Mara Abbott

Mara Abbott

File:Quaregnon - Le Samyn des Dames & Le Samyn, 2 mars 2016, départ (B110).JPG Abbott at the 2016 Le Samyn des Dames
Personal information
Full name	Mara Katherine Abbott
Born	(1985-11-14) November 14, 1985 Boulder, Colorado, United States
Height	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Weight	115 lb (52 kg)
Team information
Current team	Wiggle High5
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climbing specialist
Amateur team(s)
2015	LA Sweat
Professional team(s)
2007	Webcor Builders
2008–2009	HTC-Highroad Women
2010	Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12
2011	Diadora-Pasta Zara
2013	Exergy TWENTY16
2014	UnitedHealthcare Women’s Team
2015–	Wiggle High5
Major wins
Stage races Giro Rosa (2010, 2013) Tour of the Gila (2007, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) Vuelta a El Salvador (2014) One day races National Road Race Champion (2007, 2010)
Infobox last updated on 9 May 2016

Mara Katherine Abbott (born November 14, 1985) is an American professional women's bicycle racer who rides on the Wiggle High5 team. In 2010, Abbott became the first American ever to win the Giro Donne, one of the Grand Tours of women's bicycle racing.

Early life and amateur career

Abbott was born and, as of 2011, still lives in Boulder, Colorado. She was a competitive swimmer, primarily specializing in distance freestyle races, at Whitman College, which is where she took up road bicycle racing as a springtime activity. After competing for Whitman in two straight National College Cycling Association Division II championships, where the team won back-to-back championships in both the team time trial and the team omnium, and Abbott won back-to-back championships in the road race and also won the criterium and the individual omnium in 2006, Abbott placed fifth in the USA National Championship Women's Road Race. She also won back-to-back championships in the Mount Evans Hill Climb in 2005 and 2006.

Professional career

Abbott turned professional in 2007 and joined the Webcor Builders team. In addition to a repeat of her college successes, she won one stage and the overall title in the Tour of the Gila and the 2007 National Cycling Championships women's road race championship, defeating former champions Kristin Armstrong and Amber Neben in a sprint to the finish. She also continued to swim for Whitman in the fall and graduated with a degree in economics from Whitman.

Abbott joined the HTC-Columbia Women's Team in 2008 and began to excel in European races, winning a mountain stage in the Giro della Toscana. The next year, she won stage 3 and the King of the Mountains jersey in the Giro Donne, finishing second overall. In 2010, Abbott joined the Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 team and repeated her victories at the Tour of the Gila and the USA NAtional Championship Women's Road Race. She won two more stages and the overall championship at the Giro Donne, which was the only women's Grand Tour event held in 2010. That same month, she won one stage and the overall title at the Cascade Cycling Classic. She also won one stage and finished second in the Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin.

For 2011, Abbott moved to the Diadora-Pasta Zara-Manhattan team. She won one stage and finished second overall in the Tour of the Gila, behind 1996 Canadian Olympic medalist Clara Hughes.

In 2013, Abbot won her second Giro Rosa. Later that season it was announced that she would join the new UnitedHealthcare Women’s Team in 2014.

On October 7 Wiggle High5 announced that Abbott has signed with them for the 2015 season.

Off the bike

In addition to cycling, Abbott is a yoga instructor.

Palmares

Source:

2005

3rd U23 National Road Cycling Championships

2006

3rd Overall Mount Hood Classic

2007

1st Overall Tour of the Gila

1st Stage 2

1st National Road Cycling Championships

2nd Overall Redlands Cycling Classic

1st Stage 1

2nd Montréal World Cup

2nd Overall Nature Valley Grand Prix

2nd Overall Tour de Toona

1st stage 1

2008

1st Stage 4 Mount Hood Classic

1st Stage 1 Krasna Lipa Tour Féminine

1st Stage 1 (TTT) & 3 Giro della Toscana

2nd Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic

1st Prologue

2nd Overall Giro del Trentino

2nd National Time Trial Championships

3rd Overall San Dimas Stage Race

1st Stage 1

2009

2nd Overall San Dimas Stage Race

1st Stage 1

2nd Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile

1st Stage 3

1st Mountains classification

3rd Boulder Criterium

3rd Overall Emakumeen Bira

2010

1st National Road Cycling Championships

1st Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile

1st Stages 8 & 9

1st Overall Cascade Classic

1st Stage 3

1st Overall Tour of the Gila

1st Stage 1

2nd Overall San Dimas Stage Race

1st Stage 1

2nd Overall Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin

1st Stage 4

3rd National Time Trial Championships

2011

2nd Overall Tour of the Gila

1st Stage 1

10th Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile

2013

1st Overall San Dimas Stage Race

1st Stage 1

1st Stage 3 Redlands Bicycle Classic

1st Overall Tour of the Gila

1st Stages 1 & 5

1st Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile

1st Mountains classification

1st Stages 5 and 6

3rd Overall Cascade Classic

2014

1st Grand Prix de Oriente

1st Overall Vuelta a El Salvador

1st Stage 4

1st Overall Tour of the Gila

1st Stages 1 & 5

2015

1st Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic

1st Stage 3

1st Overall Tour of the Gila

1st Stages 1 & 5

2nd Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile

1st Stage 9

2016

1st Overall Tour of the Gila

1st Stages 1 & 5

External links

• Mara Abbott at Cycling Archives
• Mara Abbott profile at cqranking.com
• Mara Abbott at the United States Olympic Committee

• Profile at Cycling Archives; Profile at Cycling Quotient