While professional highway racing season is underway from the nice and cozy climates of Australia, the Middle East and southern Spain, the opening chapters for North American gravel dismiss snug climates and plunge into the chilly and moist northern months of north California and Colorado.
Peter Stetina (Canyon) and Kate Courtney (Rivian/Allied/Red Bull) grabbed the glory in Ukiah, California on January 26 on the opening spherical of the Grasshopper Adventure Series, 5 occasions on faucet by May 10. This previous weekend it was Noah Granigan (Miami Blazers) and Lauren De Crescenzo (Factor/The Feed/Wahoo/PERC) who took victories in windy situations at Old Man Winter Bicycle Rally in Colorado.
By mid-February each the UCI Gravel World Series and Gravel Earth Series will likely be again in full swing on two continents. In the US, the BMC Rock Cobbler returns for a twelfth version with “shenanigans” on elements of the course, no podium on the finish and a critical route of near 100 miles from Bakersfield, California.
The Gravel Earth Series will make a debut within the Philippines at Attck Unrstrktd on February 9. The large 240km endeavor takes place in hilly terrain north of Manila from Talavera and gives the primary base factors for the collection. The multi-day Santa Vall occasion returns on February 15-16 from Girona, with 10% bonus factors within the scoring. Stage 1 is 80km with 1,100 metres of climbing and stage 2 provides one other 500 metres of elevation acquire on the 114km route.
In a cross-over season that started in October 2024 with the European Gravel Championships in Italy and Gravelista in Australia, the subsequent occasion for Gravel World Championships computerized qualification is Castellon Gravel Race in Spain on February 15. The 97km distance qualifier presents 72% gravel, which begins and ends simply north of Valencia in Llucena.
Stetina and Courtney win Low Gap
The twenty eighth version of the Grasshopper Adventure Series started with what organisers name a ‘Hopper Classic’, the 47-mile Low Gap occasion in Mendocino County. Dry situations and freezing temperatures greeted the 500-plus rivals for the normal mass begin, the place elite racers quickly made separate on the opening monster climb on Orr Springs Road, virtually one-third of the day’s 6,150 toes of elevation acquire packed into the primary 9 miles.
Stetina received for a second time in three years, the quick situations taking him 2 hours, 33 minutes, and simply 31 seconds forward of Matthew Wiebe. Another one minute again was Jurd Hurd for third. Last 12 months Stetina completed second in a splash to the road behind Christopher Blevins.
“Freezing (fortunately dry!) situations did nothing to dampen the communal stoke that’s palabale on the beginning line of this perennial season opener. At 47 miles, it’s brief within the grand scheme of issues, which makes it the right tuneup irrespective of the place one finds [oneself] in late January,” Stetina posted on Instagram following the occasion.
“It’s necessary to start out the 12 months off with momentum and I’m happy to take the [win]. Perhaps extra importantly, I nonetheless discovered some minute particulars to take care of earlier than the largest worldwide races are within the crosshairs.”
Courtney scored her fourth consecutive ladies’s victory, ending in 2 hours, 49 minutes, 36 seconds, with 10 minutes to spare on the line. From the chase, Chloé Mauvais and Leslie Ethridge sprinted to the road, with Mauvais one of the best of the 2.
Carina Nottingham took the win within the U-19 feminine class in a time of three:31. Yoann Perrodin received the U-19 male class, his time of two:41 placing him in tenth total among the many professional riders.
For a 3rd 12 months in a row, an revolutionary program pairing U-19 feminine riders with grownup mentors attracted 31 members. With 62 whole under-19 aged rides, Grasshopper Adventure Series is working arduous to create the subsequent era of gravel riders.
The Hopper motion continues with the Huffmaster in Maxwell, California on February 22.
Granigan and De Crescenzo conquer wind and climbs at Old Man Winter
Old Man Winter Rally out of Lyons, Colorado returned for an eleventh version Sunday with a 75-mile course throughout Boulder County, racking up 5,000 toes of climbing by canyons with a primary timed part on the Rowena path and the second timed part to Linden with twisty gravel on Wagonwheel Gap headed to Old Stage. The route is historically difficult with icy sections that dictate off-the-bike abilities and melting snowpack that makes for muddy single observe.
This 12 months the air temperatures had been nicely above the freezing mark, however vicious winds blasted throughout the Front Range for one of the difficult editions but.
Granigan repeated for a second males’s title on Saturday, stopping the clock throughout two timed segments with one of the best whole and holding off Stephen Schaefer by 23 seconds. Last 12 months he conquered the epic muddy situations of the course, and this time needed to struggle climate of a distinct form, wind gusts of 40-60 mph.
By the time De Crescenzo accomplished her journey, her mother and father held up the inflatable arch so it would not blow away within the robust gusts. She used working abilities within the first timed section to overhaul four-time champion Erin Huck, happening to win by 29 seconds.
“Old Man Winter was the right approach to kick off the season and shake out the cobwebs. The race was top-notch, and section racing all the time provides an thrilling dynamic,” De Crescenzo advised Cyclingnews.
“The wind was insane and solely bought stronger because the day went on, with 62 mph gusts within the afternoon, and racers had been nonetheless battling by it. When I crossed the end line, my mother and pop needed to maintain up the arch to maintain it from blowing away!”
Huck, a MTB Olympian and winner of the primary Old Man Winter race in 2015, had a 30-second lead on her fellow Life Time Grand Prix competitor heading on the Rowena Pass. De Crescenzo stated she used her highschool cross-country working roots to make up all that point and go Huck on a two-mile uphill part of snowpack.
“This occasion holds a particular place in my coronary heart—it was one in every of my first massive gravel wins in 2018 whereas coming back from my TBI, so taking the W yesterday made it much more significant,” stated De Crescenzo, now two-for-two within the early-season gravel race after a seven-year hole when she received in 2018.