FILIPINO-AMERICAN Coryn Rivera will be part of the United States team that will vie in the 2016 International Cycling Union Road World Championships on October 15 in Doha, Qatar.
Rivera, 24 and a mainstay of the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team, was named to the seven-member US women’s squad. The road race will cover 134.5 kms of Qatar’s flat roads.
“This course suits me really well, and the team we have around us is really strong too. I will be looking to finish my season on a high note with a strong performance in Doha,” Rivera said.
Rivera won the Joe Martin Stage Race last May and the International Thuringen Rundfahrt with the UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team.
Rivera was born in Tondo but now resides in Tustin, California, with his father Wally and mother who hails from Tuguegarao City.
The dynamic sprinter has become arguably the most decorated cyclist in American history, the winner of an astounding 71 national championships. Her closets back home in Tustin, overflow with medals, trophies and other plaudits from triumphs stretching back more than a decade. She’s also only 24 years old. And just getting started.
Rivera began riding when her father, a motocross racer-turned-laboratory scientist, put her on a tandem bike when she was eight or nine. She quickly graduated to her own bike and began tagging along when Wally and his buddies hit the road.
But it turned out she had a fierce competitive streak, and soon Rivera was blitzing her father and everyone else on those informal group rides.
Eventually, Wally took her to the Redlands Bicycle Classic, the longest-running stage race in America. There was a public race and “she just crushed everybody,” he recalled.
“Starting off, she had to race with older kids—16-year-olds sometimes, and she was still just 9 or 10, and she kept winning races,” Wally said.
Her ascent was about as rapid as her finishing sprint.
Rivera quickly won national titles in her age group, then branched out into other disciplines and swept those. There were years she won nationals on the road, in the time trial and on the track, as well as titles in criteriums, mountain biking and cyclocross—a hybrid of off-road and road cycling.
Rivera captured the attention of USA Cycling, earned invitations to prestigious camps and landed a professional contract with her current team, UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling.
“Right away, she was being successful. She’s just one of the talented few,” said Mike Tamayo, the US-based team’s general manager and sporting director.
“The trick with a rider like Coryn is to make sure you’re always feeding the beast,” Tamayo said. “She needs success. Success breeds success. She keeps hitting those goals, it only makes her want more.” Lance Agcaoili, AP
