Kristen Faulkner retained her elite women’s road race national title in Charleston on Monday, delivering a hard-fought victory in a tense three-up sprint that capped off a day of attrition, resilience, and controlled aggression.
The 113.8km race started calmly but gradually intensified, with the field slowly thinning through the selective climbs of Wertz Avenue and Bridge Road. The early pace was manageable, allowing the peloton to stay intact for the opening laps, but each subsequent circuit brought with it sharper climbs and more decisive selections.
With just over 50km remaining, Emma Langley of Aegis Cycling Foundation made the first serious move. Launching solo, she quickly built a lead of 40 seconds as the race entered its critical phase. Cynisca Cycling began to organise a structured chase, but Langley was riding well, holding off efforts from Tess Edwards and later Jamie Chapman, who bridged across before being dropped again on the next ascent.
Langley’s long-range effort was eventually neutralised with around 15km to go, but only after a concerted effort led by Faulkner, Lauren Stephens of Aegis Cycling Foundation and Katherine Sarkisov of CCB p/b Levine Law Group. Once the junction was made, Faulkner wasted no time in attacking again, keen to reduce the front group and control the run-in.
Stephens and Sarkisov proved up to the task, and the three leaders established a fragile advantage. Sarkisov was briefly dropped on the final climb of Wertz but managed to claw her way back on the flat section that followed. Behind them, the remnants of the peloton closed in rapidly, reducing the margin to under 15 seconds with 2km to go.
In the final kilometre, Sarkisov led through the corners, Stephens poised on her wheel, with Faulkner tracking third. As they swung into the finishing straight, Stephens opened the sprint, but Faulkner launched down the right-hand side and surged past to claim a second successive stars-and-stripes jersey.
“I knew we had to catch Emma – she’s a strong rider and we’ve been teammates before,” Faulkner said post-race. “I’ve never won from a sprint before, but I’ve been working on it all winter, and if there was ever a day to make it happen, this was it.”
For Faulkner, now racing with EF Education-Oatly, the win was another step in her growing stature as a rider who can not only animate races but finish them. Surprisingly, she hadn’t taken a top-10 result in all of 2025 until the nationals, where she won the road race and finished 2nd in the time trial. Lauren Stephens claimed a strong second for Aegis Cycling Foundation, while Katherine Sarkisov’s composed ride to third underlined her steady progression at CCB p/b Levine Law Group.
2025 USA National Championships Road Race result
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