Dygert sprints to stage 2 win at Tour of the Gila

Image 1 of 19

Chloe Dygert (Twenty20-Sho Air) relied on her teammates and world champion track power to sprint to victory Thursday during stage 2 at the Tour of the Gila. Dygert passed Rally Cycling's Emma White just before the line at Fort Baryard, while Diana Penuela (UnitedHealthcare) crossed the line in third. Stage 1 winner Katie Hall (UnitedHealthcare) finished safely in the bunch to keep her overall lead.

"It was kind of a hectic finish. There was a truck pulling out with about a K to go, and that was pretty dangerous," Dygert told Cyclingnews.

"Allie [Dragoo] had a really good lead out that spaced the group out. Emma only had one lead-out girl, so I knew I had a chance. She started going at 200 metres to go and had a little gap on me, but I thought that was kind of early. I was still in her draft and was able to come around her at the end."

Dygert pulled off the win by inches in front of her former teammate on the US National team. White also finished second to Dygert when they were juniors at the 2015 UCI Road World Championships in Richmond, so she understands Dygert's strength.

"There's something to be said about that girl's power. She's unbelievable," White said. "My team did great. They put me right in position where I just had to give it all. Unfortunately, I was a couple inches short at the line, but I'm still really proud of the way everybody rode. We kept our teammate [Sara Poidevan] second in GC, so that was most important today."

How it unfolded

The 119.3km stage 2 Inner Loop Road Race started at the historic military hospital Fort Bayard just outside of Silver City. The route showed little mercy on the peloton, immediately climbing to Pinos Altos at 7,010 feet of elevation. Intermediate sprints at 9.2km and 66.8km spiced up the day, along with QOMs at 18.7km, 32.5km and 102.8km.

Plenty of flat ground was interspersed between the climbs and a general downhill run to the finish, where the road rose slightly in the final kilometre, helped keep the bunch together for the bunch sprint.

White started the fireworks off at the first sprint, taking maximum points and a three-second time bonus ahead of Lily Williams (Hagens Berman Supermint) and Erika Varela (Conade-Specialized-Visit Mexico).

From there, Rally and UnitedHealthcare hit the front to press the pace on the climb to Pinos Altos, causing multiple split sin the field and dropping a handful of riders from.

Frenchwoman Edwige Pitel (QCW) took maximum points at the QOM ahead of Jasmin Duehring (Twenty20-Sho Air) and Poidevan. Pitel repeated the feat at the second QOM at Meadow Creek, this time ahead of Penuela and Rally's Kirsti Lay. Pitel moved ahead of Hall in the mountains competition with just one QOM remaining on the day.

The QOM effort split the field, with the front group gaining a minute over the chasers on the descent into the valley below. UnitedHealthcare continued to set temp on the front as several riders made their way back into the front pack.

The relatively small field of just over 50 riders once again subdued the attacks, and the women's peloton stayed together of the rest of the race. Hagens Berman Supermint launched some attacks to challenge UnitedHealthcare, but Rally was mysteriously silent, possibly betting on setting up White for the sprint.

Pitel and Hall set a quick pace up the final climb, further neutralizing any attempts to attack. Pitel took the maximum points ahead of Hall, securing the QOM jersey heading into the time trial.

UnitedHealthcare took up tempo duties on the front once again, driving the pace into Fort Bayard for the finish.

Results