Barnes Wins 2015 Tour of Utah Women’s Edition Overall; Rivera Takes Stage 2 – Report, Photos, Results

Barnes Sprints to Take the Overall Win; Rivera Takes the Stage Victory

Report, Photos, and Complete Results Below:

Race Report by Steven Sheffield

August 4, 2015 – Ogden, Utah – What a difference a day makes. Coming the day after a fairly technical course in Logan in cold, rainy weather, to Ogden’s pan-flat L-shaped course with 90-degree turns on wide boulevards in sunny, warm, and most importantly dry conditions, it was obvious from the beginning that Stage 2 of the Tour of Utah Women’s Edition Criterium Classic was going to be a completely different race, and that team tactics would likely rule the day.

As arguably the strongest team in the American peloton in 2015, this situation best suited the United Healthcare women’s team. Having earned 16 omnium points on the previous day’s stage in Logan, Hannah Barnes was the best situated rider on the team to attempt to dethrone Allie Dragoo (Twenty16 p/b Sho-Air) for the overall, whereas the 22 year old Coryn Rivera, who won the field sprint for 8th on Monday, was the odds-on favorite to win the race if it came down to a sprint finish.

From the gun, the race was on. The Visit Dallas team of Olivia Dillon, along with Tina Pic’s Pepper Palace squad, Colavita-Bianchi, and BMW p/b Happy Tooth did their best to animate the race and get something going but the United Healthcare team was having none of it, managing to control the pace the entire race to set-up Barnes for the intermediate sprints and ultimately Coryn Rivera for the final sprint.

“We knew we had to get both intermediate sprints, and do well in the final sprint,” said Barnes after the race. “On the first intermediate sprint, I kind of got a little boxed in behind Erica [Allar, of LA Sweat] and Coryn, so Coryn had to pull her brakes on the line a bit to let me win.”

Once Barnes took the two intermediate sprints, adding 10 points to her toal, she became omnium leader on the road by just 1 point over Twenty16’s Allie Dragoo. All Barnes would have to do at that point would be to finish in front of Dragoo in the finale to take the overall.

“It was just really fast and really hard, and Visit Dallas kept throwing down some strong attacks. UHC definitely tried to control the race. Twenty16 did a good job trying to cover for Allie and keep her up front and safe,” said Mindy McCutcheon (Canyon Bicycles-Shimano). “It was all I could do to hang on and just stay in the mix.”

With three laps to go, the UHC’s famous Blue Train shifted their focus from controlling the pace to setting up the final sprint for Barnes and Rivera.

Rivera led the peloton into the final corner but was swarmed a bit by the rest of the peloton, so at first it appeared the UHC strategy might not work. Eventually Rivera managed to open up a gap, Barnes holding her wheel all the way to the line, with Rivera taking the stage over her teammate. Barnes’ second place on the day, and the 19 points that came with it, ensured she had enough points to take the yellow jersey for the omnium off Dragoo’s shoulders.

“It was hard racing today, all the crit teams came together. It was a true crit course today, flat and a bunch of turns. Everyone came together and made it super-fast. I just knew today was going to be faster, and obviously better conditions make it harder too,” said Dragoo, who finished 14th on the day and fifth in the overall. “Our team is young; we had a really good experience and got lots of airtime so that’s good for us and I’m super proud of my team.”

“It got a little bit messy coming into the last corner with a gaps that opened up behind Coryn, which is good, so we just used that to our advantage,” said overall omnium winner Barnes, after the race.

“Coming out of the last corner, I was thinking everyone was on my wheel and I needed to lead it out for Hannah, but I looked back and there was a gap so I had to just keep going and just bring it all the way to the line,” said stage-winner Coryn Rivera.

When asked about the state of women’s racing and the omnium format versus a more traditional time-based stage race, the two riders had the following to say.

“Omniums make it really exciting; since it’s more about positioning than time, it makes for good aggressive racing,” said Rivera. “For next year, though, we’d love to see a road race added in for the last day,” added Barnes.

Slowly, but surely, women’s racing continues to make inroads, and with established events like the Tour of Utah’s continued support, the possibility increases that women’s racing will one day reach parity with men’s racing in terms of media coverage and finances.

See also the report on stage 1:

Dragoo Wins Tour of Utah Women’s Edition race 1 https://www.cyclingwest.com/?p=5208 – Report, photos, results

TOP 10 RESULTS AS OF AUGUST 4, 2015

            Rider Team                                                                                            Time

1. RIVERA Coryn UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling                              1.14’39”

2. BARNES Hannah UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling                          1.14’39”

3. SCHNEIDER Samantha ISCorp Cycling pb Smart Choice MRI 1.14’39”

4. RYAN Kendall Team Tibco – SVB                                                     1.14’39”

5. KIESANOWSKI Joanne Team Tibco – SVB                                    1.14’39”

6. SOTO Yussely ISCorp Cycling pb Smart Choice MRI                   1.14’39”

7. STUMHOFER Gretchen Colavita Bianchi pb Fine Cooking          1.14’39”

8. PIC Tina Pepper Palace pb The Happy Tooth                                 1.14’39”

9. MANGANELLO Mia Visit Dallas Cycling pb Noise4Good              1.14’39”

10. HANSON Lauretta Fearless Femme pb Haute Wheels Racing 1.14’39”

FINAL OMNIUM POINTS STANDINGS

            Rider Team Points

1. BARNES Hannah UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 45

2. RIVERA Coryn UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling 37

3. SCHNEIDER Samantha ISCorp Cycling pb Smart Choice MRI 33

4. STUMHOFER Gretchen Colavita Bianchi pb Fine Cooking 33

5. DRAGOO Allie Twenty16 pb SHO-AIR 32

6. RYAN Kendall Team Tibco – SVB 25

7. KIESANOWSKI Joanne Team Tibco – SVB 21

8. SOTO Yussely ISCorp Cycling pb Smart Choice MRI 21

9. DILLON Olivia Visit Dallas Cycling pb Noise4Good 21

10. PENUELA Diana Sun & Ski Women’s Elite 19

Tour of Utah 2015 Women’s Edition Stage 2 Complete Results:

2015 Tour of Utah Women’s Edition Stage 2 Sprint Points, Stage 2 Points, and Overall Omnium Results