Amber Neben is the Pan-American Time Trial Champion. I know that the field here is a bit truncated with the Ardennes going on, but there were still the likes of Alison Jackson, Lauren Stephens and Teniel Campbell here who we are familiar with from the World Tour, and Neben is the last remnant of that US scene world of the TT mayfly, or so it seems (at least unless Chloe Dygert can recover from her horrific Imola crash fully). But the fact remains that she is now 48 years old, and just rocks up to a small number of TTs per year, and is still competing with the best there, Reminiscent of late career Jeannie Longo.
Aranza Villalón, the Chilean who rides on the Spanish domestic scene, took silver, and Jackson the bronze. They were well spread out and around a minute apart from one another, then it got crowded from 4th down, with the rest of the bunch very compressed for time from Catalina Soto in 4th to Bermuda's Caitlin Conyers in 11th. The rider I was most intrigued by the level of, Lilibeth Chacón, did not compete as it looks like there are no Venezuelans in the championships at all. Chacón is interesting to follow because she absolutely crushes the field in the South American péloton especially in the climbs, but she also has strong Individual Pursuit and ITT background - but she had a doping suspension in her youth which makes her an unattractive proposition to teams at higher levels, and so she is passed over by the European and North American teams that are scouting down here, with the likes of Peñuela and Anet Barrera finding their way to the US, and Spanish domestic teams picking up a lot of the remainder, with Núñez of Ecuador, Villalón and Soto of Chile, Espinola of Paraguay, Ramírez of Mexico and Ducreux of Panama all having upped sticks to Europe (not to mention those that aren't here, like Paula Patiño and Arlenis Sierra), but performing at or around her level is a useful barometer of who is likely to move up a level.
Aranza Villalón, the Chilean who rides on the Spanish domestic scene, took silver, and Jackson the bronze. They were well spread out and around a minute apart from one another, then it got crowded from 4th down, with the rest of the bunch very compressed for time from Catalina Soto in 4th to Bermuda's Caitlin Conyers in 11th. The rider I was most intrigued by the level of, Lilibeth Chacón, did not compete as it looks like there are no Venezuelans in the championships at all. Chacón is interesting to follow because she absolutely crushes the field in the South American péloton especially in the climbs, but she also has strong Individual Pursuit and ITT background - but she had a doping suspension in her youth which makes her an unattractive proposition to teams at higher levels, and so she is passed over by the European and North American teams that are scouting down here, with the likes of Peñuela and Anet Barrera finding their way to the US, and Spanish domestic teams picking up a lot of the remainder, with Núñez of Ecuador, Villalón and Soto of Chile, Espinola of Paraguay, Ramírez of Mexico and Ducreux of Panama all having upped sticks to Europe (not to mention those that aren't here, like Paula Patiño and Arlenis Sierra), but performing at or around her level is a useful barometer of who is likely to move up a level.
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