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U.S. women’s team time trial champion squad is half Canadian

Optum presented by Kelly Benefits Strategies

Optum presented by Kelly Benefit Strategies nabbed the U.S. team time trial title in Greenville, S.C., Sunday with a squad that was half Canadian. The silver medal team had one Canadian and the bronze squad contained two. Canadian Will Routley was part of the Optum men’s team that took silver.

Canadian multi-champion Leah Kirchmann and her compatriots Jasmin Glaesser and Annie Ewart worked with Americans Brianna Walle, Amy Charity and Alison Tetrick to cover the 32.16-km course in 42:35.

“The weather was a little dreary and daunting at first, but we’ve had a lot of practice in various situations and conditions so we stayed calm and focused on racing our bikes as hard as possible,” said Walle, whose other prize from the weekend was bronze in the criterium championship. “We trust each other pretty well from all of the training and the racing we have done so we weren’t thinking about the weather too much. All of the training and hard work we have completed in this discipline payed off today. It feels great to get a victory together in such a team-focused event, and have everyone ride strongly to make it happen.”

Optum rounded the course 34-seconds faster than UnitedHealthcare containing Canadian Laura Brown. Tibco-SVB topped off the podium with Anika Todd and Alizee Brien.

Will Routley’s Optum outfit was put into second by a strong showing from Hincapie Racing Team. United HealthCare was third.

On Saturday Eric Marcotte added a second stars-and-stripes jersey to his palmares. The Team Smartstop rider, already the American road champion, became the criterium title holder by staving off the United HealthCare lead-out train. On the women’s side Tibco’s Kendall Ryan beat out Tina Pic of the delightfully named Pepper Palace Pro Cycling team.

The U.S. road, time trial and paracycling National Championships happen in Chattanooga, Tenn., May 23 to 25.

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