June 09, 2018 (Arlington, Va.) – In the day’s first professional race, 2015 Canadian National Criterium Champion Alison Jackson went off the front with 37 laps to go and never looked back. Her lead grew to more than twenty seconds before the field surged with less than twenty laps to go, but her experience and steady pacing allowed her to cruise to an uncontested first place finish – a rarity in professional cycling. No cyclist has had a solo finish since Lauren Stevens in 2015, also riding for TIBCO-SVB.

Jackson was all smiles as she enjoyed a victory lap in the final kilometer of the criterium. Jackson has also won the TTT Amgen Tour of California and stages in the Tropheé D’or Féminin and the Tour Cycliste Féminin International de l’Ardèche.

TIBCO-SVB also secured the 2nd place position on the podium with a strong sprint finish by Kendall Ryan. The USA National Criterium Champion in 2015, this is Ryan’s fourth 2nd place finish in the Clarendon Cup in the past five years. She finished fifteen seconds after her TIBCO-SVB teammate.

Taking the third spot on the podium this year was Hagens Berman | Supermint’s Harriet Owens. Owens, a British professional cyclist, moved to the United States in 2016 to pursue criterium racing.

The Armed Forces Cycling Classic’s Clarendon Cup is part of USA Cycling’s Pro Road Tour (formerly the National Criterium Calendar), and has been the Washington DC region’s premier Pro/Am race since 1998. The weekend-long event showcases high energy, spectator-friendly bike races that take place on a 1km course on city streets. The Clarendon Cup is known as one of the most difficult criterium races in the US due to the technical demands of the course as well as the quality of the participants.

Results (brief)

1. Alison Jackson (Can) Team TIBCO – Silicon Valley Bank 1:14:40
2. Kendall Ryan (USA) Team TIBCO – Silicon Valley Bank 0:15
3. Harriet Owens (Gbr) Hagens Berman | Supermint