Swenson and Villafañe defend Fuego XL titles to take high spots at Life Time Grand Prix

Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles-SRAM) gained for a 3rd time at Life Time Sea Otter Classic Fuego XL mountain bike race whereas Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) defended her professional ladies’s title in Monterey, California on Friday. The endurance MTB race, protecting 70 miles (112km) served because the opening spherical of the seven-event Life Time Grand Prix.  

While greater than a dozen elite males rode on the entrance of the race on the ultimate lap, Swenson delivered a successful blow with only a few miles to go and glided solo throughout the road in 4 minutes, 13 seconds, going 3:28 quicker than his successful time final yr.

Alexey Vermeulen (ENVE-Factor Bikes) completed 49 seconds again in second whereas South African Matthew Beers (Specialized Off-road) was third, one other 17 seconds again.

The ladies’s race noticed Villafañe in a two-rider battle with Alexis Skarda (Santa Cruz Bicycles-SRAM) on the second-half of the race, and like final yr, Villafañe attacked on the ultimate climb again to Laguna Seca for a solo win. Her time of 4:42:23 eclipsed final yr’s mark by almost 13 minutes. In reality, all the ladies’s riders went quicker than Villafañe’s successful time final yr.

Skarda couldn’t pull off a repeat as runner-up, nevertheless, as she was caught and handed by Australian newcomer Samara Sheppard (Specialized) and Hannah Otto (Pivot Cycles) within the closing miles. Sheppard took second simply 17 seconds forward of Otto, whereas Skarda settled for fourth, 38 seconds off the Australian. Jenna Rinehart rode solo for fifth place. 

How it unfolded

All elite riders made two circuits of a 33.8-mile (54.4km) route, the identical Fuego XL course as final yr with punchy climbs, flowy single observe, plus current rains making the ruts on fireplace roads even deeper. The course traveled to the east and north of Fort Orrd National Monument on the west coast of California, piling up 9,422 ft (2,872 metres) of elevation achieve. The last 6km climb leads towards the signature start-finish on the pavement of the Laguna Seca motorsports observe.

At the midway level of the boys’s race, 12 riders had been strung out in a quick line as they headed on a second move of the circuit, defending champion Swenson driving second wheel. Also within the group had been Alexey Vermeulen, Matt Beers, Sean Fincham (Maxxis Factoy Racing), Alex Wild, Cole Paton, Finn Gullickson, Brendan Johnson (Giant), Marcis Shelton, Ryan Standish (Orange Seal-Kenda MTB) and Payson McEleveen (Allied Cycle Works – Red Bull). A bunch of 4 trailed within the chase – Taylor Lideen (Allied Cycle Works), Torbjørn Røed (Trek-Pearl Izumi), Petr Vakoč (Canyon) and Zach Calton. 

Vakoč was in a position to bridge to the entrance group with 15 miles to race, whereas Lachlan Morton made an enormous transfer in his chase. With 10 miles to go, and on the ultimate climb, the tempo quickened and entrance group shattered. Beers had the lead cross the ultimate checkpoint, towing Swenson and Vermeulen. Grotts, Fincham, Paton and Wild had dropped again as a second group solely 12 seconds again, however dropping extra time. 

Vermeulen, Beers and Paton had been the one ones to maintain Swenson in view, however he sailed away.

The ladies began 5 minutes behind the boys with their very own mass begin, and Villafañe wasted no time on the opening uphill part of pavement to take the lead place to the primary singletrack path. The defending champion managed a small lead early, however Stephens and Skarda joined her close to the top of the primary of two laps. Villafañe set the tempo because the three-rider prepare held a gradual tempo after two hours of racing and set off on a second lap. 

Just 36 seconds behind, Sheppard led a bunch of 5 riders, Huck, Rinehart, Otto and Newsom, their chase additionally wanting fairly tempoed beneath the cloudless, blue sky. More than a minute again, Haley Smith rode solo. 

Halfway via the ultimate lap Skarda continued the battle with Villafañe on the entrance of the ladies’s race, whereas Sheppard, Rinehart, Huck and Otto rode collectively, virtually three minutes off the tempo. On the ultimate climb, Villafañe stepped on the accelerator and took off, gaining two minutes over Skarda and rode away for an additional victory.

The high 10 professional women and men at Fuego XL are all a part of the invitation-only 60-rider discipline for the 2024 Life Time Grand Prix. The high 5 finishers at every collection occasion document factors on a better scale than different finishers. From the best factors totals compiled in 5 of the seven occasions, winners will probably be decided after the ultimate race, Big Sugar Gravel in October.

Results