Racing
Kristen Faulkner wins back-to-back US national road titles
American rider wins from a two-up sprint
May 26, 2025
Kristen Faulkner claimed her second consecutive US national road title in Charleston, West Virginia, today.
“I had a slow start to the season just coming back from an injury so this season started very differently from last year,” Kristen said. “This was the first race where I really felt strong and I really wanted to win. I’ve loved having the jersey, especially with the gold Olympic bands, and so I feel like this race was the first race where I could really come back and set the tone for the rest of the season."
Knowing she had no EF Education-Oatly teammates in the bunch, Kristen had to race strategically. She stayed with the peloton and raced conservatively through the first five laps. Only when the race came down to the closing kilometers did she attack and catch the breakaway.
“I knew we had to catch Emma Langley,” Kristen said, speaking of the breakaway. “She’s quite strong and I knew that none of the other teams were going to do a lot of work because they were looking at me and because people were starting to get tired. So I knew the burden was on me to catch Emma. I assumed that the others expected me to attack so I wanted to actually surprise them and wait for the finish and go for the sprint.”
In the finishing straight, Kristen kicked, closing the gap to Lauren Stephens (Aegis Cycling Foundation). The defending champion powered to the finish, winning by a bike length.
“I’ve been working on my sprint a lot this winter so I thought today would be a perfect day to try it out,” she said. “I went into the sprint knowing I wanted a sprint and I thought I could win from a sprint. It actually worked out really nicely. I knew as long as I stayed on Lauren’s wheel I had a good chance of beating her.”
Kristen started her 2025 racing season later than expected due to an off-season concussion. With less than a dozen racing days under her belt before the national championships, she knew not to take anything for granted while still believing in herself.
“It’s such an honor to wear the Stars and Stripes again,” she said.
Congrats, champ!
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