Tour de Scottsdale

For Caitlyn Kellogg, there was some ‘pressure’ in winning the women’s 62-mile ride in the HonorHealth Tour de Scottsdale.

 

For Chad Beyer, maybe a little  pressure, given he finished second a year ago.

 

“I wanted to come back and defend the win, for sure,” said Kellogg, who made it back-to-back titles in the event. “It’s my local, home race so there is a lot of personal attachment to this. I ride these roads all the time.”

Caitlyn Kellogg, women's 62-mile winner

 

Saturday, she rode well, coming in at 2 hours, 39 minutes. She knows the ride like the back of her hand.

 

Yet, she wasn’t sure she had won it – until she did as she finished in a group of men.

 

“In the men’s race, they had a breakaway of about 10 people and the main group didn’t want to set a fast pace and I was in a group where we were going 17 miles an hour and I was (thinking), ‘guys, we have to pick up the pace,’” she said. “I thought there were going to be women catching me.”

 

They didn’t. Gwen Talaski finished second at 2:37.30. And Jo Roberts finished third right behind Talaski.

 

Kellogg said she felt good about her performance and didn’t want to compare last year’s title.

 

“They are so different,” she said. “It was a mental game where I felt a lot better getting to the finish line and not having to do that climb (as opposed to last year) but they both felt really good. I’m happy with it.”

Chad Beyer (left) talking with 98.7 sports talk host Kevin McCabe.

 

As was Beyer, who finished in 2:18.50 and just ahead of Peter Karinen, who finished in 2:18.53.

 

“That was the main focus (of trying to win) but you never know how it’s going to play out,” said Beyer.  

 

Again, it was a good day for Beyer who was able to get away with a group in the breakaway and stay out front.

 

He said he had a good feeling he’d be near the top finishers with about 20 miles left in the race.

 

“I could kind of get a sense of how strong the others were in the breakaway as we were rotating through,” he said. “I felt there may have been one or two other guys that were going to be difficult to beat but when we hit Palisades that’s when I knew.”

 

How did it feel winning?

 

“I feel good,” he said. “It feels awesome.”