Kirsten Faulkner earned her first win in the pink colours of EF Education-Cannondale in Belgium on Sunday with a solo victory at Craywinckelhof-Omloop van het Hageland. She accelerated from a front group of riders and rode away in time trial mode for the final 50km to win by nearly a three-minute margin.
“I didn’t want to go solo. I attacked, and no one came with me. I took a risk, and it worked,” she said afterwards.
On the same day as compatriot Faulkner, Lauren Stephens raised her arms for the victory at the Clasica de Almeria in Spain. The reigning Pan American road race champion out-sprinted Yuliia Biriukova (Human Powered Health) for her first road win of the year with Cynisca Cycling. She called it a “heck of a day at the office”.
For Will Barta, it was not just his first win of the season but his first win as a professional. The 28-year-old, now in his third year at Movistar, won the fifth and final stage of Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana on February 4. On the 93km route, he broke away after just 8km and held off chasers, which included Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) and Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious), for the solo victory into Valencia.
“It may have taken a while, but I’m so happy to finally have taken one. Hopefully, the first of many, but for now, I’ll enjoy this one,” he said on Instagram.
US time trial champion Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) won the overall title of the 2.Pro Spanish stage race. Fellow US rider Tyler Stites, the team leader for Project Echelon Racing, finished seventh on stage 5.
Border Wars gravel wins for De Crescenzo and Garrison
Lauren De Crescenzo and Michael Garrison (MGR p/b NICH Speed Club) won the 100-mile Border Wars gravel race in Franklin, Georgia, on February 24.
Both Atlanta-based winners took solo victories and debuted setups with independent race programmes for the 2024 season. Garrison, riding on his own as MGR presented by NICH Speed Club after four seasons with the US Continental Hagens Berman Axeon team, completed the hilly route that crossed into Alabama in 4:52:29.
Garrison, now 22 years old, got a brand new fork for his BMC just 12 hours before the race and powered away from five other riders to win his first race of the year. His time was 12 minutes ahead of second-placed James Noori and another 19 seconds better than third-placed…
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