Kristin Armstrong wins women's title at USA Cycling Professional Time Trial Championships

Carmen Small, 33, won the women's TT with a time of 42:37 in this 2013 file photo.

The road to Rio may very well start in front of the Chattanooga Volkswagen plant.

Two-time defending Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong -- in only her second competitive race after retiring following the 2012 Olympics -- set a new course record to win the women's title at the USA Cycling Professional Time Trial Championships on Saturday.

"The time trial is an interesting event," Armstrong said. "They call it the race of truth for a reason. I felt confident that I had continued to progress over the last five months of training.

"This was part of the plan, and it was a very high priority."

Armstrong is a four-time national champion and won gold in the time trial at the London Games in 2012 and in Beijing in 2008. Her time of 42 minutes and eight seconds Saturday was 13 seconds better than second-place finisher and fellow Team Twenty16 member Carmen Small; Armstrong was 16 seconds better than third-place finisher Amber Neben.

For Armstrong, Saturday's win meant more than just the honor of wearing the Stars and Stripes jersey. She was fighting to earn an automatic spot on Team USA for the UCI World Championships in Richmond, Va., this fall -- where she will be seeking her third world time trial title -- and set herself up for a run at a third Olympic gold next summer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Small and Saturday's fifth-place finisher, Evelyn Stevens, already had spots on Team USA for the world championships, but Armstrong wanted to prove she deserved to be on the team and is still a force in women's cycling at 41 years old.

"Coming to Chattanooga, I knew that I really wanted to win," Armstrong said. "I'm really happy that I was able to come here to Chattanooga and show on my own -- on the road with my team Twenty16 fully behind me and my husband fully behind me -- that I could do it without being selected as a discretionary. So I'm really happy that it worked out."

Small, who won the time trial title in 2013 in Chattanooga and was second last year, feels the return of Armstrong to the women's racing scene is good for the sport and for Team USA heading into international competition.

"I think it's good for women's cycling," she said. "It raises the game. It just brings it up a level in competition. When we're at worlds (this fall in Richmond, Va.), we're better as a whole team. It's exciting."

For Neben, returning to the podium at the national championships is a triumph of its own after she was badly injured in a women's race in California in 2013, just prior to Chattanooga's first year as host of the USA pro championships.

"I came to win, so I'm disappointed in third in that sense," she said. "But at the same time, with everything I've been through the past two years, getting my form back and getting on the podium is a victory.

Carmen Small cross the finish in the women's U.S. Pro Cycling time trials competition on Saturday, May 23, 2015, in Chattanooga. Kristin Armstrong took 1st place, Small took 2nd place, and Amber Neben took 3rd place.

"I'm super satisfied with that, and I'm satisfied with my effort, too. I left it all out there on the course."

Armstrong is no stranger to Chattanooga despite being retired the past three years. She's been coming to the national championships the past two years as a commentator for television and online streaming. While her experience in the Scenic City has been different as an active competitor, she's happy to be back.

"I have really enjoyed my time in Chattanooga," she said. "I like to say that it's the Boise, Idaho, of the East Coast. It makes me feel at home, there's a lot of things that are very similar and the community is very friendly.

"I'm so happy that I have been able to explore the town as a non-athlete for the past two years when I was doing the commentating for USA Cycling, because I was able to see and check out the area."

With 40-year-old Neben and Small, 35, joining Armstrong on the podium, the trio showed age doesn't mean you can't beat younger competitors if you work hard and love what you're doing.

"I think age is all in your head a little bit," said Neben, a U.S. road race champion in 2003 and world time trial champ in 2009. "I'm still loving training and riding my bike. When you've got an ability and the passion to do it, that's a special thing, and I'm not quite ready to let it go yet."

Contact Jim Tanner at JFTanner@bellsouth.net. Follow him at twitter.com/JFTanner.