Dominant Gomez Villafane and resurgent Stetina win Belgian Waffle Ride Utah

Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-Road) continued her dominant performances on the Belgian Waffle Ride sequence this yr, successful the professional girls’s class by over 13 minutes on the Utah occasion, which was shortened barely in gentle of robust climate situations. It was nearer within the males’s professional race however nonetheless a clear-cut victory for a cramping Peter Stetina, who managed to fend off a spirited pursuit.

“You all put that last climb too far-off, it was nonetheless an hour to go,” quipped an exhausted Stetina in an interview on the race social media straight after ending. 

Stetina later added on his instagram that: “The day was very difficult with freezing temps, robust winds, rugged singletrack, and motivated riders taking their probabilities. I’m proud how I managed all of it, however holy hell I died a thousand deaths in these last 20 miles holding off a gaggle of 4 chasers. Those final 40 minutes have been purgatory, however the ache melted in sight of the banner. Been a minute since I bagged a biggie.”

Despite a decided chase Adam Roberge (Felt UN1TD) was 46 seconds behind Stetina, whereas almost a minute and a half later Andrew L’Esperance led a gaggle of three over the road with Julian Gagne (Equipe Qui Roule) fourth and Torbjørn Andre Røed (Trek-Driftless) fifth.

In the ladies’s class of the occasion Australia’s Courtney Sherwell took second place in a decent battle with Emily Newsom, although there was no likelihood of hauling again Gomez Villafañe who had charged off early within the race and stretched out an unclosable hole.

“The headwind at the start after which the couple of underpasses are at all times just a little scary, so positioning was key,” Gomez Villafañe stated as she defined how the race performed out.

“The group was actually collectively for the primary 30 miles or so and as soon as we bought on the 2 observe it bought just a little extra dicey. I simply made a extremely exhausting effort to attempt to choose … after which bought into a pleasant group, one of many guys type of pulled us for a very long time, and [I] introduced it house,” stated the rider who rode throughout the road solo. 

Belgian Waffle Ride Utah befell within the southern a part of the state, delivering an occasion with gravel, sand and rocks accompanied by the problem of altitude, with Cedar City sitting at 5,846 toes above sea degree. 

The mass begin race was shortened from 127 miles (204km) to 104 miles (167km) after chilly temperatures and windy situations pounded course recons on Thursday and Friday, with temperatures dropping to twenty°F (-7°C) Saturday morning and an opportunity of snow showers within the forecast. Wind gusts of over 40 miles per hour (64 kph) on Friday lessened on race day, however as Gomez Villafañe talked about, there have been nonetheless sections on the course the place the wind had a telling influence on the second race within the Tripel Crown sequence.

The Tripel Crown will conclude with BWR California on April 28, which would be the final decider, carrying further weighted factors to settle the rating. The Tripel Crown delivers a prize purse of $25,500 and when the person race prize cash all through the BWR sequence is included the entire purse equals $37,000.

Gomez Villafañe leads the professional girls class of the Tripel Crown with 120 factors, 30 forward of Sherwell and 40 in entrance of Cecily Decker (Scuderia Pinarello), who got here sixth in Utah and Arizona, the primary race of the sequence. In the professional males class Stetina’s win on Saturday has taken him to the highest of the leaderboard with 100 factors however Røed is simply 8 factors again and Lance Haidet 18 factors away from the highest spot. Hadiet got here twelfth in Utah however collected a stable factors base within the Arizona occasion when he got here second behind Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles-SRAM), who did not race Utah.

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