'The amount of young female road riders in the United States has hit a brick wall': Experienced pro Tayler Wiles saddened at state of road cycling in America
Trek-Segafredo's Wiles wants to see a WorldTour event return to her home country

A mainstay in the elite women's peloton for almost a decade, Tayler Wiles has called on race organisers to bring high-level events back to the United States to arrest the struggling decline in road race participation among young athletes.
In the past five years, gravel racing has boomed in the States as road racing has lost its place as the pre-eminent discipline in the country.
>>> Best Black Friday bike deals 2021
The Tour of California, Philadelphia Cycling Classic, and Tour of the Gila are just three races that have fallen off the calendar, and there is a paucity of young female road riders making their way in the sport.
Female American riders are the strongest in the burgeoning global gravel scene, but by and large they come to the discipline from a road background.
While the continued success of criteriums, aided enormously by the Legion cycling team, is a source of hope, Trek-Segafredo’s Wiles told Cycling Weekly of the pain she feels when assessing the state of road cycling in her home country.
“Unfortunately, road cycling in the US has taken a bit of a dive,” the 32-year-old said. “It had started to happen before Covid that there was less and less racing, but now there’s almost nothing.
“The criterium scene is great, and the gravel scene is making waves and will get ever more exciting, but we really need to see road racing make a comeback.
“We need stage races, one-day races, like we used to have. I think it would be really helpful if the WorldTour brought back a stage race into the States.
“We could have amateur races running off the back of it, races for category one, two, three and four riders alongside it.
“It has to build from either the top or the bottom, but it has to start somewhere. Sponsorship is often the limiting factor, and it’s really difficult to get roads closed in the US, but something needs to be done.”
Wiles - who won the 2017 Tour of the Gila and finished second on GC at the following year's Tour of California - listed Chloé Dygert, the former world time trial champion, and Megan Jastrab, the 2019 junior road race world champion, as two riders who point towards a successful American future at the elite end of women’s cycling.
But she added: “I wish I could think of more. I wish there was more young girls coming up. The amount of new and young female road riders has dwindled. It’s hit a brick wall.
“The girls who are crushing it in gravel are of an older generation, they’re in their 20s, have full-time jobs, and most came from the road.
“Going into the junior categories, I can barely think of any names and that makes me so sad. This country is massive and I think USA Cycling hasn’t supported the development of riders like it has in the past.”
Wiles contrasted the picture with that of what she witness in Europe. “Over there women’s cycling is blossoming,” she added. “There is so much momentum behind it.
“I wish I could help with the situation here but I spend most of my time in Europe. When I am home, I notice that gravel is the way, but it’s a different kind of sport. It’s not the same as road racing.”
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
Chris first started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2013 on work experience and has since become a regular name in the magazine and on the website. Reporting from races, long interviews with riders from the peloton and riding features drive his love of writing about all things two wheels.
Probably a bit too obsessed with mountains, he was previously found playing and guiding in the Canadian Rockies, and now mostly lives in the Val d’Aran in the Spanish Pyrenees where he’s a ski instructor in the winter and cycling guide in the summer. He almost certainly holds the record for the most number of interviews conducted from snowy mountains.
-
-
Is this Ineos Grenadiers' Tour de France team? Geraint Thomas teases with eight-man training squad photo
It would not be a surprise to see the same faces in Copenhagen
By Adam Becket • Published
-
Vincenzo Nibali rolls back the years with shark attack on stage 16 of the Giro d'Italia
37-year-old up to fifth on general classification with five stages left
By Adam Becket • Published
-
Elisa Longo Borghini takes a stunning solo win at Paris-Roubaix
The Italian champion takes team mate Lizzie Deignan's Queen of the Classics crown with a 32km lone effort
By Owen Rogers • Published
-
Dream Gent-Wevelgem victory lifts Elisa Balsamo to Tour of Flanders favourite status
Four victories this year have proved the world champion’s versatility but also her development since joining Trek-Segafredo
By Owen Rogers • Published
-
World champion Elisa Balsamo takes a Classics hat-trick at Gent-Wevelgem
The Italian sprinter takes a third win in eight days after heroic work from her Trek-Segafredo team
By Owen Rogers • Published
-
World champion Elisa Balsamo takes Trofeo Binda victory for Trek-Segafredo
The Italian rider timed her sprint to perfection after a tactical masterclass from her team
By Owen Rogers • Published
-
Lizzie Deignan expecting second child, will miss 2022 racing season
Paris-Roubaix winner to return in 2023 and has extended contract to 2024 with Trek-Segafredo
By Adam Becket • Published
-
'Not over yet': Concussion lingers for Ellen van Dijk after Paris-Roubaix crashes
The European road race champion fell multiple times in the first ever women's 'Hell of the North'
By Tim Bonville-Ginn • Published
-
Trek-Segafredo reveal new men's and women's team kits for 2022
The American registered team has freshened up the old designs with a simple yet bright strip
By Tim Bonville-Ginn • Published
-
Elisa Longo Borghini takes a solo success in enthralling GP Plouay 2021
Aggression pays off for the Italian who made her winning move with 12km remaining
By Owen Rogers • Published