Mara Katherine Abbott (born November 14, 1985) is a US former professional women's bicycle racer. In 2010, Abbott became the first US cyclist ever to win the

Giro Donne The is an annual elite women's road bicycle racing stage race. It was rebranded from 2013-2020 as the Giro Rosa, having been branded the Giro Donne until 2012 and again in 2021. It has been considered the most prestigious stage race in women's roa ...

, one of the

Grand Tours In road bicycle racing, a Grand Tour is one of the three major European professional cycling stage races: Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España. Collectively they are termed the ''Grand Tours'', and all three races are similar in ...

of women's bicycle racing. Abbott retired after the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

road race.

Early life and amateur career

Abbott was born in and, as of 2016, still lives in Boulder, Colorado. She was a competitive swimmer, primarily specializing in distance

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * ICD Freestyle, a paintball marker * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott La ...

races, at

Whitman College Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. The school offers 53 majors and 33 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, and it has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9:1. Whitman was the first college in the Pacifi ...

, 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 Webcor is a commercial construction contractor with headquarters in San Francisco, California. The firm also has regional offices in Alameda, California, Alameda, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and Hawaii, and is among the largest builders in ...

team. In addition to a repeat of her college successes, she won one stage and the overall title in the

Tour of the Gila The Tour of the Gila is a cycling stage race for both men and women located in New Mexico, United States. It is sponsored by the component maker SRAM. The "Gila" began in 1987. Beginning in 2012, the men's Gila has been added to the UCI America ...

and the

2007 National Cycling Championships The 2007 national road cycling championships took place throughout the year, with the majority taking place in late June and early July, although there are some exceptions. The National Championships are an annual event and have taken place for ma ...

women's road race championship, defeating former champions

Kristin Armstrong Kristin Armstrong Savola (; born August 11, 1973) is a former professional road bicycle racer and three-time Olympic gold medalist, the winner of the women's individual time trial in 2008, 2012, and 2016. Before temporarily retiring to start a ...

and

Amber Neben Amber Leone Neben (born February 18, 1975) is an American racing cyclist, who most recently rode for UCI Women's Continental Team . Neben won the UCI world time trial championship in 2008 and 2016 as well as the U.S. national road race champions ...

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 The King of the Mountains (KoM) is an award given to the best climbing specialist in a men's cycling road race; in women's cycle racing, Queen of the Mountains (QoM) is used. While the title may be given to the rider who achieves the highest po ...

jersey in the

, finishing second overall. In 2010, Abbott joined the Peanut Butter & Co. TWENTY12 team and repeated her victories at the

and the USA National Championship Women's Road Race. She won two more stages and the overall championship at the

, 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 The Cascade Cycling Classic was the longest running elite road bicycle racing stage race in the United States (1980–2019), with 2018 being the only year the race was not held. The race took place in the Central Oregon region and was based in Be ...

. She also won one stage and finished second in the

Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin The Tour de l'Aude Cycliste Féminin was the longest running UCI event on the women's elite cycle racing calendar. It had been held annually in the Aude Aude (; ) is a Departments of France, department in Southern France, located in the Occi ...

. For 2011, Abbott moved to the Diadora-Pasta Zara-Manhattan team. She won one stage and finished second overall in the

, behind 1996 Canadian Olympic medalist

Clara Hughes Clara Hughes, (born September 27, 1972) is a Canadian cyclist and speed skater who has won multiple Olympic medals in both sports. Hughes won two bronze in the 1996 Summer Olympics and four medals (one gold, one silver, two bronze) over the co ...

. In 2013, Abbott 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, 2014, announced that Abbott had signed with them for the 2015 season.

Off the bike

In addition to cycling, Abbott is a yoga instructor. She is a freelance writer published in the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colorado as well as the Wall Street Journal and espnW. As of March 2021, she works for

Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

, a sustainability organization based in Boston.

Major results

Source:Profile
at ''Cycling Archives''
Profile at Cycling Quotient
/ref> ;2005 : 3rd Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships ;2006 : 3rd Overall Mount Hood Classic ;2007 : 1st MaillotUSA

Road race, National Road Championships : 1st Jersey red

Overall

::1st Stage 2 : 2nd Overall

Redlands Bicycle Classic The Redlands Bicycle Classic is a cycling stage race located in Redlands, California, United States that has been held since 1985. It consists of three road races, an individual time trial and a criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race ...

::1st Mountains classification ::1st Stage 1 : 2nd Overall

Nature Valley Grand Prix The North Star Grand Prix is a men's and women's road bicycle racing stage race held each June in Minnesota, United States, as part of the North Star Bicycle Festival. An event was added in North Mankato in 2016. The North Star Grand Prix is on ...

: 2nd Overall

International Tour de Toona The International Tour de Toona was a stage bicycle race held in Central Pennsylvania in July from 1987 until 2011. The event became the largest pro-am cycling event in North America and had stages spanning Blair, Cambria, Bedford, and Somerset ...

::1st Stage 1 : 2nd Montréal World Cup : 8th Overall

La Route de France The Route de France Féminine is a women's cycle race. First held in 2006, it was rated 2.2 by the UCI for the 2006 and 2007 edition, and 2.1 since. The race was cancelled in 2011, but returned the next year. With the ending of the Grande Boucle ...

: 9th Overall Giro della Toscana Int. Femminile – Memorial Michela Fanini ;2008 : 1st Stage 4 Mount Hood Classic : 1st Stage 1 Tour de Feminin-Krásná Lípa : 2nd

Time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

, National Road Championships : 2nd Overall

::1st

Prologue A prologue or prolog (from Greek πρόλογος ''prólogos'', from πρό ''pró'', "before" and λόγος ''lógos'', "word") is an opening to a story that establishes the context and gives background details, often some earlier story that ...

: 2nd Overall

Giro del Trentino Alto Adige-Südtirol Giro del Trentino Alto Adige-Südtirol was a women's cycle race Cycle sport is competitive physical activity using bicycles. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike rac ...

::1st Young rider classification : 3rd Overall

San Dimas Stage Race The San Dimas Stage Race is a stage cycling race held annually in the San Gabriel Mountains in Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern po ...

::1st Stage 1 : 4th Overall

Gracia–Orlová Gracia–Orlová is a women's staged cycle race which takes place in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic and in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland. It was created in 1987. Since 2004, it starts in Dětmarovice. A mountain stag ...

: 7th Overall

Giro della Toscana The Giro di Toscana is a road bicycle race held annually in Tuscany, Italy. From 2005 to 2014, the race has been organised as a 1.1 event on the UCI Europe Tour. The race was not held in 2015. On 4 April 2016 it was announced that the race will ...

::1st Stages 1 ( TTT) & 3 ;2009 : 2nd Overall

::1st Stage 1 : 2nd Overall

Giro d'Italia Femminile The is an annual elite women's road bicycle racing stage race. It was rebranded from 2013-2020 as the Giro Rosa, having been branded the Giro Donne until 2012 and again in 2021. It has been considered the most prestigious stage race in women's roa ...

::1st

Mountains A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher th ...

classification ::1st Stage 3 : 3rd Overall

Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira The Emakumeen Euskal Bira was a women's cycling race held in the Basque Country, Spain. It was held annually from 1988 to 2019, starting out as a two-stage race and building up to five stages in 2007. One of these stages was always a double stag ...

: 3rd

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

Criterium A criterium, or crit, is a bike race consisting of several laps around a closed circuit, the length of each lap or circuit ranging from about 400 m to 10,000 m. Overview Race length can be determined by a number of laps or total time ...

: 4th Overall

: 4th Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria : 7th Overall

: 7th

La Flèche Wallonne Féminine La Flèche Wallonne Féminine is a professional women's bicycle road race held each year in Wallonia, Belgium, in April. It is part of the UCI Women's World Tour, cycling's season-long competition of top-tier races, in which it is the third-olde ...

: 8th Overall

: 10th

Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs The Festival Luxembourgeois du cyclisme féminin Elsy Jacobs formerly known as the Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs is an international women's road bicycle race held in Garnich, Luxembourg. Since 2008 this event is on the UCI women's elite cycle racing ...

;2010 : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotUSA

Road race ::3rd

: 1st

Overall

::1st Stages 8 & 9 : 1st Overall

::1st Stage 3 : 1st Jersey red

Overall

::1st Stage 1 : 2nd Overall

::1st Stage 4 : 6th Overall

;2011 : 2nd Overall

::1st Stage 1 : 10th Overall

;2013 : 1st Overall

::1st Stage 1 : 1st Jersey red

Overall

::1st Stages 1 & 5 : 1st Jersey pink

Overall

::1st

Mountains classification ::1st Stages 5 & 6 : 1st Stage 3

: 3rd Overall

: 5th Philadelphia Cycling Classic ;2014 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

Vuelta a El Salvador The Vuelta Ciclista a El Salvador (''English'': Tour of El Salvador) is a multi-day road bicycle racing stage race held annually in late April and early May in El Salvador. The Vuelta a El Salvador carries a UCI rating of 2.2 and is part of the U ...

::1st Stage 4 : 1st Jersey red

Overall

::1st Stages 1 & 5 : 1st Grand Prix de Oriente : 3rd

Grand Prix GSB The Grand Prix GSB (Grand Saint Bernard) is an elite women's professional one-day road bicycle race held in El Salvador. Past winners References {{reflist Cycle races in El Salvador Women's road bicycle races ...

: 3rd Grand Prix el Salvador : 4th Overall

: 7th Philadelphia Cycling Classic ;2015 : 1st Jersey yellow

Overall

::1st Stage 3 : 1st Jersey red

Overall

::1st Mountains classification ::1st Stages 1 & 5 : 2nd Overall

::1st Stage 9 ;2016 : 1st Jersey red

Overall

::1st Mountains classification ::1st Stages 1 & 5 : 1st Jersey polkadot

Mountains classification

Tour of California The Tour of California (officially sponsored as the Amgen Tour of California) was an annual professional road bicycle racing, road cycling stage race on the UCI World Tour and USA Cycling Professional Tour that ran from 2006 to 2019. It was the ...

: 4th Road race,

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

: 5th Overall

::1st Stage 5

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott, Mara 1985 births Living people American female cyclists American cycling road race champions Sportspeople from Boulder, Colorado Whitman College alumni Cyclists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists of the United States 21st-century American women Cyclists from Colorado