Mara Abbott
Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Mara Katherine Abbott |
Born | Boulder, Colorado, United States | November 14, 1985
Height | 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)[1] |
Weight | 115 lb (52 kg)[1] |
Team information | |
Current team | Retired |
Discipline | Road |
Role | Rider |
Rider type | Climbing specialist[2] |
Amateur team | |
2015 | LA Sweat |
Professional teams | |
2007 | Webcor Builders |
2008–2009 | HTC-Highroad Women |
2010 | Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 |
2011 | Diadora-Pasta Zara |
2013 | Exergy TWENTY16 |
2014 | UnitedHealthcare Women’s Team |
2015–2016 | Wiggle High5 |
Major wins | |
Stage races
One day races
|
Mara Katherine Abbott (born November 14, 1985) is an American former women's bicycle racer. In 2010, Abbott became the first US cyclist ever to win the Giro d'Italia Femminile, one of the Grand Tours of women's bicycle racing. Abbott retired after the 2016 Olympic Games road race.[3]
Early life and amateur career
[edit]Abbott was born in and, as of 2016, still lives in Boulder, Colorado.[1] She was a competitive swimmer, primarily specializing in distance freestyle races, at Whitman College, which is where she took up road bicycle racing as a springtime activity.[4] After competing for Whitman in two straight National College Cycling Association Division II championships, where the team won back-to-back championships in both the team time trial and the team omnium, and Abbott won back-to-back championships in the road race and also won the criterium and the individual omnium in 2006, Abbott placed fifth in the USA National Championship Women's Road Race. She also won back-to-back championships in the Mount Evans Hill Climb in 2005 and 2006.
Professional career
[edit]Abbott turned professional in 2007 and joined the Webcor Builders team.[5] In addition to a repeat of her college successes, she won one stage and the overall title in the Tour of the Gila and the 2007 National Cycling Championships women's road race championship, defeating former champions Kristin Armstrong and Amber Neben in a sprint to the finish.[6] She also continued to swim for Whitman in the fall and graduated with a degree in economics from Whitman.[1][7]
Abbott joined the HTC-Columbia Women's Team in 2008 and began to excel in European races, winning a mountain stage in the Giro della Toscana.[8] The next year, she won stage 3 and the King of the Mountains jersey in the Giro d'Italia Femminile, finishing second overall.[1] In 2010, Abbott joined the Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 team and repeated her victories at the Tour of the Gila and the USA National Championship Women's Road Race.[1] She won two more stages and the overall championship at the Giro Donne, which was the only women's Grand Tour event held in 2010.[9][10] That same month, she won one stage and the overall title at the Cascade Cycling Classic.[11] She also won one stage and finished second in the Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin.[12][13]
For 2011, Abbott moved to the Diadora-Pasta Zara-Manhattan team.[14] She won one stage and finished second overall in the Tour of the Gila, behind 1996 Canadian Olympic medalist Clara Hughes.[15][16]
In 2013, Abbott won her second Giro Rosa.[17] Later that season it was announced that she would join the new UnitedHealthcare Women’s Team in 2014.[18]
On October 7, 2014, Wiggle High5 announced that Abbott had signed with them for the 2015 season.[19]
On September 20, 2024, Abbott rode the Mountain to Dessert Classic in Southwest Colorado
Off the bike
[edit]In addition to cycling, Abbott is a yoga instructor.[20] She is a freelance writer published in the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado as well as the Wall Street Journal and espnW. As of March 2021, she works for Ceres, a sustainability organization based in Boston.[21]
Major results
[edit]Source:[22]
- 2005
- 3rd Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships
- 2006
- 3rd Overall Mount Hood Classic
- 2007
- 1st Road race, National Road Championships
- 1st Overall Tour of the Gila
- 1st Stage 2
- 2nd Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
- 1st Mountains classification
- 1st Stage 1
- 2nd Overall Nature Valley Grand Prix
- 2nd Overall International Tour de Toona
- 1st Stage 1
- 2nd Montréal World Cup
- 8th Overall La Route de France
- 9th Overall Giro della Toscana Int. Femminile – Memorial Michela Fanini
- 2008
- 1st Stage 4 Mount Hood Classic
- 1st Stage 1 Tour de Feminin-Krásná Lípa
- 2nd Time trial, National Road Championships
- 2nd Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
- 1st Prologue
- 2nd Overall Giro del Trentino Alto Adige-Südtirol
- 1st Young rider classification
- 3rd Overall San Dimas Stage Race
- 1st Stage 1
- 4th Overall Gracia–Orlová
- 7th Overall Giro della Toscana
- 1st Stages 1 (TTT) & 3
- 2009
- 2nd Overall San Dimas Stage Race
- 1st Stage 1
- 2nd Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
- 1st Mountains classification
- 1st Stage 3
- 3rd Overall Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira
- 3rd Boulder Criterium
- 4th Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
- 4th Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria
- 7th Overall Giro del Trentino Alto Adige-Südtirol
- 7th La Flèche Wallonne Féminine
- 8th Overall Giro della Toscana
- 10th Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs
- 2010
- National Road Championships
- 1st Road race
- 3rd Time trial
- 1st Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
- 1st Stages 8 & 9
- 1st Overall Cascade Cycling Classic
- 1st Stage 3
- 1st Overall Tour of the Gila
- 1st Stage 1
- 2nd Overall San Dimas Stage Race
- 1st Stage 1
- 2nd Overall Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin
- 1st Stage 4
- 6th Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
- 2011
- 2nd Overall Tour of the Gila
- 1st Stage 1
- 10th Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
- 2013
- 1st Overall San Dimas Stage Race
- 1st Stage 1
- 1st Overall Tour of the Gila
- 1st Stages 1 & 5
- 1st Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
- 1st Stage 3 Redlands Bicycle Classic
- 3rd Overall Cascade Cycling Classic
- 5th Philadelphia Cycling Classic
- 2014
- 1st Overall Vuelta a El Salvador
- 1st Stage 4
- 1st Overall Tour of the Gila
- 1st Stages 1 & 5
- 1st Grand Prix de Oriente
- 3rd Grand Prix GSB
- 3rd Grand Prix el Salvador
- 4th Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
- 7th Philadelphia Cycling Classic
- 2015
- 1st Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
- 1st Stage 3
- 1st Overall Tour of the Gila
- 1st Mountains classification
- 1st Stages 1 & 5
- 2nd Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
- 1st Stage 9
- 2016
- 1st Overall Tour of the Gila
- 1st Mountains classification
- 1st Stages 1 & 5
- 1st Mountains classification Tour of California
- 4th Road race, Summer Olympics
- 5th Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
- 1st Stage 5
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "Mara Abbott". USA Cycling. Archived from the original on August 8, 2016. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
- ^ Frattini, Kirsten (April 15, 2016). "The who's who of elite women in American bike racing". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved April 15, 2016.
- ^ "Mara Abbott announces retirement from professional cycling". September 20, 2016.
- ^ "World-class cyclist credits Whitman for start". Whitman College. July 23, 2009. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ "2007 Biography of Mara Abbott". Webcor Builders. Archived from the original on August 22, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Press release (August 30, 2007). "National Magazines Turn Spotlight on Whitman Cycling Phenom". Whitman College. Archived from the original on March 19, 2012. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Press release (September 27, 2007). "Mara Abbott '08 places ninth in Italian stage race; prepares for World Championship race". Whitman College. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ "Mara Abbott Biography" (PDF). HTC-Highroad Women. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 26, 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Press release (July 11, 2010). "Mara Abbott 1st American to win overall Giro Donne". USA Cycling. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Caley Fretz (July 11, 2010). "Mara Abbott becomes first American to win Giro Donne, Shelley Evans takes final stage". VeloNews. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Brian Holcombe (July 25, 2010). "Abbott and Sutherland secure Cascade Cycling Classic wins after final road race". VeloNews. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Greg Johnson (May 18, 2010). "Abbot victorious in Osseja". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Stephen Farrand (May 23, 2010). "Emma Pooley wins Tour de l'Aude". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Ben Atkins (September 23, 2010). "Transfer News: Mara Abbott signs for Safi-Pasta Zara". Velonation.com. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Kirsten Frattini (April 27, 2011). "Abbott, Mancebo prevail on windy Mogollon stage". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ Cycling News (May 2, 2011). "Mancebo wins final stage and overall at Gila". Cyclingnews.com. Retrieved May 18, 2011.
- ^ "Mara Abbott clinches title in 2013 Giro Rosa". VeloNews.com.
- ^ Weislo, Laura (September 7, 2013). "Abbott, Tamayo and Powers to headline new UnitedHealthcare women's team". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
- ^ "Mara Abbott and Anna Christian sign for Wiggle Honda in 2015". wigglehonda.com. Archived from the original on October 12, 2014.
- ^ Kris Thompson (March 23, 2010). "Yoga with Mara Abbott". 303cycling.com. Archived from the original on July 1, 2012. Retrieved May 19, 2011.
- ^ "Staff". Ceres. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
- ^ Profile at Cycling Archives; Profile at Cycling Quotient
External links
[edit]- Mara Abbott at UCI
- Mara Abbott at ProCyclingStats
- Mara Abbott at Cycling Archives
- Mara Abbott at CQ Ranking
- Mara Abbott at Team USA (archive July 17, 2022)
- Mara Abbott at Olympedia
- Mara Abbott at Olympics.com