US Road Championships: Kate Courtney outsprints Lauren Stephens to win elite women’s road race title

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.

Pos

Rider

Time

1

Kate Courtney (USA)

3:02:30

2

Lauren Stephens (USA)

00:00:05

3

Grace Arlandson (USA)

00:00:09

4

Kira Payer (USA)

00:00:13

5

Ashley Frye (USA)

00:00:18

6

Paige Onweller (USA)

00:00:22

7

Alexis Magner (USA) EF Education-Oatly

00:04:42

8

Anna Hicks (USA) Virginia’S Blue Ridge Twenty28

00:04:42

9

Andrea Cyr (USA)

00:04:43

10

Katherine Sarkisov (USA)

00:04:43

11

Megan Guarnier (USA)

00:04:44

12

Natalie Quinn (USA) Mayenne Monbana My Pie

00:04:44

13

Caroline Wreszin (USA) St Michel – Preference Home – Auber93

00:04:45

14

Jamie Chapman (USA)

00:04:46

15

Kaia Schmid (USA) O’Shea Red Chilli Bikes

00:09:04

16

Alia Shafi (USA)

00:09:04

17

Marjie Bemis (USA)

00:09:04

18

Minori Minagawa (USA)

00:09:04

19

Rebecca Lang (USA)

00:09:05

20

Annie Gilbert (USA)

00:09:05

21

Lauren Aggeler (USA)

00:09:05

22

Emma Betuel (USA)

00:09:05

23

Tess Ivy Eleanor Edwards (USA)

00:09:05

24

Sierra Sims (USA)

00:09:06

25

Elizabeth Dixon (USA)

00:09:06

26

Mia Aseltine (USA)

00:10:15

27

Anna Dorovskikh (USA)

00:10:33

28

Stephanie Halamek (USA)

00:12:37

29

Madison Gallagher (USA)

00:14:17

30

Olivia Reeve (USA)

00:26:26

31

Florence Howden (USA)

00:26:26

32

Alyssa Sarkisov (USA)

00:26:25

33

Kylee Hanel (USA)

01:02:54

34

Kaya Musgrave (USA)

01:02:18

35

Nicole Larue (USA)

01:02:18

36

Jennifer Malik (USA)

01:01:25

37

Galen Bolard (USA)

01:41:20

38

Jennifer Thornton-Brooks (USA)

01:39:18

39

Camille Wirkus (USA)

01:38:35

40

Ella Sabo (USA) Virginia’S Blue Ridge Twenty28

01:37:25

41

Ella Brenneman (USA)

01:37:24

42

Sabrina Hayes (USA)

01:37:24

43

Marjorie Rinaldo (USA) Virginia’S Blue Ridge Twenty28

01:37:23

44

Emily Gilbert (USA) Virginia’S Blue Ridge Twenty28

01:37:20

45

Elena Wu-Yan (USA)

01:36:39

46

Katelyn Krisky (USA)

01:34:43

47

Stefanie Young (USA)

01:30:55

48

Aubrey Drummond (USA)

01:29:13

49

Olivia Cummins (USA) Virginia’S Blue Ridge Twenty28

01:29:13

50

Kathryn Aman (USA)

02:12:15

51

Julie Voss (USA)

02:12:14

DNF

Grace Nottingham (USA)

Row 51 – Cell 2

DNS

Emily Ehrlich (USA) Virginia’S Blue Ridge Twenty28

Row 52 – Cell 2

DNS

Katherine Rhyne (USA)

Row 53 – Cell 2

DNS

Alaini Ritsch (USA)

Row 54 – Cell 2

DNS

Ashley Maginot (USA)

Row 55 – Cell 2

DNS

Ellexi Snover (USA)

Row 56 – Cell 2

DNS

Chloe Fraser (USA)

Row 57 – Cell 2

DNS

Cecily Decker (USA)

Row 58 – Cell 2

DNS

Lauren de Crescenzo (USA)

Row 59 – Cell 2