In a surprising finale, Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing) outsprinted Lauren Stephens (Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment) to win the elite women’s road race at the USA Pro Road Championships in Charleston, WV on Sunday.

Courtney, the reigning UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Champion, launched her sprint with 700 metres to go, and was able to hold a small gap around the final corner and to the line. Stephens finished runner-up for the second year in a row.

Stephens’ teammate Grace Arlandson took the sprint for third out of a four-ride chase group, ahead of Kira Payer (SpeedBlock-Terœn Elite), and Ashley Frye (Competitive Edge Racing).

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Though Courtney has only a handful of road races under her belt, she has been racing with the national team in Europe this year.

“This was a really special one. I think I’ve got like seven or eight silver medals for mountain bike national championships at home. So, to finally pull off a national championship again and pull on that jersey, it’s beyond words,” Courtney said in a post-race interview on Flobikes.

Choosing to focus on her skills and not her lack of road racing experience, Courtney planned her final sprint.

“When we were coming through there [finish] the last few laps, I noticed I was really banking those turns well and carrying a lot of momentum out. I saw a few times that I was behind Lauren and I can kind of get a little momentum out of them,” she added.

“And so I thought, instead of playing the cat and mouse game, which realistically she’s probably better at, she’s a really smart bike racer, and I know never to underestimate her wily moves at the end, so I figured going early, baking those turns, and then just holding it and not letting up for one pedal stroke until I was across the line was probably my best shot. And yeah,I got a tiny gap and rode it across the line.”

Stephens and Courtney powered away from a select chase group on the final lap to reel in Paige Onweller (Trek-Drifless), who had been off the front, solo, for 77 kilometres.

Using the steepest pitches close to the top of the Bridge climb, Stephens dispatched Onweller, also more well known for her gravel prowess, leaving the pair to battle it out for the victory. Onweller finished sixth.

How it unfolded

In an early morning start, under cloudy skies, and temperatures hovering around 23 °C, the elite women’s field faced a 113.8-kilometre course. The Charleston course began with two laps of the 14.5km junior circuit, featuring the Wertz Avenue climb, before expanding to a 21km loop crossing to the far side of the river, where the Bridge Road climb was added for the remaining four laps.

Missing from the 60-rider field was defending champion Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Oatly) who decided not to race due to travel chaos, which included multiple canceled flights and overnight layovers as she returned home from Giro d’Italia Women.

Attacks from Competitive Edge, Virginia’s Blue Ridge TWENTY28 and HigherDOSE-Renova flew in the opening laps, with the Wertz Avenue climb (2.3km at 5.5%) causing some damage.

But it was solo racer, mostly known for her gravel racing prowess, Page Onweller (Trek-Drifless) that manager to escape after 25 kilometres of racing as the sun poked through the clouds.

At the start of the expanded third lap, Onweller had 32-second lead with Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment taking control of the peloton, launching Jamie Chapman (Aegis) on solo chase.

Alarm bells started to ring loudly, as Onweller had 2:02 on Chapman and over three minutes on the field at the end of the third lap. That brought Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing) to the front of the field to put in a massive turn on the climb, creating a selection as the chase intensified.

“Halfway through the race, exactly what I didn’t want to happen had happened. Paige was up the road, Jamie Chapman bridge, and I thought, oh man, like I let an Aegis rider up the road, Lauren’s gonna sit in, it’s probably, you know, we’ll see how motivated they are, but as soon as that gap started to come down, and the group started working. I knew, okay, it’s probably going to be a war of attrition and come down to that last lap,” Courtney said.

But Onweller kept her pace solid, still holding 2:43 on the six-rider chase group as she started the penultimate lap. Another seven-rider group was a further 24 seconds back.

Joining Courtney in the elite chase group were Aegis teammates Lauren Stephens, Grace Arlandson and Chapman, as well as Ashley Frye (Competitive Edge Racing) and Kira Payer (SpeedBlock-Terœn Elite).

But for the first time, Onweller showed the pressure, her shoulders rocking as she climbed up Bridge Road (2.1km at 5.5%). Not long after on the same ascent, Stephen’s attack reduced the chase group with Courtney and Payer matching her pace and Arlandson and Frye catching back on the descent.

Now working well together, the chase group had reduced the gap down to 1:14 to Onweller, who is putting slower laps after being solo off the front for so long, as they heard the bell for the final lap. The rest of the field was a further two minutes back, and out of contention for the victory.

Arlandson launched Stephens the final time up the Bridge climb, and only Courtney was able to match the acceleration. Payer briefly connected but Courtney pushed the pace once again as they could see Onweller up the road.

Onweller’s lead continued to tumble, down to 15 seconds with 17 kilometres to go, as behind Courtney and Stephens continued to test each other with small attacks.

With the gap down to five seconds, Stephens and Courtney started to play games, trying to get the other one to pull through while Onweller, not giving up, continued to push the pace.

Onweller was overtaken with 11 kilometres to go, and then was also caught by the second three-rider chase group of Fraye, Arlandson and Payer, later on.

The chasers closed down the gap down to 15 seconds to Stephens and Courtney with three kilometres, with Arlandson attacking the chase on the hunt for third place.

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