Mara Abbott

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 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, 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, 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 MaillotUSA.PNG Road race, National Road Championships
 * 1st Jersey red.svg 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 Jersey green.svg 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 MaillotUSA.PNG Road race
 * 3rd Time trial
 * 1st Jersey pink.svg Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
 * 1st Stages 8 & 9
 * 1st Overall Cascade Cycling Classic
 * 1st Stage 3
 * 1st Jersey red.svg 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 Jersey red.svg Overall Tour of the Gila
 * 1st Stages 1 & 5
 * 1st Jersey pink.svg Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
 * 1st Jersey green.svg Mountains classification
 * 1st Stages 5 & 6
 * 1st Stage 3 Redlands Bicycle Classic
 * 3rd Overall Cascade Cycling Classic
 * 5th Philadelphia Cycling Classic


 * 2014
 * 1st Jersey yellow.svg Overall Vuelta a El Salvador
 * 1st Stage 4
 * 1st Jersey red.svg 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 Jersey yellow.svg Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
 * 1st Stage 3
 * 1st Jersey red.svg Overall Tour of the Gila
 * 1st Mountains classification
 * 1st Stages 1 & 5
 * 2nd Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
 * 1st Stage 9


 * 2016
 * 1st Jersey red.svg Overall Tour of the Gila
 * 1st Mountains classification
 * 1st Stages 1 & 5
 * 1st Jersey polkadot.svg Mountains classification Tour of California
 * 4th Road race, Summer Olympics
 * 5th Overall Giro d'Italia Femminile
 * 1st Stage 5