Bush nets another national title for Chipotle

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The day's final race, which started at 1:30 p.m., pitted 138 of the country's best under-23 men road racers against each other in a 168-km contest under blazing sunshine that pushed thermometers up to the mid-90s. The outcome of the race came down to three riders who have spent ample time riding in USA Cycling's National Development Program, Robert Bush (Chipotle-First Solar Development Team), Gavin Mannion (Bontrager Livestrong Team) and Tanner Putt (BMC-Hincape Sportswear Development Team). Those three riders broke away from the lead group with about 40 kilometers remaining in the race.

They quickly built a lead approaching two minutes, leaving the field to scramble for the final two podium spots.

"It was remarkably silent," Bush said of lack of talking between the the three leading riders late in the race. "Everybody was alone with their thoughts. Everyone was trying to make sure they were able to give it their all to the finish line."

As the distance to the finish line shrunk, the game of cat and mouse became more serious until, with approximately 500 meters remaining in the race, they came to a standstill. Bush hit the gas first, leaving Putt and Mannion behind. Bush carried the sprint through the finish line, holding off a hard-charging Putt, who edged Mannion by one second. Lawson Craddock (Bontrager Livestrong Team) finished fourth while Steve Fisher (Hagens Berman Cycling-Lake Washington Velo) claimed the fifth spot on the podium.

Bush, who has won three individual national championships, called his most recent Stars-and-Stripes jersey the sweetest of his career.

"It feels great to win the road race," Bush said. "This is the big event of the weekend. I really wanted to win and I'm very happy that I did. We knew it was going to be a long race, so we had to be patient. We had guys that were willing to go in the early moves some of my teammates (Adam (Leibovitz), Rob Squire and Anders Newbury) were all over the early breakaways, which took pressure off me. At one point, Robin Carpenter was up the road, so I could sit on everything. That was perfect. It was really a team race. That's how we won it last year, with great teamwork. That was the plan last year, just use the whole team."

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