Emily Ehrlich and Artem Shmidt win US national TT titles

Emily Ehrlich (Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty 28) and Artem Shmidt (Ineos Grenadiers) won the elite time trial races at the USA Cycling Pro Road National Championships on Wednesday, May 21.

The elite women set off under Charleston, West Virginia’s cloudy skies in the morning, and Lisa Becharas (Real Triathlon Squad) set a benchmark time early with a time of 45:19, but the pre-race favourites were still to come.

Ehrlich, a 31-year-old Detroit native, was the fastest through the intermediate split after the first lap of the flat, out-and-back-style course. Following her split time were favourites Kristen Faulkner (EF Education Oatly) and Alia Shafi (Fount Cycling Guild).

Faulkner could not match Ehrlich’s pace and finished 27 seconds off the winning time of 43:04. Shafi finished third, 1:32 behind Ehrlich.

“This is everything for me,” Ehrlich said. “If there was one thing in cycling when I started riding and racing, what I wanted to do, this was it. So this really feels like a culmination of it all for me.”

2024 champion Taylor Knibb was on the start list, but the triathlete did not end up racing. Social media posts indicate that she is preparing for the T100 triathlon in San Francisco later this month.

Elite Women's Time Trial Results

1. Emily Ehrlich (Virginia's Blue Ride Twenty 28)
2. Kristen Faulkner (EF Education Oatly)
3. Alia Shafi (Fount Cycling Guild)
4. Katherine Rusch (CCB p/b Levine Law Group)
5. Lisa Becharas (Hess Cycling Team)
6. Betty Hasse (Hess Cycling Team)
7. Tess Ivy Eleanor Edwards (Cynisca Cycling)
8. Bethany Ingram (Virginia's Blue Ride Twenty 28)
9. Marjorie Rinaldo (Fount Cycling Guild)
10. Caroline Wreszin (Skratch Labs Racing)

Charleston brought rain showers for the men’s field later in the day, but wet roads didn’t stop the contenders from setting fast times.

Track cycling specialist Anders Johnson powered his way into the hot seat, and the likes of Joshua Lebo (CS Velo Racing), Michael Garrison (MGR pb +Speedstudio), and cyclocross national champion Eric Brunner (Competitive Edge Racing) could not best his time.

Shmidt, a 21-year-old neo pro for Ineos and last year’s U23 TT national champion, blazed to a finish time of 39:03 to win by six seconds.

“It was a super fast course,” Schmidt said. “Pretty windy this year compared to last year, and it was very close. Course was very fast and hard.”

Elite racing continues with the criterium championships Friday evening, which will be livestreamed on FloBikes.

Elite Men's Time Trial Results

1. Artem Schmidt (Ineos Grenadiers)
2. Anders Johnson (Unattached)
3. Joshua Lebo (CS Velo Racing)
4. Michael Garrison (MGR pb +Speedstudio)
5. Eric Brunner (Competitive Edge Racing)
6. Brendan Rhim (Project Echelon Racing)
7. Hugo Scala Junior (Project Echelon Racing)
8. Cory Lockwood (Unattached)
9. Tyler Stites (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA)
10. Quinn Felton (CycleSport.com)