Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz htSQD) and Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) every made it three-for-three at Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona with victories on Saturday in elite divisions. They began 2025 the place they left off final season, in one other victory lane, final October taking repeat titles within the Life Time Grand Prix sequence.
Swenson outlasted Russell Finsterwald (Trek Driftless) in an all-day battle and out-kicked his rival on the pavement in Cave Creek to earn the victory in 5:21:56, three seconds forward of the 2023 BWR California winner.
Andrew l’Esperance, the reigning Canadian marathon mountain bike champion, used a last dash in a three-rider chase group to safe third place, driving 7 seconds forward of Hugo Drechou (Niumbero 31 par Cafe du Cyucliste) and one other 7 seconds away from Zach Calton (Ventum). Last 12 months’s podium finishers Lance Haidet (Specialized-SRAM) and Torbjørn Andre Røed (Trek Driftless) completed sixth and eighth, respectively.
Villafañe dominated the ladies’s race in 6:04:39 and rode virtually 21 minutes forward of runner-up Courtney Sherwell (Santa Cruz-SRAM), who improved from eighth final 12 months. Cecile Lejeune (CCB p/b LLG) trailed one other 1:13 behind the Australian gravel champion for third.
A complete of seven elite girls’s riders accomplished the 103-mile (166km) course in beneath 7 hours, Axelle Dubau-Prevot (Numero 31 par Cafe du Cycliste) and Haley Smith (Trek Driftless) rounding out the highest 5, adopted by Hannah Shell (Vantage Racing) in sixth and Ruth Holcomb (Santa Cruz htSQD) in seventh.
A “killer day of racing within the Arizona desert” is how Swenson described the race. All Waffle riders took of in a mass begin from Cave Creek and headed into the Sonoran Desert for greater than 7,000 toes of elevation achieve, suffering from sandy washes, uncovered climbs and plenty of twisting single-track by the southern-most part in McDowell Mountain Regional Park.
This is the primary instalment of the 2025 Quad-Tripel Crown of Gravel sequence, a points-based omnium scored utilizing finishes from three of 4 BWR occasions – Arizona, California, Utah and Montana. The longest course is BWR California at 193km and gives extra weighted factors.
Last season Villafañe gained the Tripel Crown of Gravel throughout a trio of BWR occasions, with Sherwell second. On the lads’s aspect, Peter Stetina (Canyon) was essentially the most constant within the males’s discipline and earned the Tripel Crown in a good battle with Røed and Haidet.
