GIRO ROSA FRIDAY-JULY 10

Little Rock cyclist Lechuga gears up for 2nd Italy trip

Little Rock’s Scotti Lechuga is having her best season as a professional cyclist heading into the Giro Rosa, a 10-day stage race in Italy. She is in her first year with the California-based Hagens Berman-Supermint team.
Little Rock’s Scotti Lechuga is having her best season as a professional cyclist heading into the Giro Rosa, a 10-day stage race in Italy. She is in her first year with the California-based Hagens Berman-Supermint team.

Little Rock professional cyclist Scotti Lechuga's second appearance in the 10-day Giro Rosa may offer her a better chance to race than simply ride as a member of her team's supporting cast.

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Little Rock professional cyclist Scotti Lechuga.

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Success this year has given Scotti Lechuga more confidence, according to her husband Ernie Lechuga, who is also her coach.

Lechuga, 33, will be one of 144 women lining up Friday for the Giro d'Italia Internationazionale Femminile in Italy, the women's version of the famed Tour de France.

The Giro Rosa is the longest and most challenging race on the women's calendar, consisting of time trials and mountain stages similar to the more well-known men's race, which starts Saturday.

"It's very grueling," Lechuga said from her training camp in Los Angeles, before flying with her team, Hagens Berman-Supermint, to Italy. "I'm expecting it to be extremely competitive."

Overall victory in the Giro Rosa goes to the rider with the least amount of accumulated time over the course of the race, with individual stage wins and other prizes -- the climber's jersey, the sprinter's jersey, etc. -- up for grabs each day.

Hagens Berman-Supermint doesn't have one of the favorites for the overall victory, Lechuga said, which will allow her and her teammates to be aggressive and race for stage victories and perhaps snag a day or two in the pink leader's jersey.

"If the opportunity is there to be in a good general classification position, then we'll rally around that," Lechuga said, "but we're focusing on it like it's 10 individual stages."

Lechuga debuted at the Giro Rosa on the powerful, U.S.-based United Healthcare team in 2014, during her first year as a professional.

She rode in support of defending champion Mara Abbott, the only American winner of the race (she also won in 2010).

"My job was not to think about myself but to keep her in good position," Lechuga said. "Some days I finished in the group and some days I got dropped."

Abbott finished fifth, Lechuga was 131st.

That experience could pay off this year. Two of her teammates are Italian and will be looking to ride well on their home roads.

"We're not going to the Giro just to sit and ride," teammate and Hagens Berman-Supermint co-owner Lindsay Bayer said. "Most of the roster is experienced with European races and some -- including Scotti -- have already competed in the Giro."

Lechuga is not a member of the U.S. team, despite having her best season as a pro. The U.S. team was selected by USA Cycling based on results in previous races.

Lechuga scored an overall victory at the Tucson Bicycle Classic in March and a victory in stage one at Southern California's Redlands Cycling Classic in April, the first big race of the year. She also finished just off the overall podium in fourth at Fayetteville's Joe Martin Stage Race in April.

Her third professional season has been much different from the first two. This is the first year since she, her husband/coach Ernie and their 4-year-old twin boys, Eli and Ethan, sold off most of their belongings, let the lease expire on their already little-used Little Rock apartment and hit the road in a 2008 Fleetwood Excursion bus. But they still consider Little Rock their home base.

The mobile Lechugas are now able to travel a bit easier to races -- the boys were there with hugs as she crossed the line in first place at Redlands -- and also hole up in places such as Los Angeles, where Ernie's family helps with watching the twins while Scotti trains.

"To have them with her now gives her peace of mind that the boys are in a place where they feel at home," said husband Ernie Lechuga, a former professional racer.

Her success this year has translated into more confidence.

"She's going for things she wouldn't normally be going for," Ernie Lechuga said. "Cycling is all about confidence. The training has always been there for her, but now she's confident."

There may be another opportunity to travel back to Europe if all goes well in the Giro Rosa, and there's an outside chance of racing in the world championships in Qatar in September, but she will leave it up to the team.

Lechuga, who was born in North Carolina, didn't begin riding bicycles until 2009, entering her first amateur race in 2010. And though she wants to remain involved with the cycling industry after she stops racing -- she and Ernie run an online coaching service -- how much longer does she want to compete professionally?

"I'd like to give it until 2020," said Lechuga, who attended Baylor University on a partial track scholarship. "My kids will be old enough then to pursue their own thing, and I'd like to be their cheerleader for a while. They've been supporting me 100 percent and I can't wait to return the favor."

Scotti Lechuga glance

AGE 33

FAMILY Husband Ernie; 4-year-old twin boys Eli, Ethan

RESIDENCE Little Rock

COLLEGE Baylor

YEARS AS PRO 3

TEAM Hagens Berman-Supermint

Sports on 06/30/2016

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