There’s no shortage of hometown talent competing in the 2019 Colorado Classic
®
presented by VF Corporation.
Fort Collins’ own Whitney Allison (Hagens-Berman//Supermint) made an immediate statement of local power on Thursday when she shot across the finish line right after race star Chloe Dygert (Sho-Air Twenty20). Going into Sunday’s Stage 4 presented by Gates Corporation, she’s sitting in the top 10, the highest-ranking Coloradan in the field. When she’s not tearing it up on two wheels, Allison is managing one of her entrepreneurial ventures (Peritus Coffee Roasters in Fort Collins, Source Endurance Training Center of the Rockies and FoCo Fondo).
Dygert’s hard-charging Sho-Air Twenty20 teammates also offer some home-turf advantage. A San Diego native, Stage 3 runner-up and sprinter extraordinaire Jennifer Valente resides in Colorado Springs, while Erica Clevenger, a PhD student at Colorado School of Mines, drew a huge cheer from the crowd as she crossed the line in Golden on Saturday.
The DNA Pro Cycling squad is thick with Colorado-based talent, as well. Heather Fischer set the pace in Avon on Friday, nabbing the VF Corporation Most Badass Rider jersey with a push from teammate and fellow Boulder resident Melanie Beale, while Steamboat Springs’ Amy Charity helped organize her highly popular hometown gravel race series. Other local forces include high altitude handler Abbey Mickey (Rally-UHC), Amy D. Foundation (founded in Boulder) powerhouses Anna Dorovskikh and Colorado native
Liza Rachetto (
Hagens-Berman//Supermint).
Then there’s the local team competing in the 2019 Colorado Classic
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presented by VF Corporation, which truly represents cycling’s far reach.
Colorado-based ALP Cycles Racing team is comprised of a group of hard-charging Masters and doctorate-educated women who are not pro-level, but holding their own among a field of the world’s top cyclists. Like many of the pros they’re up against, the ALP women are taking time off work to compete in this week’s race.
“We all have full-time jobs,” said ALP Cycles’ Cory Popovich. “We’re proud to be here and it’s exciting to have the focus on women this year. This is the type of event that can push us all forward.”
With the exception of Atlanta resident and Stage 3 Audi Most Inspirational Rider Ayesha McGowan, who’s on a mission to become the first female African-American pro cyclist, the ALP Cycles team is comprised entirely of Colorado residents.
Golden is home to Popovich; Rachel Plessing resides in Denver; Kristina Vrouwenvelder in Louisville; Claudia Behring recently relocated to Boulder; and Andrea Buttine, a music teacher at Vail Mountain School, brought a sizable hometown cheering section on Friday in Avon during Stage 2 presented by FirstBank.
Alison Powers, who juggled pro cycling with pro ski racing, became the only cyclist to land National Championship titles in road race, time trial and criterium in a single year back in 2014. She founded ALP Cycles Coaching after retiring from road racing, although she can still compete, as evidenced by her fourth-place finish in the Steamboat Gravel (SBT GRVL) race the week prior to the Colorado Classic.
The ALP coaching team guides young women on the grassroots level as well as older cyclists, such as 62-year-old Sandy North, who is a top-level Masters track specialist but didn’t begin competing until the age of 55.
Be sure to cheer on the Colorado cyclists in the 2019 Colorado Classic grand finale, Stage 4 presented by Gates Corporation in Denver Sunday.
