The 2024 USA Biking Gravel Nationwide Championships befell as soon as once more in Gering, Nebraska, over the weekend. Riders competed not just for the distinguished Stars-and-Stripes jersey but additionally for a share of the $40,000 prize purse and an automated entry to the UCI Gravel World Championships in Belgium this October.
The 131.1-mile course was the identical as final 12 months’s inaugural occasion, and within the ladies’s race, so was the winner as Lauren Stephens (Cynisca Biking) once more crossed the end line solo. Within the males’s race, nonetheless, the defending champion was dethroned as former world champion rower Brennan Wertz (mosaic Cycles) took the title, whereas Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles/SRAM) completed in sixth.
A breakthrough victory for Brennan Wertz
Wertz held off a nine-rider chase group to say his largest gravel win but. Within the dash for second, John Borstelmann (Slowtwitch Goodlife Racing) completed second, and gravel newcomer Colby Simmons (Visma-Lease a Bike improvement group) took third. Defending champion Keegan Swenson was a part of the chase group and completed in sixth place.
“Extremely honoured to have the privilege of sporting this lovely jersey for the following 12 months,” Wertz commented on social media.
“Really puzzled. Thanks from the underside of my coronary heart to everybody who believed in me and inspired me alongside the way in which, particularly throughout this current troublesome interval.”
In getting ready for a busy finish to the season, together with SBT GRVL, the ultimate Life Time Grand Prix occasions, and the nationwide and world championships, Wertz had spent a giant block of coaching within the Swiss Alps. Nevertheless, he contracted a Covid an infection shortly thereafter and needed to sit out the August races. Thus, his run-in to the nationwide championship race had been lower than preferrred. Nonetheless, he appeared to be in glorious type as he was in a position to keep forward of the chase pack and cross the end line simply six seconds forward of the spring for second.
“I knew with my measurement and energy I didn’t have the legs for a long-range assault; a ten kilometer assault was out of the query at the moment. I didn’t have any snap in my legs at the moment after being sick,” he mentioned within the post-race interview. “I used to be actually hoping I might sneak away one to 2 kilometres from the end, so I put all my chips on the desk on that transfer on the finish and it paid off.”
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Wertz had already scored an automated entry for the UCI Gravel World Championships in April, when he received the Highlands Gravel Basic, a qualifying occasion that was held in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In Nebraska, Wertz did take residence the stars-and-stripes jersey —which he’ll get to put on in all gravel occasions for the approaching 12 months— in addition to $10,000.
Together with Wertz, podium finishers Borstelmann and Simmons robotically certified to compete in opposition to the world’s greatest on the UCI Gravel World Championships in Belgium in October, with full assist from USA Biking.
Males’s High 10
- Brennan Wertz (Mosaic Cycles) 5:50:372.
- John Borstelmann (Goodlife Racing/Ventum/Voler) 5:50:433
- Colby Simmons (Staff Visma | Lease a Bike) 5:50:434
- Russell Finsterwald (Trek Driftless) 5:50:435
- Griffin EAster (OpiCure Basis Gravel Staff p/b Canyon Bicycles) 5:50:446.
- Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles/SRAM) 5:50:447.
- Lance Haidet (Specialised/SRAM/Velocio/FatTire) 5:50:448
- Cobe Freeburn (Bear Gravel Staff) 5:50:449
- Ian Lopez de San Roman (Aevolo) 5:50:4410
- Innokenty Zavyalov (Mazda – Orange Seal) 5:50:45
Stephens defends
Within the ladies’s race, Lauren Stephens (Cynisca Biking) repeated her dominant efficiency from final 12 months to win her second consecutive elite ladies’s title. Stephens improved her time by over 14 minutes from the 2023 race, benefiting from quick, dry circumstances.
“It was an superior day…I used to be so much much less nervous this 12 months than final 12 months. I used to be calmer coming into at the moment having accomplished it final 12 months,” Stephens mentioned within the post-race interview. “At 500-meters I simply began soaking all of it in. It’s actually thrilling to get to put on the Stars and Stripes for an additional 12 months.”
The sector had been blown to bits, and each rider within the prime 10 got here throughout the road by herself.
It was Lauren De Crescenzo (Issue-The Feed-Maxxis-Castelli), nonetheless recovering from a damaged collarbone, who crossed the road in second place to say silver, 1:21 behind Stephens. A minute behind her, Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless) rolled via the end line to say bronze.
Each one in all these ladies scored an automated qualification to compete on the UCI Gravel World Championships in Belgium, with full assist from USA Biking.
Like Wertz, Stephens additionally earned $10,000 for her victory. Subsequent up, Stephens will commerce her gravel bike for a highway bike as she’s headed to the UCI World Street Championships in Zurich, Switzerland, the place she’ll compete within the highway race, time trial and group relay.
Girls’s High 10:
- Lauren Stephens (Cynisca Biking) 6:31:442
- Lauren De Crescenzo (Issue / The Feed / Maxxis / Castelli / PERC) 6:33:063
- Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless) 6:34:314
- Alexis Skarda (Santa Cruz Bicycles SRAM) 6:36:005
- Cecily Decker (Scuderia Pinarello) 6:44:556
- Whitney Allison (Bike Sports activities) 6:45:097
- Caroline Wreszin (Skratch // Issue) 6:47:298
- Marisa Boaz (Mazda Orange Seal Off-Street) 6:50:579
- Hannah Shell (Vantage Racing) 7:07:2910
- Leah Van Der Linden (Lauf | Eliel | Hunt) 7:11:18
The highest three finishers within the males’s and ladies’s elite classes may also robotically qualify to compete in opposition to the world’s greatest on the UCI Gravel World Championships in Belgium in October, with full assist from USA Biking.
