With less than ten kilometers to the finish, Kristen and Ruth Winder (Human Powered Health) were the lone race leaders. Kristen knew the final climb suited her. She attacked and quickly opened a gap that only grew as she approached the finish line, arms up to celebrate her first-ever national title.

“It hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest,” Kristen said. “But it feels great! It feels like the culmination of a lot of work and a really good season so far this year.”

“I felt pretty confident because I knew on the climbs I could have a really good attack. It pitches up right at the end and was kind of a one to two minute power effort which has been my strength this year so I knew I had a really good shot and I knew I didn’t want to take her to line because she’s got a pretty good kick and I haven’t sprinted in a really long time,” Kristen said with a laugh.

Coryn Labecki was in the chase group with two other riders. Reminiscent of her massive sprint that earned her the crit national championship earlier in the week, she out sprinted her group and earned herself the bronze medal. Teammate Veronica Ewers played a crucial role in today’s success, helping to control the peloton early in the race.

Sport director Carmen Small was impressed by how the team handled the six demanding laps in Charleston, West Virginia.

“Today, everything went according to our tactics which is always nice,” she said. “It was a good team performance. They rode really strongly and really well together from the start. They communicated all day and in the end we came away with first and third, so it was a great performance all around.”

Congrats to Kristen and the team on a well-deserved victory!