Chloé Dygert just made her comeback at the USA National Championships

Two hundred and sixty-six days since her horrific crash in the World Championship time trial in Imola Chloé Dygert has returned to racing on the road. The Canyon-SRAM rider won the USA National Championship ITT by 27 seconds on Thursday, beating Amber Neben to take her first elite national title.

The last time Dygert raced the ITT at Nationals was in 2019 where she placed second behind Neben. She became the world ITT champion later that year ahead of Anna van der Breggen and Annemiek van Vleuten.

Dygert has been social media silent since December 15, 2020, so any news or updates of her comeback process have not been readily available to the public. Still, USA Cycling tapped her to race the road race, time trial, and team pursuit at the Olympic Games in Tokyo later this summer. She has been in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center with all the resources USAC can offer to help her get back to her winning ways before Tokyo.

The crash in Imola was a bad one and Dygert sustained serious lacerations to her leg. Questions of whether or not she would be able to return to racing before the Olympic Games ran rampant, but the team around her maintained that if anyone could come back it would be Dygert.

With this first race back Dygert has proven a point. Not only is she back on the bike, but she has also made an incredible recovery. As of Thursday, there is not a startlist published for the women’s road race at the National Championships, so it’s not clear if Dygert will test out her leg in a full peloton, but if she is she could take the double victory in Knoxville.

This story is ongoing.