Cyniscas Racing in UCI World Road and Gravel Championships

Cyniscas Fiona Mangan, Mara Roldan and Lauren Stephens will represent their respective countries at the UCI Women’s Elite World Road Race Championships in Zurich, Switzerland. And as the recently crowned USA Gravel National Champion, Lauren will also complete in the UCI Gravel National Championships in Belgium.

Fiona is the current Ireland National road race and individual time trial (ITT) champion. She has raced strongly all season supporting her teammates and with several top ten finishes. Fiona is excited to compete in her first world championships in the road race.

Mara won the Canadian National U23 road and ITT championships and placed third in the elite road race landing her an invitation to race for Canada in the UCI world championships. Her impressive 2024 season was highlighted by several wins and top tens including her first stage win in a UCI race at the Tour of Portugal. Mara will compete in the road race and ITT.

Lauren will switch gears from her recent gravel victories to compete for Team USA at the road world championships in the road race, ITT and TT relay race. Lauren is the 2024 PanAm Continental Road Champion and currently ranks second in the US in UCI points, just behind Olympic Champion Kristen Faulkner.

Best of luck to these talented women!

Lauren Grinds Up the Gravel with Multiple Wins

Mid-season, Cynisca Lauren Stephens turned her training focus to gravel, and the switch in terrain has paid off! After traveling to Brazil and taking Gold in the PanAm Road Race Championship in late May, Lauren eased into the gravel season with a win at Unbound 100. She then began altitude training and captured back-to-back gravel wins at SBT Gravel and Gravel Worlds in August. Along the way, she also won the tough FoCo Fondo in Fort Collins.

Last weekend, she defended her USA Cycling Gravel National Championship title in Gering, Nebraska. She completed the 131.5-mile USA Gravel National Championship course in western Nebraska  on Sept. 8 in 6:31:44  — 1:21 ahead of second place Lauren De Crescenzo.

When asked about her winning strategy at Nationals, Lauren shared with USA Cycling, “I was just focusing on putting an attack in on the last climb. I made my attack on the steepest part and knew straight away that I got a decent gap…. It’s really exciting to get to wear the Stars and Stripes for another year.”

Lauren now has her sights set on the UCI Gravel World Championships in Belgium on October 5. She finished sixth at last year’s UCI world championships despite an unfortunate mechanical 3/4 of the way through the race.