Traveling to Madison proved challenging with numerous canceled and delayed flights out of Tucson on 4/30. However, the team put their heads together, called in family support, and got a ride to Phoenix for a direct flight to Milwaukee on 5/1. A huge shout out to Elise’s parents for the ride to Phoenix and Mary’s parents and brother for the drive to Madison!

While the team lost a day to preview courses due to travel, everyone was still primed and ready to go. The racing began with the team time trials on 5/2. The 24 KM course featured rolling terrain that kept everyone alert. With 21 teams in the men’s race and 11 in the women’s, we anticipated fierce competition. The women’s squad (Mary Gordon, Cass Frost, Elise Ala, and Emmi Gilbert) finished 3rd, and the men’s team (Matan Sopher, Bennett Chambers, Max Bevier, and Caedan Aveling) placed 7th. 

Saturday’s road race circuit featured steep, rolling hills and plenty of crosswinds. The women’s race saw numerous attacks trying to break away, but ultimately it came down to a bunch sprint. Emmi jumped the sprinters out of the last turn and nearly held off the hard-charging field, only to be passed with less than 25 meters to go. Nevertheless, she still secured an amazing second place! Elise finished in 16th, Mary in 27th, and Cass in 32nd. The men’s team (Max, Mason, Bennett, Joe, Matan, and Caedan) planned to cover moves from the powerful Colorado State, CU Boulder, Cal Poly, and Princeton teams throughout the day and hoped for a breakaway to succeed. Unfortunately, an early crash forced Bennett, Mason, and Max to chase. The winds and hills gradually whittled the field down, with a significant split occurring on the final lap. Caedan and Matan were in the mix, finishing 23rd and 31st, respectively. Bennett finished 53rd, Joe 56th, Max 86th, and Mason 94th.

The weekend ended with a crit just northeast of the capital. The flat four-corner course almost ensured a bunch sprint, but that didn’t mean we wouldn’t try to break things apart! The women’s race featured constant attacks and counters from the Boulder riders, but our women’s team was up to the task of keeping things in check and launching some moves of their own. Emmi again tried to get the jump on the sprinters but had to settle for 4th. Elise finished 19th, Cass 23rd, and Mary 28th. In the men’s race, no moves could gain much traction against the CSU and CU Boulder teams. Joe Pifel worked his way into a couple of promising breaks, but the field was set on a bunch sprint. In the end, Caedan finished 6th, Joe 20th, Max 28th, Matan 47th, and Bennett 67th.   

At the end of the weekend, Emmi finished third in the women's individual omnium and our team secured third place in the team omnium, a testament to our consistent performance across the TTTs, road races, and criteriums. Throughout the year, we were hot on the heels of Colorado State, Colorado Boulder, and Vermont in all five national championships omnium. This weekend's results secured us a respectable 4th place in the national rankings for the third consecutive year! This achievement underscores our ability to compete year after year with the best programs in the nation. While we say goodbye to four seniors this year, our freshmen and sophomores are rapidly gaining experience and will be a force to reckon with in 2026. Our sights are firmly set on the top step in the omniums next year! 

We owe the success of this trip to your support, and we cannot thank you enough for your belief in our team. We hope that you will continue to support us in the future. 

Bear Down!

Joey Iuliano
 UA Cycling Director
 Facebook: UA Cycling Team | Twitter: @uacycling | Instagram: @uacycling

We've done it! We not only hit our goal- we've exceed it! Thanks to your support we're keeping racing at a national level affordable and approachable to more riders. 

We're also excited to announce our team:

Women: Emmi, Cass, Mary, and Elise
Men: Matan, Caedan, Joe P., Max, Mason, and Bennett. 

It's a very exciting mix of veteran and new to national caliber racing racers. This will be a year of big results!

You can follow all the action on our IG (uacycling) and FB (https://www.facebook.com/uofacycling) from 4/30-5/5.