Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Mara Abbott: Your Racejunkie Rider Profile o' the Week

Yap, Contatwerp, yap, the 2011 Tour Down Armstrong's Gonna Hijack the Whole !@#$in' Thing, yap: for sheer bad!@#ness, not to mention a clean rap sheet, ya can't beat U.S. climbing goddess Mara Abbott:

The Scoop: the only US woman ever to win the Giro d' Italia Femminile, and even better, she nailed it by attacking and crushing her formidable competition, including the usually-unbeatable Emma Pooley, on the uphill boulevard o' broken dreams, the Stelvio. What does this get her, besides well-deserved eternal glory? That's right, baby, a contract with Italian squad Safi-Pasta Zara for 2011 so at least it can claim some credit for the next time she wins it. Forza ragazza! The replay:

Personal: Born in 1985. Besides being a road warrior, she's also a champion swimmer, studying to be a yoga instructor, and fond of corn on the cob. And while we're at it, a bitchin' website. What's not to like?

Palmares: besides That Which Cannot Be More Fabulous, she also took the queen stage of the Tour l'Aude this year, she's the newly-crowned 2010 US Road Race champ, she was second in the Giro Donne last year, she's won at Redlands, she's the 2007 US Road Race champ, she's...damn, besides the men's Tour de France, what *hasn't* she won?

M.O.: despite the fact that if anyone's earned the right to be a hideously-annoying egomaniacal braggart, she has, well, she ain't. But if you want to hear about every pedal stroke her teammates put in to control the stage, she's happy to tell you. Um, any riders we can think of who might want to take class-act humility lessons from Mara?

Spiffy Photo: fortunately (or unfortunately, for the more salacious among you), the women's pro peloton does *not* tend towards the sort of Tom Boonen come-hitheresque X-rated film clips that can embarrass the hell out of one's own kids 15 years down the line, but the woman *does* look both joyous and smashing in the maglia rosa. You go, Mara--and I can't wait to see you take it again next year!

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