Australian claims 3rd and 5th place Memorial Day weekend
WINSTON SALEM, N.C. – Lauretta Hanson completed Winston Salem Cycling Classic with a solid fifth on Saturday’s criterium and a third place on Monday’s UCI 1.1 road race. The Australian’s results came after placing herself in the late break in both races, which stayed clear of the field to the finish.
Winston Salem Criterium
A 75-minute criterium kicked off this year’s Winston Salem Classic. Held over a 1.4 km, six-corner circuit with a hill, the hot and humid race was longer than what is usually standard, so team director Rachel Heal planned for the team to stay patient during the first portion.
The race started at a fast clip and within 15 minutes, one third of the field was dropped.
“Lauretta got away in a break of eight riders, as she wasn’t feeling too good with the heat, we had her race conservatively,” Heal said. “With all the big teams represented in the break, there was no one chasing in the field and the gap grew to one minute. We covered lots of attacks in the field, looking to bridge a rider across, but were too closely watched.”
As the race went on, Hanson’s legs came around and the team was happy with how it was shaping up. Unfortunately, she was boxed in before into the final turn, forcing her to start sprinting a bit far back and ended up in fifth place. Sam Schneider (IS Corp) took the win.
“Not the result we were hoping for but you can’t win them all, and it was a good opener for Monday’s race,” Heal said.
Winston Salem Road Race
As expected, Winston Salem UCI 1.1 Classic, the highest ranked one-day road race in the U.S., started fast and furious.
Consisting of eight laps of a 13.5 km technical circuit with a short, but steep climb right before the finish. The race started with a bang, but no break was established until halfway though the race, when a break of five, including Ruth Winder went up the road.
The gap hovered between 30 and 50 seconds until they were brought back with a lap and a half left.
“We unfortunately lost Lauren Hall to a crash with three laps to go,” Heal said. “She’s currently in the hospital for x-rays, her head is okay, so that’s good. Fingers crossed she doesn’t have any broken bones.”
Despite being down a rider, UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling still had Rushlee Buchanan, Janelle Cole and Lauretta Hanson and Winder in the mix.
Again, the Unitedhealthcare Pro Cycling team launched Hanson up the road with four other riders. This was the break that stuck and with three kilometers to go, Lauren Stephens (Tibco) soloed off the front of the break for the win.
Leah Thomas (Sho-Air) came across the line in second and Hanson outsprinted Lizzie Williams (Hagens Berman Supermint) for third place.
“It’s a great result for Lauretta,” Heal said. “I’m very happy for her. It’s not really a “Lauretta” course, the hill was hard and steep, but she did a fantastic job and dug deep to hang on in there and come away with a podium.
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