Picture 1 of 2
Kate Courtney overcame a late flat to efficiently defend the ladies’s title at Low Hole gravel race in Ukiah, California, whereas Christopher Blevins (Specialised) held off a cost by final 12 months’s winner Peter Stetina (GRVL PRVTRS) for the boys’s victory.
It rained for days in northern California resulting in the opening spherical of the Grasshopper Journey Collection, now in its twenty seventh 12 months. Organisers confirmed that the soil wouldn’t be “too gooey”, with all of the off-road challenges packed between miles 22 and 46 on the 48-mile route. This 12 months featured a brand new begin venue hosted by the Metropolis of Ukiah, the riders have been led out by a police escort earlier than turning onto the 48-mile mixed-terrain course that included roughly 6,400 ft of climbing.
The primary climb got here quick after the primary 3.5 miles from Ukiah, with pavement on the primary half of the occasion and one-third of the entire elevation acquire on the opening 9 miles. As soon as on the first hydration and diet cease at mile 22, the gravel and extra climbing took over at Low Hole Highway. As soon as previous the second feed space at mile 31, the dust turned to thick clay on Miller Ridge, grabbing tyres and parts.
Even with a puncture to her entrance tyre, Courtney coasted on the ultimate one mile of tarmac into Ukiah for back-to-back wins. Flavia Oliveira Parks secured second place by outsprinting Katerina Nash to finish the rostrum, the pair ending greater than seven minutes behind Courtney.
“I managed to make it inside one mile of the end with out flatting and coasted throughout the road,” she stated concerning the non-sprint end with amusing after the race on the Grasshopper Instagram video. “I particularly like to combine it up with the boys a bit bit. We at all times have good, respectful battles on the market.”
Her time of two:52:02 was three minutes slower than final 12 months, however quick sufficient to place her within the total prime 25 of all professionals.
“It was a blast. These races are at all times such a good way to begin the season. We at all times say it’s like coaching, it’s January, however you realize, it’s a motorbike race. There’s a begin line, there’s a end line and we work actually onerous all winter, so it’s enjoyable to get on the market and really feel good on the bike, take a look at the legs and get the stoke degree to the utmost for the season,” Courtney stated on the end, with sunshine poking by means of the clouds.
Courtney stated she ran 40mm as her tyre alternative on Saturday, because the rain that drenched the world from days earlier than held off and he or she was in a position to go quicker on the pavement part together with her setup.
Professional males’s race
Blevins additionally stated his number of 42mm tyres gave him the grip he wanted, and he didn’t forfeit velocity on the finish, his successful time of two:28:40 six minutes slower than his runner-up time final 12 months and one other two minutes slower than Stetina’s 2:20:36.
“It was an important battle. The mud helped me. Particularly in circumstances like this, it’s changing into increasingly more about tools decisions. I haven’t accomplished an excessive amount of gravel racing, but it surely’s enjoyable when it’s technical like this. The extra technical, the higher. The primary climb is as onerous as you may go,” stated the previous quick monitor mountain bike world champion and final 12 months’s winner of Cape Epic with Matthew Beers.
The important thing to his journey on Saturday he attributed to his mountain bike background, “I feel I get gaps on the descents and use that to my benefit”.
The lads’s race noticed a number of three riders after the primary paved summit, Blevins and Stetina joined by former WorldTour professional Sean Bennett, who was dispatched earlier than the massive climb on Miller Ridge with 15 miles to go and he held on for third place.
“It’s such a vicious begin to the 12 months. You begin with a full-on threshold, a 20-minute take a look at up a paved street climb. Everybody units their PRs right here, it appears,” Stetina recounted. “Chris was on a brand new degree this 12 months. I couldn’t shake him on the climbs, so we have been actually evenly matched.
“Chris was actual cagey. He made a transfer the place he attacked me earlier than the muckiest downhill and used that mountain bike experience to bounce away from me. So I needed to be on the defensive on climbing and use plenty of my effort to get again to him on the ultimate huge dust climb. I went all in and threw the kitchen sink at him on the ultimate climb and I couldn’t shake him. Accelerations, onerous tempos, he simply held it.”
The duo submitted Miller Ridge along with a remaining logging street tipping the scales to the mountain biker. Stetina stated he then closed down a small hole to Blevins in a “purgatory pursuit”, the place he might see Blevins simply forward for the final handful of miles, simply 10 seconds separating the pair.
“Dang, he held me off. It was a pleasure. I feel we went quicker than even final 12 months. The most important factor for Low Hole for lots of us, it’s the rekindling of everybody coming collectively after winter. Additionally it’s a take a look at to see who did their homework. I might have liked to get him this 12 months, however the indicators are good that we’ve accomplished our homework.”
The lads’s race featured the return of final 12 months’s podium, winner Stetina, second-placed Blevins and third-placed Tyler Williams (Miami Nights), who completed nicely again out of the highest 20 this day trip. Ian Lopez de San Roman, who was fifth final 12 months, trailed Bennett by two and a half minutes for fourth, whereas Brennan Wertz (Mosaic Cycles), who completed second in 2022 and eleventh final 12 months, trailed one other 28 seconds to spherical out the boys’s prime 5.
Among the many stacked ladies’s discipline, Jennifer Tave was fourth whereas Anna Hicks was fifth. 2023 podium finishers Niky Taylor and Maude Farrell (Pivot / Easton / Pas Regular Studios) completed within the prime 11 this time, Farrell in ninth and Taylor two spots again. Anna Yamauchi was 14th and Alison Tetrick (Specialised) was seventeenth.
Outcomes – High 10s
| Pos. | Rider Identify (Nation) Workforce | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kate Courtney | 2:52:02 |
| 2 | Flavia Oliveira Parks | 0:07:28 |
| 3 | Katerina Nash | 0:07:30 |
| 4 | Jennifer Tave | 0:11:22 |
| 5 | Anna Hicks | 0:15:39 |
| 6 | Caroline Dezendorf | 0:15:40 |
| 7 | Leslie Ethridge | 0:19:05 |
| 8 | Kelly Brennan | 0:26:16 |
| 9 | Maude Farrell | 0:31:41 |
| 10 | Saralita Flamm | 0:35:02 |
| Pos. | Rider Identify (Nation) Workforce | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Christopher Blevins | 2:28:40 |
| 2 | Peter Stetina | 0:00:06 |
| 3 | Sean Bennett | 0:04:36 |
| 4 | Ian Lopez de San Roman | 0:07:19 |
| 5 | Brennan Wertz | 0:07:47 |
| 6 | Tobin Ortenblad | 0:07:48 |
| 7 | Andy Lydic | 0:07:51 |
| 8 | Jurd Hurd | 0:08:01 |
| 9 | Ben Frederick | 0:09:57 |
| 10 | Skyler Taylor | 0:10:03 |
Supply hyperlink
