Chloe Dygert, already a bronze medalist in the individual time trial a week ago, set her sights on Sunday for the Paris Olympics women's road race in hopes of winning gold in the team pursuit, which begins Tuesday.

Still, Dygert and her road race and Team Pursuit teammate Kirsten Faulkner are racers. And avoiding the turmoil that could derail not only this medal race, but the next one as well.

In her second crash of the competition, Daigert encountered mayhem. She was caught in the rain during the time trial and, like many of the competitors, crashed hard, but still managed to finish just one second ahead of silver medalist Anna Henderson (GBR) to take the bronze medal. This time she slipped out in a dry corner, but it was a pivotal moment in the race. [But this time her teammate Faulkner took the momentum and held on. Dygert finished 15th, but shared in the excitement of Team USA's victory.

"It's always great to see Team USA finish at the top. This is my first Olympics, my first gold medal. After her teammate Faulkner took home the gold medal, Dygert told Cycling News and several assembled media outlets. [She] has done great this year. She has shown time and time again that she has the ability to deserve to be in the finals. She's done a lot of work, she's done a lot of tracks, she's done a lot of work, she's done a lot of tracks.

"That makes it worth the crash. Faulkner had a great run," she added in her post-race comments.

The crash occurred as the Côte de la Butte Montmartre climb first approached with 48km to go, with the last two in the breakaway, Fariba Hashimi (Afghanistan) and Hanna Zeraf (Neutral), in sight of a group that included a potential winner. The wheels touched on the inside of the narrow, cobbled right-hand corner. Elise Chaby (Switzerland) also crashed, and Diggart's crash hit Chaby's rear wheel.

"I looked at the video as we crossed the line and it looked like we were on the inside line. But we were unlucky and both of us fell over.

The incident caused delays as some riders, including potential winner Lotte Kopecky (Belgium) and Dutch riders Demi Vollering and Lorena Wiebes, tried to find a narrow path around the two riders, but Dygert's teammate Faulkner was near the front and avoided crashing. She raced on from that position, and although there were various configurations up front and various attacks from a small group of about 10 riders at the front of the race, it was Faulkner who ultimately took the lead, overcoming the chase behind her.

Dutch riders Wiebes and Vollering, the favorites to win the race, were among the chasing riders and used their energy to try to get back to the front. Dygert ran hard to join them after falling off the bike.

"It's a real shame. There is nothing I can do at that point. I just get back on the bike, brace myself, and try to go as fast as I can. But once I got back, there was no point in trying anymore," Diggart said. After making it back to the chase group, she took the lead, and when she looked back, Weaves was right behind her.

She then decided to fall back because she did not want to help the Dutch rider bridge to the front.

"At that point, I knew that Faulkner was in front of me. "So there was no point [continuing the attack] if I got into Weaves' group. I knew that if Wiebes made it to the line, he would win.

She admitted that she didn't know how close she was to Faulkner because there was no race radio, but she had a chance.

"I was so far back that a team car came up to me. Every time a team car went by I asked what was going on."

"She works hard. She doesn't cut corners, she gives everything. She is very meticulous and really does everything right, including food and nutrition. She has a lot of heart, so to be able to pull this off is a really big deal for her."

Dygert has won silver and bronze medals in team pursuit at the Tokyo and Rio Olympics and a bronze in the Paris time trial. She and Faulkner, along with Lily Williams, Olivia Cummins, and Tokyo Omnium gold medalist Jen Valente, will be heading to the competition arena in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in the team pursuit.

Daigert said the pain was "a little bumpy," hoping the injuries from the fall were superficial.

"I'm going to see if I need stitches in my shin. Right now I'm just going into recovery mode," she said.

"At the end of the day, I have really good fitness. So I'm pretty happy with that."

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