Jill Patterson: the first American woman to win the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships

Jill Patterson is a celebrated American cyclist, best known for her success in Gran Fondo racing and her Cycle Coaching Business. In 2025 she won the UCI Women's Gran Fondo World Championships Overall in Australia.

Many American cyclists have earned world champion titles over the years at the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships, particularly in the time trial and age-group road race events. However in 2025 at the UCI Gran Fondo World Championships in Australia, Jill Patterson (USA) captured the overall women's title on a demanding 131km Gran Fondo course along the Great Ocean Road (and her age category too). Racers battled sharp climbs, coastal winds and fierce head-to-head sprints to decide the podium in what became one of the most exciting editions of the event.

Jill Patterson is the first American women to win the overall UCI Gran Fondo World Championships.

1) Jill, you recently won the women’s UCI Gran Fondo World Championship in Australia, how does it feel to be America’s first world champion?

I wasn’t aware that I am the first American world champion for the UCI Gran Fondo until you told me! I am so happy that I can represent my country in that way!  It feels amazing to be able to wear the rainbow stripes.  It was a dream of mine, but, because for the past few years I had been stepping away from racing for various reasons, I thought that maybe I’d really go after that goal at some point in the future.  I honestly wasn’t chasing that dream now, so I’m still kind of in shock it happened.

2) What first drew you to cycling, and how did your journey evolve?

I was teaching English and living on a small island in Japan, about 3,000 population, when I started cycling. I had been into outdoor sports such as rock climbing, skiing, and backpacking before I moved to Japan, and I couldn’t do those sports on the island, so was looking for an activity I could do.  I knew about road biking from a friend, and the skinny tires had always intimidated me. But I decided to give it a try, and I bought a road bike on the mainland and took it by ferry to my island.  My first rides were loops around the island, which only took about an hour because the island was so small.  About a year later I moved to the mainland and that’s where my love for cycling really blossomed. I cycled much of the length of Japan on weekend and holiday bikepacking trips, and also joined the local weekly group ride.  I was dropped immediately on the group ride, but that inspired me and gave me the goal to keep up.  Within a year I was the one dropping others. 

As my fitness improved I ventured into local races, and ended up winning several hill climbing challenges and road races.  I caught the eye of a women’s team, and they recruited me.  With them I traveled all throughout Japan and to China, Thailand, and the US for some UCI stage races. 

When I moved back to the US I discovered Gran Fondo and fell in love with the format.  And that’s when things really started to take off. I hired a coach, I trained with intention, and I targeted bigger and bigger races.

3) Can you walk us through your experience winning the GFNY World Championship in 2019?

My first GFNY World Championship race was in 2018, and I did it because my friend, Amilcar Samudio, told me I should try it.  He really believed in my talent and helped cover some costs so I could go to the race (otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to afford it at that time, and wouldn’t have gone).  A bit to my surprise, but not Amilcar’s, I placed second that year.  That was a huge confidence boost, and because that race attracted riders from all over the world, I started to understand how much my level had progressed from when I was racing with with Japanese team, and that understanding really stoked my competitive spirit.

I made it my goal to try to win the next year.  It was guaranteed to be a tough win because I would be up against Camila Cortes, a very strong Colombian cyclist, who had won almost every edition of the race, including the 2018 race.  I was very focused on my training and I went into it in great form.  It was a very close race that year, and the top three women (myself included) were in the same group until about 2 miles out from the finish line.  There was a small climb and I knew that would be the last attack point before a sprint finish, and I didn’t want it to come down to a sprint finish.  I also knew that my two competitors were climber phenotypes who excelled at longer climbs, and that I had a chance to drop them in a power move on a shorter hill (I have always been good at hill attacks around 1 minute long).  So I went for it - and I got away.  One guy went with me and we stuck together until the finish line.  As I got closer and closer to the finish line and realized the two women were not catching up and that I would win, I almost could not believe that I had accomplished my goal and that I would be standing on the top step.

4) What’s been your most memorable race?

I would say that the 2019 GFNY World Championship was my first most memorable race because winning was such a big goal that felt almost unattainable at the time, and it felt so good to see all my hard work turn my dream into a reality.  It was also a huge turning point in my racing and coaching career.  The exposure I gained from that race helped to propel my racing and my coaching career forward.

5) Jill you’re also a multiple USA Cycling Gran Fondo Champion too, walk us through those titles?

In 2022, USAC partnered with GFNS to create the USA Cycling Gran Fondo National Championship.  The race for the first ever Gran Fondo National Championship title was in Asheville, NC, and I won in my age group as well as the overall.  The following years’ races have been in Frederick, MD, and I won age group and overall in 2023 as well as 2024.  So I am a 3 times USA Gran Fondo National Champion.

6) Jill you raced with a Japanese women’s team, competing in UCI stage races across China, Thailand, and the U.S., what did you learn from those experiences?

Those races were such big learning curves for me because they were so different from anything I had previously experienced.  I had only done races in Japan, with relatively small fields, up until that point.  In those stage races I raced with a lot more women, and the level was so much higher than what I was used to.  Not only that, but because I had started racing only about two years previously, I didn’t have the pack and tactical awareness that I now have from many years of racing and group riding. 

My goal in those races was to just hang on as best I could and learn.  And I learned a lot!  I learned that racing is so much more than just physical fitness.  I learned how hard it can be to fuel and hydrate in a longer race (and how important it is), I learned that I had a far way to go to be able to compete at a higher world level, and I learned how the bike can open doors to new people and adventures.  But I’d say that my most life-changing learning was that, during the three weeks I was in the US for the Joe Martin and Tour of the Gila stage races, I learned that I missed the US and wanted to move back.  So after 10 years of living in Japan, I returned to the US.

7) Jill you completed a 333-mile ride from Washington, D.C. to Pittsburgh in just 20 hours, is that the fastest women’s time!?

I don’t know as there isn’t an official record of times that I could find.  But I wasn’t doing it for time, I just wanted to challenge myself - and I definitely did!

8) How do you mentally prepare for long, grueling rides?

I make sure that all of the logistics are in place.  I know my pacing, I know my fueling and hydration plan, I have contingency plans for the “what if’s”, and then I try to not think too much about how grueling it will feel!  If I know that I have everything set up to make it logistically as smooth as possible, then I can look forward to experiencing all the highs and lows as they come. 

What keeps you motivated through setbacks or tough training blocks?

Setbacks can often be opportunities for learnings and improvements.  I see this in myself and the athletes I coach.  I have learned far more from the races that didn’t go well than I have from the races where I’ve taken the top step.  Whenever an athlete I coach has a setback, we discuss what we can learn from it or do differently the next time, or what we can do to maximize the training potential of the current situation.

During hard training blocks I like to have smaller stepping stones set up for myself and the athletes I coach.  Often those stepping stones are less-important races or goals that are similar in nature to your A-event.  And at least once a month, potentially more often, it’s helpful to have a fun ride or event that is not performance based to look forward to.  I use these days to focus on and enjoy everything that first attracted me to the bike - the freedom, being outside, the social aspect, the sense of discovery and adventure - and I ignore the metrics and try to turn off my “training brain”. 

Any rituals or habits that help you stay focused?

Allowing myself a break in focus helps me to stay focused.  I am very driven and like to stay busy, but I can’t be that way 100% of the time, or I’d burn out.  So at the end of every day I make sure I have time to unplug and to be “not productive”.  I also make sure to have days where I accomplish very little because that is actually hard for me to do, and after a day like that I feel excited and ready to be focused again.

9) Jill, when did you change your passion into your own business?

After living in Japan for ten years, I moved back to the US.  It was a culture shock to go back to my own country.  It felt foreign, I didn’t move back to friends or a community, and I had no job.  I felt like I was starting from scratch, and it was a bit scary.  Cycling was my therapy, and without me even realizing what was happening, it was also my integration into a new community and way of life.  The day I realized what cycling was gifting me was a few months after I had moved back.  I was on the phone with my mom, talking about the group rides I was doing, the people I had met, and the friends I had made, and she said to me in amazement, “I can’t believe how quickly you’ve settled into your life there and the community you’ve found and have become a part of already”. 

I loved cycling, it brought me so much happiness for so many reasons, and it was a way to push myself and grow.  I wanted to share that with other people, and so I decided to become a part-time cycling coach as a way to support myself and share my passion while I figured out my next steps and career back in the US.  I never intended for it to become my full-time job.  It was going to be a stepping stone to something else.  But I absolutely loved coaching, and I was good at it - and nothing else, no other potential career path, felt as good as coaching did.  I juggled several part-time jobs for a few years, hoping to feel the inspiration of a career calling me, but that inspiration never struck.  Then, as more and more athletes signed on, I realized I could make coaching my career, and so a few years ago that’s what I did.  I am now a full-time cycling coach and I feel so fortunate to have a job I absolutely love.

What’s your coaching philosophy when working with amateur vs. elite cyclists?

My coaching philosophy is that I want to tap into what motivates a cyclist because motivation drives performance.  The motivation might be internal, such as meeting personal goals or just finishing a hard workout.  Or it might be external, such as crushing it on a group ride or being able to chase or drop someone up a climb.  These motivations vary from person to person, and for each person they often change as time passes.  So, whether I am working with an amateur or elite cyclist, I always make sure I understand what motivates them, and if and how that motivation is changing as they progress, and I incorporate that into their training as much as possible. 

How do you tailor training plans for athletes with different goals—Gran Fondo vs. stage racing?

Everyone needs a strong base.  So I make sure that foundation is solid before I introduce race or goal-specific workouts.  Once the athlete is ready for the next stage of training, then I focus on a combination of two things: raising the power and lengthening the power.  If you think about it, training fitness basically comes down to that: very simplistically put, to get stronger, you need to be able to put out higher power for longer.  And I manipulate raising vs. lengthening power based on the athlete’s goals.  If an athlete is focusing on criteriums, for example, I can focus their training more heavily on raising the power, and focus on lengthening it to a smaller degree, since their races are relatively short.  If an athlete is doing a stage race, that is almost on the other end of the spectrum, and so a lot of the training will be focused on lengthening the power so they can stay strong for many hours day after day.  For a single day gran fondo, I can spend a more even distribution on raising vs. lengthening. 

My ratio of raising vs. lengthening, and all the iterations of how you can do that, is very individualized and is based on an athlete’s history and strengths and limiters, as well as the goal race.  And, because skills, fueling, and tactics are a huge part of racing, I incorporate that into my training plans from the start because those things can be very personalized.  Each person has to learn what works for them as there is no “right or wrong”, and thus those things can take a long time to dial in.

What’s one common mistake you see cyclists make in training?

They train too hard too often or just train too much.  It’s hard for people to pull back and rest because it feels we are losing that hard-won fitness.  But, from my studies, from my own personal experience, and from working with many athletes over the past years, I have learned time and time again that “less is often more”.

Also, fueling.  It’s so easy to derail fitness with poor fueling, and so you need to train your fueling almost as much as you train your fitness.

10) How have you found your journey through cycling as a women? Do you feel it’s improved, less male dominated or is there more work to do?

I am finding this very challenging to answer because I have taken a non-traditional path with my cycling, and so my views and experiences are likely different from a lot of other female cyclists.  I started cycling in my late 20’s, so going pro was never on my radar.  Pro women race other pro women, but I haven’t done a lot of races in women’s only fields.  Rather, I found and fell in love with Gran Fondo, and so the majority of the races I’ve done have been in mixed fields.  I also do a lot of local group rides and am often the only woman.  I love and I have excelled in that environment.  In many ways, I feel like being a strong woman able to hold her own in a field of men has opened many doors for me.  The fact that cycling is a male-dominated sport is one of the reasons I stand out in the racing I’ve chosen to do, and the fact that I stand out is what has opened those doors for me, both in racing and in my coaching career.

11) Jill, you’re an amazing role model for women’s cycling, what advice would you give younger women into getting into the sport.

First, you want to be a safe rider.  So practice handling and consider taking a skills course.  Second, I would advise them to find other like-minded and like-ability people to cycle with.  Sharing a passion with people will help your passion and skill to grow.  But cycling can also be a rather cruel sport, and if you are cycling with people a big step above your current level, you might get dropped, or you might over-exert yourself to the point of “this is not fun anymore”, or you might get frustrated.  And so that is why I say it’s important to find people who are around your same level - so you can have fun and grow with them. 

And third, as a new cyclist, you might find that many people will offer you advice about the “best way” to do something.  Please keep in mind that there is often not a “best way”, and what works for one person might not work for you.  Or it might work for you in some situations but not others. Listen to all the advice, experiment with it, and then make your own choices about what you adopt and what you let go.

12) What’s next for you—any races or coaching projects on the horizon?

I want to continue to develop my coaching business.  It has been wonderful to see how my business has grown over the years, and I am excited to see it continue to evolve.  I also want to continue to diversify my life on and off the bike.  For many years I was so focused on racing and maximizing my cycling potential.  But this past year I introduced other things.  I made a conscious effort to balance my body and activities because my body and mind needed that.  I didn’t do much structured training, I biked less and did other non-bike things with the time I freed up, I lifted heavy at the gym more, and I took up rock climbing and swimming.  However, I stayed strong on the bike and was race-ready when I needed it. 

For next year, I want to continue to do all of those things and also maintain my cycling fitness, and I am looking forward to some races next year, including the UCI Gran Fondo World Championship in Japan.  I am really excited to go back to where I called “home” for ten years of my life, and where my cycling all began.  I will be going back with a career as a cycling coach and as a defending World Champion.  Little did I know, when I bought that first road bike and took it by ferry to my small island, where that bike would take me.

13) If you could change one thing about the cycling world, what would it be?

The safety, particularly with cars.  It’s heartbreaking to hear about the crashes, and it’s scary knowing that when we go out to enjoy our passion we could be risking our lives. 

VIDEO: UCI Gran Fondo World Championship Race Recap