# Mara Abbott

Mara Katherine Abbott (born November 14, 1985) is an American former women's bicycle racer. In 2010, Abbott became the first US cyclist ever to win the Giro d'Italia Femminile, one of the Grand Tours of women's bicycle racing. Abbott retired after the 2016 Olympic Games 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 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 d'Italia Femminile, 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, 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, Wiggle High5 announced that Abbott had signed with them for the 2015 season.
On September 20, 2024, Abbott rode the Mountain to Desert Classic in Southwest Colorado

## 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, a sustainability organization based in Boston.

## Major results

Source:

### 2005

    3rd Road race, National Under-23 Road Championships

### 2006

    3rd Overall Mount Hood Classic

### 2007

    1st Road race, National Road Championships
    1st Overall Tour of the Gila
       1st Stage 2
    2nd Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stage 1
    2nd Overall Nature Valley Grand Prix
    2nd Overall International Tour de Toona
       1st Stage 1
    2nd Montréal World Cup
    8th Overall La Route de France
    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, National Road Championships
    2nd Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
       1st Prologue
    2nd Overall Giro del Trentino Alto Adige-Südtirol
       1st Young rider classification
    3rd Overall San Dimas Stage Race
       1st Stage 1
    4th Overall Gracia–Orlová
    7th Overall Giro della Toscana
       1st Stages 1 (TTT) & 3

### 2009

    2nd Overall San Dimas Stage Race
       1st Stage 1
    2nd Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stage 3
    3rd Overall Iurreta-Emakumeen Bira
    3rd Boulder Criterium
    4th Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
    4th Durango-Durango Emakumeen Saria
    7th Overall Giro del Trentino Alto Adige-Südtirol
    7th La Flèche Wallonne Féminine
    8th Overall Giro della Toscana
    10th Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs

### 2010

    National Road Championships
       1st Road race
       3rd Time trial
    1st Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
       1st Stages 8 & 9
    1st Overall Cascade Cycling 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
    6th Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic

### 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 Overall Tour of the Gila
       1st Stages 1 & 5
    1st Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stages 5 & 6
    1st Stage 3 Redlands Bicycle Classic
    3rd Overall Cascade Cycling Classic
    5th Philadelphia Cycling Classic

### 2014

    1st Overall Vuelta a El Salvador
       1st Stage 4
    1st Overall Tour of the Gila
       1st Stages 1 & 5
    1st Grand Prix de Oriente
    3rd Grand Prix GSB
    3rd Grand Prix el Salvador
    4th Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
    7th Philadelphia Cycling Classic

### 2015

    1st Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
       1st Stage 3
    1st Overall Tour of the Gila
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stages 1 & 5
    2nd Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
       1st Stage 9

### 2016

    1st Overall Tour of the Gila
       1st Mountains classification
       1st Stages 1 & 5
    1st Mountains classification Tour of California
    4th Road race, Summer Olympics
    5th Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
       1st Stage 5