Race and power analysis of the USA Pro Challenge stage 7
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Coryn Rivera (UHC) takes the win on the final stage of the inagural women's edition of the USAPCC.(Image credit: Dejan Smaic / SportifImages)
Coryn Rivera's data from Women's USA Pro Challenge stage 3(Image credit: Ben Day)
Coryn Rivera's data from Women's USA Pro Challenge stage 3(Image credit: Ben Day)
Eventual Stage 3 winner Coryn Rivera (UHC) leads Kristin Armstrong (Twenty-16) through a corner up a relentless climb that would eventually takes its toll on the field.(Image credit: Dejan Smaic / SportifImages)
John Murphy (UnitedHealthcare) narrowly beats out Taylor Phinney (BMC) for the win(Image credit: Jonathan Devich/epicimages.us)
Double whammy action Sunday to wrap up the USA Pro Challenge with first the women racing in front of a packed crowd in downtown Golden, followed by the men with their stage from Golden to Denver. UnitedHealthcare won both the women and men’s race in a field sprint, with excellent work by both squads in delivering their sprinters, Coryn Rivera and John Murphy to the line in fine style.
With a strong hold on the green sprint jersey after the previous day’s racing, the men’s squad changed their focus to the stage win. Each rider on the team works towards the common goal of success for the team and today it was Murphy’s turn to launch to the finish line in downtown Denver. It was a deserving victory by someone who has given plenty to his teammates in recent weeks and once again it was evident the role all of the riders in the team contributed towards the victory.
Jonny Clarke, Jani Brajkovic, Chris Jones and Tanner Putt ensured that the bunch stay glued together in the finale. Danny Summerhill chased down the yellow jersey, Rohan Dennis when he attacked with 2km to go. Marco Canola lead into the last corner with BMC’s Taylor Phinney and Murphy following close behind, whilst Kiel Reijnen sat up after protecting Murphy’s rear wheel in the finale. The UnitedHealthcare team came late and strong to take the win.
Rivera, at just 22 years of age, loves the sight of a finish line and with an incredible 70 National Championship wins already to her name, the stage 3 criterium had her name written all over it. After losing teammate Hannah Banks to an unfortunate crash on stage 2, the UnitedHealthcare riders Abby Mickey, Katie Hall, Linda Villumsen and Scotti Lechuga rallied to deliver Rivera to the win on the stage, taking the overall win in the sprint competition as well.
Coryn is a star sprinter in the world of women’s professional cycling and her hunger for victories is insatiable. We pulled her Pioneer file to analyse her performance on Sunday. We see her peak power of the day in the first intermediate sprint at 10km with 925W. At the 15km mark, in response to an attack, Coryn averaged 632W over 14 seconds. Coming in to the last corner, she positioned herself perfectly in 3rd wheel and opened up from the corner with 9 seconds at 702W for the win. To put this in the right context, Coryn is almost half the weight as the UHC men’s sprinter John Murphy. With so much less weight to accelerate, Coryn’s numbers are truly world class and she would give the male sprinters a run for their money!
In looking at Coryn’s pedalling metrics on the Pioneer Cyclo-Sphere site, we see just like men’s sprinter John Murphy, that when sprinting, she has excellent efficiency (67%) and great technique, maintaining positive power application throughout the pedal stroke.
That wraps up the USA Pro Challenge for 2015. Thanks everyone for joining us over the last 7 days as we brought to you insight and inside race analysis of the USA Pro Challenge. We hope you enjoyed it. And don’t forget to play 'Where’s Waldo' on the video!
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