When the USA Cycling Professional Road and Time Trial Championships first came to Chattanooga in 2013, Megan Guarnier was the reigning women’s road race champion.
It took her a couple of tries in Chattanooga — and the help of new teammate Evelyn Stevens — but the Boels Dolmans Cycling Team rider finally has the Stars and Stripes jersey back on her shoulders.
Guarnier held off sprint specialist Coryn Rivera of the UnitedHealthcare team in a free-for-all sprint Monday to win the 69.3-mile race in three hours, six minutes and 48 seconds. Tayler Wiles finished just behind in third.
“I finally got it back, and I finally figured out this course, I guess,” Guarnier said “In 2013 when we first had the race here, I was dealing with a lot of asthma and allergy problems, and that was kind of a wake-up call that I needed to look into my health.