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Simen Nordahl Svendsen (PAS Racing) gained the professional males’s division whereas Lauren Stephens (Cynisca Biking) defended the ladies’s title at Garmin Gravel Worlds offered by Lauf.
Svendsen, a two-time winner of The Rift in Iceland, got here into the Nebraska race having completed eighth at SBT GRVL. The Norwegian took high honours with a end time of 6:48:46, profitable a two-rider dash forward of US racer Innokenty Zavyalov. Canadian Adam Roberge, a former Gravel Worlds champion, completed third lower than a minute again. Peter Stetina soloed throughout the road in fourth, with Ethan Overson in fifth.
SBT GRVL winner Stephens broke free from a three-rider breakaway within the remaining mile and posted a time of seven:57:46, leaving Briton Karolina Migon in second place, 22 seconds again, and her PAS Racing teammate Emily Newsom rolling throughout the road in third. Crystal Anthony held on for fourth and Emma Grant completed fifth.
For the primary time within the 15 years of the Lincoln, Nebraska occasion, the professional girls had a devoted begin, taking the 150-mile course 10 minutes after the professional males and 25 minutes forward.
“I loved the ladies’s solely begin. You realize, we acquired our personal race, and it was positively totally different than what I am used to, however it was an thrilling day,” Stephens stated on the end. “We did not get caught by one man. In order that’s fairly cool.”
To emphasise the ladies’s solely race, organisers added $10,000 to the prize purse, offering $500 for every lady within the high 20 to reach on the second race checkpoint forward of riders within the basic subject. The entire prize purse as $30,000 for professional women and men, however solely the ladies shared within the further $10,000.
One other first for the occasion was a profitable dwell stream, offered on YouTube with assist from Goodlife Manufacturers for the whole lot of the 150-mile race. Motion was captured from cameras mounted on jeeps, with separate pictures from the boys’s lead group and the ladies’s peloton. Commentary was offered for each classes by Dede Griesbauer, Matt Lieto and the solid of the Groadio podcast, Invoice Schieken and Amanda Nauman.
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Motion throughout Nebraska
By means of the water oasis at mile 86.5, Chase Wark led a trio that included Ethan Overson and Daxton Mock on the entrance of the race. All of them stopped briefly to restock for hydration and resumed the pacemaking on an extended, straight, dusty street passing countless rows of cornstalks.
A chasing group behind started to separate on the rollercoaster terrain, some riders starting to endure within the warmth, rising above 86°F.
On one other lengthy, flat part heading to the final relaxation cease at mile 119, eight riders shaped the entrance group. Then Innokenty Zavyalov and Svendsen surged forward, with Mock and Roberge chasing collectively, and Stetina and Wark forming a duo. All six have been separated by lower than a minute. Trevor August and Overson fell off the tempo.
A change on the entrance noticed Zavyalov, Svendsen and Roberge kind a trio they usually gained a big hole. Zavyalov attacked with below 3 miles to race and Roberge regarded to wrestle however powered again on the relentless rollers. Svedsen set the tempo, and his companions weren’t too considering pulling via.
With 1.5 miles to go, Zavyalov attacked once more and solely Svendsen may reply, Roberge fading within the mud. With one right-hand nook to complete, Svendsen got here round Zavyalov within the remaining filth chicanes to take the victory.
“Inno [Zavyalov} was super strong all day. We were chasing together for most of the day, so I knew that when he went, I really want to follow. I thought that would be perhaps a decisive move, and it turned out to be,” Svendsen said about the winning move at the end.
In the women’s race, 14 of the pro women were packed tightly on the opening northern section of the course. Then Migon and Stephens broke away well after the CX section, with two pro men tagging on the back and several other pro women still grouped together attempting to bridge across.
“I definitely didn’t want to go quite that early in the race, but we were going up this little hill, and the group slowed up quite a bit. I decided to give it a go and Carolina was able to follow me, and I just drilled it for a while, and then we started working together,” Stephens said at the finish.
“And then Emily Newsom came across to us, which was awesome, because I really don’t want to be two riders for over half the race.”
At the water oasis at mile 85, the Stephens-Newsom-Migon trio began to pull away, the gap growing to over four minutes. A casualty from the chasing group was Kyleigh Spearing, who had gone through multiple CO2s to stop a leak, but succumbed to the mechanical and dropped away.
At the final aid station, the lead trio stopped and took on more fluids and some ice. Stephens was the first one to remount and continue after about 30 seconds and seemed to accelerate slowly to allow the PAS teammates to join.
Behind, a group of five worked together and were yet to make the highway crossing. When chasers arrived at aid station 12 minutes later, Isabel King and Emma Grant stopped, while Anthony, who was third in Nebraska last year, Justine Barrow and Marisa Boaz rolled through.
The temperatures continued to rise for the elite women, with no clouds to break the heat, the thermometer pushing 90°F. With less than 10 miles to go, there was a 10-minute gap for trio out front and behind Anthony made a move from the four chasers.
On a small uphill rise, the PAS Racing teammates took turns attacking Stephens, but the US gravel champion reacted each time to stay on their back wheels. About a mile on, Stephens launched her own attack from behind Migon and sailed away. She kept looking behind her in the final mile and could see them clawing their way back, but she held the gap for the win.
“We were a group of three, and we worked together super well all through the rest of the race, until about 10k to go. The two of them started one-two’ing me, and luckily, I was able to get away from them,” Stephens added.
“You know, all through the race, I was like I can win this sprint. I can win this sprint. Be patient, be patient. But I was pretty happy when I was able to come in solo,” Stephens said at the finish.”
