The U.S. National Team began their 2019-2020 World Cup season this week in Minsk, Belarus claiming three medals on the second day of competition. After riding their fastest time since the 2016 Rio Olympics in their qualifying round, the squad of Chloe Dygert (Brownsburg, Ind.), Jennifer Valente (San Diego, Calif.), Christina Birch (Los Angeles) and Emma White (Duanesburg, N.Y.) went on to break the Minsk Arena Velodrome’s track record during the first round clocking a time of 4:13.616. They went on to defeat Germany in the finals winning the first Gold Medal of the day.
Valente would take the track two more times that day, first in the Points Race. Valente showed the world once again why she is called The Queen of the Boards, winning by 30 points and claiming every sprint in the race, save one. After a short recovery she went back to the boards and claimed bronze in the Scratch race.
“Our women proved today why they have claimed three out of the past four titles at the World Championships,” said Jeff Pierce, Director of Elite Athletics, Road and Track, “They have been training extremely hard and we are looking forward to continuing their progression as we look towards Tokyo 2020. Jennifer has had an amazing World Cup so far. You would be hard pressed to find an athlete more dedicated than Jennifer and her ability to read the pack during these races make her one of the most dynamic riders we have ever seen."
Racing continues through the weekend with the Men’s and Women’s Madison and Omnium and the Men’s Points Race, Scratch Race, and Individual Pursuit.
For more information on the 2019 UCI Track World Cup, visit: https://www.uci.org/track.
Visit USACycling.org for more information on the athletes, events and membership programs, and follow @USACycling across all channels for the latest on Team USA.
For more information, contact Kelly Fox at apalermo@usacycling.org
