Rylee wins the legendary Cry Baby Hill

Day 3 McElroy River Parks Criterium aka Cry Baby Hill

1. Rylee McMullen (NZL) Virginia's Blue Ridge TWENTY28
2. Alexis Magner (USA) Cynisca Cycling
3. Cassidy Hickey (USA) CCB
4. Katherine Sarkisov (USA) CCB
5. Chloe Patrick (USA) Cynisca Cycling

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"Tulsa Tough is my favourite race weekend of the year. This was my fifth time racing it, and the vibes are always unmatched. The crowds and the chaos never gets old. The omnium format is always fun, and I came in looking to put together a consistent weekend. But night one was rough. I had a super bad start that pretty much took me out of contention for the overall. Honestly, after that, I didn’t think a podium would even be possible. I came into day two feeling pretty disappointed, but also really motivated. I committed to my plan and managed to turn things around with a podium in the Arts District. Olivia also really rallied and showed just how strong her sprint is, picking up two big primes.

Cry Baby Hill on the final day was the one I’d been targeting since I first raced Tulsa Tough in 2017. I told Nicola months ago that it was the race I wanted to win more than anything this year. I woke up pretty sick and was really unsure if I could do it. I knew I could fake it for an hour though especially with how bad I wanted to win My plan was to trust my fitness and make the race hard from the start. I made three solid attempts to get away early, but instead of breaking it open, the field just kept shrinking with 75% of the 90 starters dropped by half way.

I got gapped twice from the lead split in the last eight laps, but I stayed calm. I really believed it would come back together. And when Alexis attacked going into the final descent, I jumped on her wheel straight away. I looked back and saw a small split, and knew from then that I could win.

I'm so happy to have pulled it off. It was really special knowing the whole VBR twenty28 team was watching from home and really believing in me. This win meant a lot!! Somehow also managed to slide into 3rd overall for the omnium which was also a nice bonus." - Rylee

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Photo: Kai Caddy