VOL. 53 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 20, 2016 P61
II INDIVIDUAL HONORS
For Taylor Robert, it was more than a team
win—he also took the top individual honors at
the ISDE. It marked the second time in history
that a U.S. rider had pulled off such a feat,
Ryan Sipes being the first American to claim
the overall win the year before.
"I want to win personally and I wanted to win
for the team, so I was riding this fine line and
I didn't want to end up pushing too hard and
wreck and mess it up for the team," Robert
said.
"Last year, Ryan was the first American to
win the overall, which was huge," Robert said.
"But it was a little bit different situation because
our whole team was out at that point, except for
a few of us. So he could just go out there and
push as hard as he wanted, and if he ruined it,
it was only on him. I had only a 12-second lead
and I was riding this fine line between want-
ing to win for myself and wanting to win for the
overall. You don't really get anything for the win
for yourself; it's more just bragging rights, but
it's still such a cool accomplishment. I really
wanted to put the icing on the cake, but it just
made everything really nerve-wracking."
Kallonen says he wasn't particularly worried about
Robert's individual efforts jeopardizing the chance
for the overall win, and didn't feel the need to rein
him in.
"He's a very solid and reliable rider, so I know he
knows his limits. He's a very smooth rider so I wasn't
expecting him trying to do something crazy," Kal-
lonen said. "It was a little bit of a shock on day five
in the first test when he crashed and the bike was
all bent up. I was like, 'Oh, this could be bad.' It was
a realization that things can happen even to Taylor
who's a very smooth and conservative rider. He
You know he's
happy right now.
Duvall walks his bike into par ferme after another long day on the trail.
