Double titles for Italian and Brazilian, Chipotle cleans up in USA
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Noemi Cantele (Garmin-Cervelo) celebrates her victory in the Italian road championship.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Armitstead celebrates her victory (Image credit: Robert Lampard)
Rob Squire (Chipotle) excited crossing the line.(Image credit: Jon Devich/Cyclingnews.com/epicimages.us)
The Garmin-Cervélo women's team added three more national championships to the one already won by Australian Alexis Rhodes in the team's first victory of the year.
Italian Noemi Cantele took her first elite title in the road race on Thursday, and then added another today in the time trial.
"I didn't expect such a successful week, and I am so honored to wear both jerseys to represent my country," Cantele said.
"It was a long time trial, a windy and up and down lap. My victory in the road race gave me confidence going in and I tried to manage my effort in the beginning because the last part was more hilly and I knew that was where I could make the difference.
"Now I have some days of rest and then all of the team Garmin-Cervelo will be focused on the next goal, the Giro Donne."
In Great Britain, 22-year-old Lizzy Armitstead topped the reigning Olympic champion Nicole Cooke to claim the road race title.
"It's going to be great to wear the jersey now," Armistead said. "I'm very proud to be British and we're one of the strongest nations in the world at the moment as females so it'll be great to be leading the way."
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Back in the USA, Slipstream Sports' Chipotle Development Team added another four titles to the organisation's haul, winning the U23 road race with Rob Squire, the criterium with Rob Bush and the junior 15-16 time trial (Jonathan Schilling) and criterium (Daniel Parks).
The team's director Chann McRae was proud of the team's results, which also included 11 medals (in the US they're given down to fifth place).
"They say great things never come easy, and it couldn't be more true. This week was the result of the blood, sweat, and tears that our riders have put in over the last 8 months," McRae said.
"Our mission started long ago in the mountains of Durango, Colorado at 8000ft. Team bonds were made that can not be described in words. These bonds brought us to win 15 medals and 4 National Championship jerseys.
"Every one of our under-23 and junior medalists made tremendous sacrifices to be where they are now. These guys will do anything for each other. They will sacrifice their own chances so that their teammate will stand on the top of the podium. This week was the definition of teamwork and the Slipstream spirit."
Garmin-Cervelo CEO Jonathan Vaughters explained that he was "very impressed" with his team members' performances all over the world.
Elsewhere, 23-year-old Ramunas Navardauskas won the Lithuanian road title, and Murilo Fischer was crowned Brazilian champion for the second year running.
"From David's TT win earlier in the month, to Dan's close call to Ramunas and Murilo's victories to Noemi's double jerseys to Lizzie's win, each of these athletes made their team and their country proud," he said. "And, Team Chipotle earned 15 total medals between our U23s and Juniors - a huge testament to development cycling, something close to my heart."
Laura Weislo has been with Cyclingnews since 2006 after making a switch from a career in science. As Managing Editor, she coordinates coverage for North American events and global news. As former elite-level road racer who dabbled in cyclo-cross and track, Laura has a passion for all three disciplines. When not working she likes to go camping and explore lesser traveled roads, paths and gravel tracks. Laura specialises in covering doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and performing data analysis.
