Two Canadians absolutely dominated the US road nationals
Dual citizens Ashlin Barry and Gavin Hlady took two stars-and-stripes jerseys
There were two names making waves at the US road nationals in Charleston, West Virginia–and they are both Canadian. To be precise, Ashlin Barry and Gavin Hlady are dual citizens racing with an American license. Barry was born in Spain and his family moved back to Toronto when he began school. He’s always had dual citizenship since his former professional cyclist parents, Dede and Michael, are American and Canadian, respectively.
Hlady’s parents, Mark and Alison are both Canadian, and he was born in Sunnyvale, California. Hlady was also a former cyclist, having ridden for the UCI Continental team Jet Fuel Coffee.
Barry began the US road nationals with a great win in the junior time trial championships. The EF – Education ONTO rider won the 16.9 km-race in 20:39, averaging 49.1 km/h. He took the victory by three seconds over David Lapierre (Hot Tubes Cycling) and five seconds on his teammate, Noah Streif.
“I’m really happy with my ride yesterday and that I was able to win and to share the podium with my teammate Noah,” the Toronto native said. “This was a huge target for me as it means I’m automatically qualified for the junior time trial world championships in Zurich which is super exciting. I have the nationals crit and road race coming up later this week before I go back to racing in Europe for two Nations Cup stage races. My legs seem to be pretty good so I’m really looking forward to racing more the next couple weeks!”
He then narrowly missed out on another jersey in the crit championships. The 16-year-old finished second to Alejandro Che Hot Tubes Development Cycling Team. Barry dominated the 87-km race, putting 1:17 into Adrian Groman (dcdevo Racing Academy), with Adrian Groman coming in third.
Hlady had an impressive win in the under-23 crit championships. He soloed to the win, putting six seconds into Nathan Cusack of Kelly Benefit Strategies Elite, with Luca Haines (Team California) taking third.
View this post on Instagram
Then, during the 148-km road race, the 21-year-old outsprinted a small lead group to take another championship. Coming in second was his Aevolo Cycling teammate, Brody Mcdonald. Colby Simmons (Team Visma | Lease a Bike Development) took bronze.
View this post on Instagram
You’d think Hlady would be happy with a couple of stars-and-stripes jersey and relax the next day. Nope!
The under-23 rider rode in the pro championships, a 212-km race featuring several WorldTour riders. Sean Quinn
(EF Education – EasyPost) took the win over Team UAE Emirates’ Brandon McNulty, with Neilson Powless (EF Education – EasyPost) coming in third. Hlady had a great ride, finishing sixth, despite having raced the day before.
