Another year of racing kicks off tomorrow in Hagerstown, Md. at the 2019 USA Cycling Amateur Road National Championships. The best junior, Men’s U23 and Amateur racers from across the country will compete for a chance to wear the Stars and Stripes jersey for the year.
Competition kicks off Thursday with the time trial where Gage Hecht (Parker, Colo.; Aevolo Cycling) will defend his U23 title. With several strong junior women like Abigail Youngwerth (Boise, Idaho; Wolfpack Racing), Zoe Ta-Perez (Orange, Calif.; Lux Cycling), and Megan Jastrab (Apple Valley, Calif.; Rally-UHC Cyling), the junior 17-18 women’s title is anyone’s race.
We see two days of road races on Friday and Saturday where Justin Williams (Los Angeles; Legion of Los Angeles), who won both the Amateur Road Race and Criterium last year, will compete for another year in the jersey. Reigning U23 National Champion, Alex Hoehn (Lenexa, Kan.; Aevolo Cycling) will race against hitters like U.S. Professional National Champion Jonny Brown (Covington, Tenn.; Hagens-Berman Axeon), Ian Garrison (Decatur, Ga.; Hagens-Berman Axeon), Hecht, and Lance Haidet (San Luis Obispo, Calif.; Aevolo Cycling). Junior Men 17-18, Quinn Simmons (Durango, Colo.; Lux Cycling), Michael Garrison (Decatur, GA; Lux Cycling) and Lane Maher (Harwinton, Conn.; Hot Tubes Development) are among the ones to watch while we should keep an eye out for Jastrab and Katie Clouse (Park City, Utah; DNA Cycling) during the Junior Women’s race.
Racing concludes on Sunday with a full day of criteriums. Jastrab and Clouse will again be ones to watch in the Junior Women’s field. In the U23 Men’s event, Michael Hernandez (Clermont, Fla.; Aevolo Cycling), who recently wore the green sprinters jersey in Tour of the Gila as well as the Most Courageous Rider jersey while racing with the National Team at the Amgen Tour of California will be one to watch. Hernandez’s teammates Riley Sheehan (Boulder, Colo.; Aevolo Cycling), who won the Junior title in 2018 and reigning champion Hecht. The stand-out favorite in the Amateur criterium is Williams, especially after his impressive back-to-back wins recently at Tulsa Tough.
For up-to-date coverage of the 2019 USA Cycling Amateur Road National Championships, follow @USACyclingLIVE on Twitter and @USACycling across all other channels.
For more information, please contact Kelly Fox at apalermo@usacycling.org.
