Chloe Dygert Wins Two Cycling Junior World Championships

September 29, 2015

Team TWENTY16 p/b Sho-Air‘s Chloe Dygert, racing for the United States national team at the 2015 Road World Championships, pulled off an incredible double as she took home both the Junior Individual Time Trial (ITT) and Junior Road Race World Championships in Richmond, Virginia, this past week. Dygert, the reigning U.S. Junior National Road and Junior National ITT Champion, and who had been on an aboslute tear all year long, raced the 15-kilometer World Championship ITT aboard her team-issue Felt DA time trial bike, and blitzed the course in 20:18.47, a full 1:05 ahead of her nearest competitor and another 35 of the world’s best Junior-class racers. The windy course suited Chloe, who is well-known for her sustained power, and she proved unstoppable.

Four days later, Chole again used her power and keen racing saavy to win the 64.8-kilometer road race. Part of a break of four riders who got away from the peloton on the second lap, Chloe did her fair share of work but was also patient. When it was clear that this was the break from which the winner would emerge, Chloe attacked on the final lap to win in a solo effort, 1:23 ahead of what was left of the breakaway group. For Chloe, it was an emotional win as it was only 18 months ago that she’d torn her ACL playing basketball and faced a long and uncertain recovery.

Chloe's TWENTY16 teammate and two-time Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong raced to a fifth place finish in the elite women’s ITT, despite going very early in the lineup and having to wait for over 2.5 hours for the other top women to finish their championship runs. Her early start was a result of not having accumulated many UCI points after taking the previous year off from competition. This disadvantage to not racing within the same time as peers is that there are no reference times when on course. Regardless, it was a spectacular ride by Armstrong, and now sets the stage for the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.

Finally, Team TWENTY16 raced the Team Time Trial (TTT) event and clocked in an impressive fifth place finish. This World Championship event was open to all trade and national teams, and for Team TWENTY16, this was a tremendous result since it was their first ever TTT together, and they even lost a rider very early on due to a flat tire, leaving them just five riders for the bulk of the 38.6-kilometer course.

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