Andrea Dvorak

  
  


Date of Birth: October 9, 1980
Height: 5’5/1.65m
Weight: 118lbs./54kg./8.6st.
Place of Birth: Washington, D.C.
Hometown: Crozet, Virginia
Teams: Team Exergy TWENTY12 (2012), Colavita Forno d'Asolo (2011), Colavita-Baci p/b Cooking Light (2010), Colavita/Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light (2007-09)
Education: BA with Distinction in Biology and Spanish from the University of Virginia, 2003. JD from University of Virginia School of Law, 2006

National Championship Experience:

  • 2nd place — 2011 USA Cycling Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic National Championships, Augusta, Georgia, Road Race
  • 1st place — 2003 USA Triathlon Collegiate National Championships, Peoria, Arizona
  • 2nd place — 2002 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, Burlington, Vermont, Road Race
  • 5th place - 2002 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, Burlington, Vermont, Individual Omnium
  • 4th place — 2003 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, Berkeley, California, Road Race
  • 2nd place — 2004 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, Madison, Wisconsin, Road Race
  • 3rd place — 2005 USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships, Lawrence, Kansas, Road Race

Career Highlights:

  • 6th place — 2011 Giro d’Italia Femminile, Stage 2
  • 4th place — 2011 SRAM Tour of the Gila, General Classification
  • 2nd place — 2011 Cascade Cycling Classic, Stage 1
  • 3rd place — 2011 Foothills Road Race
  • Queen of the Mountain: 2011 Redlands Bicycle Classic, 2011 SRAM Tour of the Gila and 2011 Cascade Cycling Classic
  • 2nd place — 2010 Tour of the Gila, Stage 2
  • 4th place — 2010 Tour of the Gila, General Classification
  • 1st place — 2009 Fitchburg Longsjo Classic, Stage 3
  • 3rd place — 2009 Nature Valley Grand Prix, Stage 6, Stillwater Criterium

Points of Interest

  • Dvorak earned her Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia in 2006.
  • Dvorak won a triathlon national title as a collegiate in 2003.
  • Dvorak woke up at 4:37 every morning as a senior in high school so she could practice swimming before school.
  • Dvorak and her husband, Peter Hufnagel, started a high school cycling league at the Miller School of Albemarle where he teaches English.

Personal

Before Andrea Dvorak emerged as one of America’s most talented road racers, she was a highly successful triathlete and swimmer. She won a triathlon national championship as a collegiate at the University of Virginia and spent the summer of 2003 at the United States Olympic Training Center in the triathlon program.

Considering she didn’t own her first bike until 2001, her success as a triathlete is remarkable. In fact, when she received her first bike, she wasn’t aware that multiple gears existed. So, as she attempted to climb the final hill of the competition, she was forced to jump off her bike and run the rest of the way up. She learned the value or utilizing gears shortly thereafter.

After balancing her schoolwork along with all that it takes to train for triathlons, Dvorak focused on cycling, independently. Fortunately, the riders and the coaches at the University of Virginia were more than happy to serve as coaches and mentors to help with Dvorak’s cycling development.

Dvorak continued working at cycling and results began to follow. She earned a spot on the podium at the road races of the USA Cycling Collegiate Road National Championships from 2002-05, and won the women's Division I individual omnium in 2002 in Burlington, Vt.

Dvorak finished law school and promptly began racing full time. Over time, she has become one of America’s top road racers. Internationally, Dvorak registered strong results as she placed fourth overall in the 2011 SRAM Tour of the Gila and won three prestigious Queen of the Mountain honors (2011 Redlands Bicycle Classic, 2011 SRAM Tour of the Gila and 2011 Cascade Cycling Classic). Additionally, she was narrowly edged in a two-rider sprint to the finish line by Robin Farina at the 2011 USA Cycling Elite, U23, Juniors & Paralympic Road National Championships in Augusta, Ga.

Dvorak enjoys riding her mountain bike with her husband despite sustaining a pair of significant injuries. Her first crash resulted in a trip to the emergency room for six hours and bed rest for months. The second crash was in Durango, Colo. She fell off the side of the mountain, tumbled 30 feet and would have continued down further if a fallen tree didn’t break her fall. Fortunately, despite feeling a snapping sensation in her knee, Dvorak only tore her medial collateral ligament. Despite the injury, she continued riding home and, by her own admission, got a little carried away on the next descent and watched her hands slip off the handlebars. The slow-motion fall resulted in another face plant into the ground.

For the last two years, Dvorak has helped her husband, Peter Hufnagel, create a premier-level cycling program at the boarding school where he teaches — the Miller School of Albemarle located in Charlottesville, Va. They have created a high school cycling program that treats its athletes like domestic professional cyclists. Each student rides a custom-painted road bike that he/she built from scratch, provided with team-issued shoes, helmets, trainers, kits, sunglasses, elite-level coaching, etc., and have access to a fully equipped workshop that allows each rider to fix his or her bike when necessary. Additionally, they started Virginia’s first interscholastic mountain bike race series, attracting students from the surrounding areas. The six-race series culminates with a series championship and leader’s jersey for the top male and female racers.


This Article Updated April 16, 2012 @ 01:16 PM For more information contact: