Skylar Schneider is poised to make just her third appearance on the world stage for the United States at the UCI Road World Championships. As an accomplished sprinter who already has 10 seasons under her belt with pro teams – she started with Team TIBCO-To the Top when she was 14 – it is hard to believe it is her first trip to Worlds as part of the elite women’s squad.
The Wisconsin native, whose name is synonymous with criterium racing, is part of a seven-rider squad for USA Cycling at Worlds in Wollongong, Australia. A silver medalist in the junior road race at the 2016 UCI Road World Championships, second to now-defending elite World Champion Elisa Balsamo, she will celebrate her 24th birthday the day before the elite women’s 164.3km road race gets underway on Saturday from Helensburgh to Wollongong.
“Ever since it was announced that the 2022 World Championships were going to take place in Wollongong, Australia a few years ago, it has been a very big personal goal for me to be there. As a very goal-oriented person who actually writes all of their goals down with pencil and paper, I’ve been visualizing this race for years,” Schneider told Cyclingnews a few weeks ago as she waited to return to the US from a two-week stint in Europe.
Schneider will be joined by Heidi Franz (InstaFund Racing) as the two women named to the Wollongong Worlds team from USA Cycling’s new women’s development programme. That team competed in late August at several European events, with Schneider second overall at the UCI 1.2 La Picto-Charentaise in France and a week later sixth from among 150 starters at the 1.1 MerXem Classic in Belgium. In between was a criterium in the Netherlands, which she won.
“The US is bringing a team capable of winning gold. This year my mission at Worlds will be to be the best teammate I can and to contribute to that will be an opportunity that I don’t take lightly. I’m fresh off of a successful first trip back to Europe with the US National team which gives me confidence and motivation going into my final few weeks of training leading up to Worlds.”
Two of the recent road races in Europe covered just under 120km distances each, 44km less than the Wollongong road course but great tests for the legs. The US team will look for leadership in the road race from WorldTour riders Kristen Faulkner (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) and Leah Thomas (Trek-Segafredo), who will also ride the TT, as well as Veronica Ewers (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB).
Schneider shines in the…
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