This past weekend I raced Valley of the Sun Stage Race with my new teammates Kimberly Chen and Marc Sato. The race is located in Phoenix, Arizona and was one of my personal favorites from last year. As a team I think we had some really strong results this weekend that bode for an awesome season to come.
Stage 1: Landis Cyclery Time Trial
This was my first race of the year and I was pretty nervous going into the time trial. I’ve been racing on the Factor Slick TT bike and working on that positioning. I was the third to start in my race, so I only had two people ahead of me to catch, but was able to chase them down. The TT was pretty flat and the wind was kind of all over the place, so it went a bit slower than I expected. I was happy to come away with 21st place, and Kimberly finished strong at 47th. In the men’s race Marc finished 66th in a field of about 125 men.
Stage 2: Silverhawk Private Wealth Road Race
This road race is an interesting course, it’s 25km laps with an all out 5 - 10 min climb, but the rest of the lap is basically just free wheeling. One of my season goals was to podium at this race and I’m excited to say that I achieved that goal! Going into the final climb I moved myself up to the front and was able to sprint to third place in a reduced group of about 18 riders. Kimberly had a great race and really showed off her pack riding skills, being consistently near the front. In the men’s race Marc finished 58th.
Stage 3: Trilogy Veterinary Medical Center Criterium
Kimberly had a great final stage, sprinting her way to 15th place as a first year U23 rider. Super impressive! She had great positioning the whole race and finished strong. Marc also rode super well, with really consistent positioning in a big field. He finished 45th! I had a good race, and tried to maintain my positioning in GC without taking any risks.
Final team GC standings
Emma Dressler: 18th Kimberly Chen: 38th / 9th in Best Young Rider Marc Sato: 54th / 27th in Best Young Rider