"I think me trying to be a better teammate on and off the bike really helped us pull through" - Chloé Dygert on Team Pursuit gold success
Track Cycling
They made it. Quartet Chloé Dygert, Jen Valente, Lily Williams and newcomer Kristen Faulkner pulled off a stunning upset against New Zealand in the gold medal final of Wednesday's Team Pursuit. After a bronze and two silvers, everything finally clicked for USA's most important event on the track programme.
"When I came into the program in 2016, this was the medal that USA cycling was aiming for more than any other discipline," Dygert begins at Cyclingnews after the race. "This has been the focus from the beginning of my career, and there's a lot of support in this program. And with the success that we have had, we were able to bring in strong riders. We recruited Lily, we recruited Faulkner and now we're able to finally pull it off."
The arrival of Faulkner breathed new life into the team, but her strength alone wasn't enough to bring home the gold medal. For that also the time trial world champion Dygert needed not only to push the best of her power but also to cooperate with her teammates.
"I was very stubborn - I think me kind of getting over my myself and trying to be a better teammate on and off the bike, I think that really helped pull it together a lot," Dygert said. "I had a whole road program just like the other girls did, when I was focused on the time trial I wasn't always there with the team, and I know that was really hard for them." Forming better relationships off the bike, she said, helped them on the bike.
In the end, it was just enough to defend the gold medals against the New Zealand, however there was a strong impression that the US women could have gone even faster with more cohesion. Williams and Faulkner were clearly struggling to keep up with Dygert's powerful pulls in the final laps. It might have cost them a world record. "I don't exactly know what happened," Dygert said, "But it's a win, and that's really all we wanted. Anything extra would have great but the gold medal is what we aimed for today."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Yes, so why not make comments less pointless?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - There really was nothing in it. Schreiber was so much faster, and Brand was fighting to stay in the wheel in the sprint. Schreiber did move a bit, but to say she closed the door doesn't make sense because Brand couldn't enter it anyway, abd she wasn't impeded.Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026
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