Owatonna’s Church wins stage at Nations Cup

Owatonna native Nolan Church competed in the Junior Nations Cup at Tour de l’Abitibi in Montreal, Quebec, Canada earlier this summer representing the USA and taking fifth place while also winning the fifth stage of the race – a staggering 87-mile leg.

Church’s feat is all the more impressive considering the race was seven stages over the course of six days with his fifth stage win coming in the longest race of the week.

“The last few miles was with a group of three. We were working together pretty well, but once we went up the last hill, I attacked at about 500 meters to go. None of the other guys responded so I knew I was going to win when they didn’t change their behavior. It was a great feeling crossing over the line,” said Church.

The win in the fifth stage earned him 10 bonus seconds, which subtracted 10 seconds from his total time for the entire stage race.

A win in the longest stage proved critical for his overall placement because time gaps between racers in longer stages are much more pronounced.

“Winning the longer stages is important because in the sprints, everyone is crossing at almost the same time. There isn’t much room to make up time,” said Church.

Church’s leg win gave him his aforementioned 10 seconds and another 14 seconds to the second-place finisher, meaning he gained 24 seconds on all racers.

Over the week, Church completed seven stages with two sprints and five longer races.

“Stage one was 72 miles, stage two 63, stages three and four were time trials – so five miles and 36 miles – stage five was 87, six was 76 and stage seven was 73,” said Church.

Out of the seven stages, Church finished in the top 10 three times and finished the race with a cumulative time of 15 hours, seven minutes and 27 seconds.

The difference between him and the first-place finisher was four minutes and eight seconds.

His fifth-place finish came in a field of 90 riders including athletes representing countries from all around the world.

This race was Church’s first time racing for the USA; a feat he hopes to continue as his cycling career continues.

“It was cool because I got to wear the USA national team kit – and you get to keep it too,” said Church with a laugh.

Church attended Owatonna High School for his freshman and sophomore years before transferring to a boarding school in Virginia to pursue his cycling career in a state where he could train year-round.

His experience in cycling came from competing in triathlons as a youth before focusing on cycling.