Rivera and junior riders standout in busy week

The riders collecting their thoughts and relaxing before a stage of Le Tour du Limousin. (Photo by Jackson Stewart)

The riders of the USA Cycling National Development Program produced some standout results while contesting Le Tour de l'Abitibi in Canada, the Tour Feminin du Limousin in France and the U23 Tour of Liege in Belgium.

ROAD

U23

A group of six riders from USA Cycling's National Development Program contested the U23 Tour of Liege, a five-day race in cool, windy and rainy conditions in Belgium from July 18-22.

Ty Magner (Athens, Ga./Team Type 1 Development) had the best result among the riders, finishing fifth while Tanner Putt (Roswell, Ga./Team Type 1 Development) placed 21st in the U23 classification.

Magner finished second in the second stage, which featured the Mur de Huy, to move to third in the general classification and second among U23 riders. In the third stage, Magner slipped to 11th in the general classification after a group of eight riders got away late in the stage. Magner and Putt were the lone riders able to finish the race.

The following four riders also contested the race for USA Cycling:

Adam Liebowitz (Indianapolis, Ind./OUCH Pro Cycling)
Eamon Lucas (Pacific Grove, Calif./California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized) Conor O'Leary (Belt, Mont./Montana Junior Cycling Foundation)
Mike Stone (Monroe, Ga./Hincapie Development)

Magner placed second in a Kermesse in Lichtervelde on Tuesday, July 26 as a warm-up for the Reningelst-Internatie starting Thursday.

WOMEN

Coryn Rivera being honored after her standout performance at Le Tour du Limousin. (Photo by Jackson Stewart)

Elsewhere in Europe, a group of women contested the Tour Feminin du Limousin. One of America's most promising young female riders, Coryn Rivera (Tustin, Calif./Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY 12), got off to a very fast start before eventually finishing seventh overall. She was strong throughout the race, winning the opening stage — her first non-junior European stage win, placing 10th in the second stage, third in the third stage and 23rd in the fourth and final stage. Her performance earned her the Young Rider Classification and was one point short of winning the points competition.

Rivera essentially restocked her closet after winning the opening stage to garner jerseys for winning the stage, points, leader and young rider. Rivera was alert throughout the opening stage and slipped into the winning move of eight riders before outsprinting them to the finish line. Kendall Ryan (Ventura, Calif./Team TIBCO to the Top) placed 20th, Kaitlin Antonneau (Racine, Wisc./Peanut Butter & Co TWENTY 12) placed 50th, Ashley James (Dousman, Wisc./Team Kenda p/b Geargrinder) finished 99th while Jacquelyn Crowell (Maitland, Fla./Team Type 1) placed 107th.

In the second stage, a 15-kilometer individual time trial, Rivera placed 10th, Crowell was 19th, James was 22nd, Ryan was 41st and Antonneau finished 68th.

The third stage consisted of a 128-kilometer road race. Rivera was just two seconds behind the winner, but finished third. James finished 50th, Ryan was 62nd while Antonneau and Crowell placed 89th and 97th, respectively.

In the fourth stage (a 102-kilometer road race), all five of USA Cycling's riders finished in the top 100, including three riders in the top 52. Rivera was the squad's best finisher placing 23rd, James finished 31st, Antonneau was 44th and Ryan was 52nd.

JUNIORS

The group of six junior riders from USA Cycling's National Development Program topped the team general classification at Le Tour de l'Abitibi, a seven-stage race in Amos, Canada. Two of the riders placed in the top four and four riders in the top 16 finishers in the final results as Colby Wait-Molyneux (Vancouver, Wash./Hammer Nutrition-CMG Racing Team) finished third and Kristo Jorgenson (Boise, Idaho/BYRDS) was fourth. Gregory Daniel (Englewood, Colo./Chipotle Junior Development Team) finished 11th, Mathew Lipscomb (Decatur, Ga./Hincapie Development Team) was 16th. Alex Darville (Santa Barbara, Calif./Echelon Santa Barbara) and Tyler Williams (Shafter, Calif./All Sport-Team Swift) were 43rd and 66th overall, respectively.

In addition to placing third in the general classification, Wait-Molyneux won the 12.4-kilometer individual time trial (stage 3). Jorgenson recorded a pair of top 15 finishes, placing third in the individual time trial and 14th in stage 4. Darville posted impressive results, posting three top-five stage finishes, including placing second in the 99-kilometer road race (stage 6) and third in the 86.7-kilometer road race (stage 7).

COMING UP

In the upcoming week, riders from USA Cycling's National Development Program will be contesting three races in Europe.

The following group of riders will compete in the Reningelst-Internatie:

Adam Liebowitz (Indianapolis, Ind./OUCH Pro Cycling)
Eamon Lucas (Pacific Grove, Calif./California Giant Berry Farms-Specialized)
Ty Magner (Athens, Ga./Team Type 1 Development)
Conor O'Leary (Belt, Mont./Montana Junior Cycling Foundation)
Tanner Putt (Roswell, Ga./Team Type 1 Development)

The following group of junior riders will contest the Liege la Gleize in Belgium:

Austin Boswell (Bend, Ore./Hot Tubes Development Cycling)
Gregory Daniel (Englewood, Colo./Chipotle Junior Development Team)
Colin Joyce (Pocatello, Idaho/Hot Tubes Development Cycling)
Mathew Lipscomb (Decatur, Ga./Hincapie Development Team)
Paul Lynch (Colchester, Conn./Hot Tubes Development Cycling)
Thomas Wrona (Pinehurst, N.C./Hot Tubes Development Cycling)

USA Cycling's National Development Programs are supported by the USA Cycling Development Foundation. Support the future of American cycling with an online donation now.