Ruth Edwards battled to a hard-fought silver medal at the Pro Road National Championships Road Race in Charleston, WV.
The 30-year-old animated the racing throughout, finishing 56 seconds behind race winner Kristen Faulkner (EF Education-Cannondale) in the 127 km race, having made the decisive move with her on the penultimate of six laps.
“Having a good race is always motivating,” Edwards said afterward. “The race was super hard, and I didn’t know where I would end up, I just had to keep suffering on the climbs. It was about putting your head down and digging deep.”
Edwards was part of an elite group containing Faulkner, Coryn Labecki (both EF Education-Cannondale), Lauren De Cresenzo a pre-race favorite in Lauren Stephens, and her teammate Nicole Steinmetz (both Cynisca Cycling) when they brought back an attack of Heidi Franz (Lifeplus Wahoo).
After a brief hesitation and keen to shake the fast-finishing Labecki and in-form climber Stephens, Edwards triggered the move.
“Kristen and I attacked on the downhill and quickly it was just two of us,” she explains. “I knew she would attack me on the last lap so I did everything to keep suffering but, in the end, I couldn’t quite hold the wheel on the final climb.”
Her in-form teammate Lily Williams was a valuable asset in Edwards’ arsenal, putting in attacks early in the race to reduce the size of the competition for the duo.
“Lily was awesome to have as a teammate as she always is,” Edwards said. “Having a teammate in a race like this is super nice.”
Having competed across the time-trial criterium and elite road race, the pair now return to Europe with Williams looking ahead to Paris 2024 and Edwards the Grand Tours.
Pro Road National Championships Road Race results
1 FAULKNER Kristen – EF Education-Cannondale 3:29:38
2 EDWARDS Ruth – Human Powered Health 0:56
3 LABECKI Coryn – EF Education-Cannondale 5:39
4 STEPHENS Lauren – Cynisca Cycling 5:40
5 DE CRESENZO Lauren ”
6 STEINMETZ Nicole – Cynisca Cycling 6:02
7 FRANZ Heidi – Lifeplus Wahoo 8:05
8 LANGLEY Emma – Virginia’s Blue Ridge – TWENTY24 ”
9 DOROVSKIKH Anna – Orion Racing 8:36
10 SCHMID Kaia – Liv AlUla Jayco Women’s Continental Team 9:53
11 WILLIAMS Lily – Human Powered Health ”
Photos: Snowy Mountain Photography
