Jasmin Glaesser’s busy Pan Am Games still has one more event

Before the camera started rolling for the video below, I joked with Jasmin Glaesser that she’d done, or would do, almost every cycling discipline at the 2015 Pan Am Games, except mountain biking. “And BMX,” she shot back, “which is probably a good thing.”

So far, her medal count has been a good thing: gold with the women’s team pursuit, silver in her first omnium competition and silver in the individual time trial on the road. The last medal, which she took on Wednesday, was won in spite of a puncture she suffered during her ride.

Two days before the final road race, she was still keen to continue competing. “It’s been a stressful couple of weeks,” she said. “We had a pretty tough leadup to these games. We really wanted to show what we were capable of on the track, then the transition to the road time trial and the road race. It’s a lot of events, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.

On the road, she’ll have Allison Beveridge and Kristi Lay, two riders who were part of the squad that took the team pursuit gold. Glaesser sees the familiarity the riders have with one another as an advantage. “I think we definitely have our teamwork dialed for sure,” she said. “We know each other really well as riders. That’s going to be a huge factor on Saturday, to be able to manage our strengths and to be able to take advantages of all the opportunities we can to go for the gold medal.

Cuba will be a team to watch. In Guadalajara, Mexico, the location of the 2011 Pan Am Games, Cuba swept the women’s road race podium: Arlenis Sierra Cañadilla was first; Yumari Gonzalez, second and Yudelmis Dominguez Masague, third. Both Sierra and Gonzalez have returned for 2015. They are joined by Marlies Mejias. “I think it will be a pretty strategic race,” Glaesser said. “Cuba pretty much dominated the road race four years ago at that last Pan Am Games so they’ll definitely be some of the contenders to watch. But, a road race is really anyone’s game and everyone has an opportunity so we’ll be looking to create our own.”

Follow Canadian Cycling Magazine‘s live coverage of the women’s and men’s road races of the Pan Am Games to see how Glaesser and her team do on the roads of Toronto.