To say Lauren Stephens is an all-rounder falls short of capturing the true diversity she displays on a bicycle as this is a rider at home on the road, in a time trial, on the gravel or off-road on the mountain bike. After 11 seasons as a professional cyclist, she has won US national championships – road and gravel – a continental road championship as well as individual road stages and multi-day GC titles.
Stephens has competed at world championships across three disciplines – road, gravel and marathon mountain bike. She’s making her debut as part of the invited field at the Life Time Grand Prix off-road series in the US and beginning the early season in Europe on the road. The pavement is a key priority this season, at least before Unbound Gravel in early June.
“My main focus this year is trying to make the Olympic team, by way of the time trial. The US has two spots so my main focus is that. So up until Nationals, all my focus is on the time trial and on the road,” Stephens told Cyclingnews.
“Going into this year, I didn’t really know exactly what I wanted. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to continue on the road. So I really wanted to keep my options open, which was my reason to apply for the Life Time Grand Prix, but for now that’s going to be the fun side of cycling.”
Stephens will be part of the Cynisca Cycling team at Tour de Normandie Féminin this week, March 14-17. It is important because the opening stage has a 10km hilly time trial, just what the Texan wants, especially since the US Pro Road National Championships moved from June to May this year.
“Definitely having Nationals moved up to May, it’s just gonna open me up to make some clearer decisions, quicker. I think the timing is actually good. I’ll be heading back to the US after Normandie and my next road race will be the [Tour of the] Gila,” she told Cyclingnews.
“I’ll be heading to altitude to get ready for Gila, and then I’ll stay at altitude for three weeks to get a good prep for Nationals. I feel like I really respond well to training at altitude.”
Stephens has not raced the Tour of the Gila in seven years, last finishing second overall in 2017. It has a time trial, so it’s in her sweet spot. She has twice won the GC at the Joe Martin Stage Race, which along with Gila are the only two UCI stage races in the US this season, but the Arkansas stage race is a week after Nationals so was not on the radar just yet.
After two seasons at the WorldTour level with EF…
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