Oregon Trail Gravel: Cécile Lejeune dominates for ladies, Hugo Drechau holds off Griffin Easter

French riders Cécile Lejeune (CCB p/b Levin Law Group) and Hugo Drechau (Groove Gravel) outlasted high contenders throughout 5 days of racing to safe the general titles on the 2024 Oregon Trail Gravel stage race. The 350-mile (563km) competitors by way of the guts Oregon’s Cascade mountains concluded in Bend on June 30, and supplied high factors within the Gravel Earth Series for the primary time.

Lejeune, who relies in Tucson, Arizona, dominated the 5 days of off-road competitors with 4 stage podiums, together with a solo victory on Sunday to finish a sweep of victories throughout the ultimate three days, posting a complete time of 17:35:54. She took the beginning line in Oregon as she was not a part of the CCB staff which traveled to Europe to compete on this week’s Volta Portugal Feminana.

“Gravel Racing was nonetheless very new to me and gravel stage racing much more. It was with combine of pleasure and nerves that I toed the road on stage one. The first days had been a battle however I discovered my legs by way of the week,” Lejeune instructed Cyclingnews.

“I completed with two actually robust days the place I used to be out in entrance by myself a lot of the day. It was superb racing with a gaggle of robust girls and much more to share a complete week with them. I’m wanting ahead to racing some extra gravel, boosted by this win in Oregon.”

US rider Serena Gordon (Sunnyside Sports) was closest to Lejeune, greater than 31 minutes again, for second total. The five-rider podium was accomplished by Flavia Oliveira Parks (Excel Sports p/b Specialized), Morgan Aguirre (Enough Cycling) and Briton’s Danni Shrosbree (Felt Un1ted).

Drechou, the lately topped marathon mountain bike champion of France, held off USA’s Griffin Easter (Opicure Foundation) for the GC win, the 2 separated by three minutes, the Frenchman posting a time of 15:14:13.

Canadian Rob Britton  (Factor-Ovrlnd) was third, 7:34 again. The five-rider podium was accomplished by Australian Cameron Jones (POA Racing) in fourth and US rider Peter Stetina (Wahoo Wheelin) in fifth. 

In 2024 the ‘Pioneer’ lengthy course provided high factors for professional divisions because the third of 5 instalments of the ‘Global Event’ designation for the Gravel Earth Series. With third total in Oregon, Britton took the Gravel Earth Series total lead for males, a slim 16 factors forward of Hans Becking and 26 factors forward of Stetina. 

US rider Sarah Sturm continued to steer the ladies’s total, whereas Oliveira Parks and Shrosbree moved into sixth and seventh within the girls’s standings. Geerike Schreurs, who was sixth in Oregon, moved into fifth place within the collection. 

How it unfolded

The Oregon Trail Gravel began and completed in Bend, Oregon, traversing 350 miles (563km) with 29,527 ft (9,000 metres) of elevation acquire, organisers offering 4 fully-supported fireplace campouts every night time. 

Stage 1 was a 66.3-mile course, half of the space on gravel, from Bend to Gilchrist. A dry day with winds that kicked up the mud ended with a three-up dash for males by way of high-terrain evergreen forests, Jones successful forward of Frenchman Alexys Brunel (Groove Gravel) in second and Stetina in third. 

Dubau-Prevot Axelle (Groove Gravel) scored the stage 1 victory for ladies, crossing the road solo after somewhat greater than three hours. In a 3 rider-sprint for the opposite podium spots, Michael Thompson (Orange Seal-Specialized-Shimano) took second, with Gordon third and Oliveira Parks fourth. 

The second day of racing featured an attention-grabbing 92-mile route from Gilchrist to Oakridge, with 4,761 ft of elevation acquire however 8,045 ft of descending. It was on the rocky downhill sections that many riders suffered, together with Stetina, who suffered a heavily-damaged rear wheel and misplaced 18 minutes to each Brunel and Jones, who completed 1-2, and Drechou taking third.

The shortest day was stage 3, a 30.5-mile circuit round Greenwaters Park Oakridge that was contested as a time trial utilizing three timed sections, a single observe section then a four-mile ascent adopted by a three-mile bumpy descent. Brunel took a seven-second win over Van den Ham, with Jones in third. For the ladies, Lejeune captured the victory, 1:04 over Thompson and one other 1:29 over Aguirre.

Stage 4 was the queen stage, with 59.3 of the 83.1 complete miles on gravel and greater than 9,000 ft of elevation acquire from Oakridge by way of the Willamette National Forest north to the McKenzie River. Easter outkicked Stetina to the road for a stage victory, whereas Drechou took third. Lejeune then took one other stage win, this time 10 minutes forward of second-placed Justine Barrow and Parks in third.

The closing day of racing began with a shuttle switch for riders to the Ray Benson Sno-Park at Santiam Pass. From there, racing proceeded for 72 miles with heavy sand on dry filth roads to the end at Oregon State University in Bend. 

Van den Ham received the two-up dash in opposition to Easter, with Stetina in third. While Easter moved to second total, it wasn’t sufficient time to displace Drechou, who secured the GC win. Lejeune made it three for 3 with stage wins and took the GC title.

“Stage 4 and 5 had large days of climbing and proved to be the place cracks began forming for different riders,” Easter recapped on Instagram. “I threw every little thing I had into the ultimate day and took again 4-ish minutes from chief Hugo Drechou however he was too robust and stored the lead.”

Results