kaia Schmid (Liv Alula Jayco) | 0:00:58 |
| 34 | Cheyenne Noble (Orion Racing) | 0:00:58 |
| 35 | Claire Windsor (Cynisca Cycling) | 0:00:58 |
| 36 | Cara O'Neill (Cynisca Cycling) | 0:00:58 |
| 37 | Samantha Schneider (Miami Blazers) | 0:01:08 |
| 38 | Christina Gokey-Smith (Matrix Cycling p/b Bike Mart) | 0:01:11 |
| 39 | Ella Brenneman (Ccb p/b Levine law Group) | 0:01:33 |
| 40 | Stephanie Halamek (Team Goldman Sachs ETFs Racing) | 0:01:55 |
| 41 | Katherine Lin (Road Crew Coffee Racing) | 0:01:55 |
| 42 | Olivia Cummins (DNA Pro Cycling) | 0:02:07 |
| 43 | Catherine Guentert (Orion Racing) | 0:02:11 |
| 44 | Lauren Zoerner | 0:02:11 |
| 45 | Gabriella Dixon (Kingdom Elite Racing) | 0:02:11 |
| 46 | Danielle Audino (Fount Cycling Guild) | 0:02:11 |
| 47 | Julianna Rutecki (Bike Works p/b Fred Beans) | 0:02:11 |
| 48 | Elizabeth Grier (Ccb p/b Levine law Group) | 0:02:11 |
| 49 | Katerina Gregoriou (Fount Cycling Guild) | 0:02:11 |
| 50 | Claire Kudlata (Monarch Racing) | 0:02:11 |
| 51 | Mia Scarlato (La Sweat Racing) | 0:02:11 |
| 52 | Monica Merced (La Sweat Racing) | 0:02:11 |
| 53 | Leigh Dukeman (United Cycling) | 0:02:11 |
| 54 | Mackenzie Marcinko (Keystone Racing p/b wav Chiropractic) | 0:02:11 |
| 55 | Alison Merner (Orion Racing) | 0:02:11 |
| 56 | Megan Lester (Apex Cycling Team) | 0:02:11 |
| 57 | Carlie Cooper (Work Hard be Humble) | 0:02:11 |
| 58 | Valentina Hernandez (Kingdom Elite Racing) | 0:02:11 |
| 59 | Ashley Davis (Velocious Sport) | 0:02:11 |
| DNF | Maeghan Easler (DNA Pro Cycling) | Row 59 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Heather Fischer (DNA Pro Cycling) | Row 60 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Kimberly Lucie (DNA Pro Cycling) | Row 61 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Makayla Macpherson (DNA Pro Cycling) | Row 62 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Ruth Edwards (Human Powered Health) | Row 63 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Galen Bolard (Competitive Edge Racing) | Row 64 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Marjorie Rinaldo (Fount Cycling Guild) | Row 65 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Shannon Koch (Kingdom Elite Racing) | Row 66 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Regina Doty (La Sweat Racing) | Row 67 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Ashley Weaver (La Sweat Racing) | Row 68 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Sara Youmans (Orion Racing) | Row 69 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Olivia Reeve (United Cycling) | Row 70 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Gillian Bennett (Butcherbox Cycling p/b Look) | Row 71 - Cell 2 |
| DNF | Megan Sybeldon (Work Hard be Humble) | Row 72 - Cell 2 |
| DNS | Allison Mrugal (Cynisca Cycling) | Row 73 - Cell 2 |
| DNS | Isabella Rich (Competitive Edge Racing) | Row 74 - Cell 2 |
| DNS | Michelle Howe (Saturday) | Row 75 - Cell 2 |
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