Belgian Waffle Ride Utah: Sofia Gomez Villafañe and Pete Stetina Solo to the Win
Gomez Villafañe crossed the line 13 minutes ahead of Courtney Sherwell in second; miles to beat Adam Roberge by 1:15.
BWR Utah Men’s Top 10
- Sofia Gomez Villafane, 5h 19m 03.53s
- Courtney Sherwell 5h 32m 14.25s
- Emily Newsom 5h 32m 58.89s
- Hannah Otto, 5h 33m 48.50s
- Caroline Wreszin, 5h 37m 42.37s
- Cecily Decker, 5h 39m 39.71s
- Whitney Allison, 5h 40m 02.14s
- Eva Poidevin, 5h 45m 21.15s
- Cassia Boglio, 5h 46m 59.34s
- Diana Penuela, 5h 49m 04.68s
BWR Utah Women’s Top 10
- Sofia Gomez Villafane, 5h 19m 03.53s
- Courtney Sherwell 5h 32m 14.25s
- Emily Newsom 5h 32m 58.89s
- Hannah Otto, 5h 33m 48.50s
- Caroline Wreszin, 5h 37m 42.37s
- Cecily Decker, 5h 39m 39.71s
- Whitney Allison, 5h 40m 02.14s
- Eva Poidevin, 5h 45m 21.15s
- Cassia Boglio, 5h 46m 59.34s
- Diana Penuela, 5h 49m 04.68s
The Tripel Crown was moved to the early season to accommodate the busy gravel race season and has one race remaining, BWR California on April 28.
Gomez Villfañe and Stetina now lead the Tripel Crown of Gravel series, with Gomez Villfañe at the maximum points allowance for her wins in Arizona and Utah. Courtney Sherwell, who was second on the day, is 30 points behind Gomez Villafañe in the series, followed by Cecily Decker in third.
In the men’s series, Stetina has an eight-point lead over Torbjorn “Toby” Andre Røed, and Lance Haidet is third in the series.
The race
The BWR Utah course is technically challenging with various singletrack sections mixed into rocky jeep roads and double tracks. There are three each QOM/KOM of the mountain, dirt, and sprint sectors. Even with the shortened course on Saturday, headwinds and cross winds made conditions difficult.
All riders started together, with huge groups forming early and staying stubbornly intact for the first third of the race.
A large lead group consisted of all the race favorites, including Stetina, Adam Roberge, Griffin Easter, Toby Røed, and a surprising number of Canadians, including eventual podium finishers Andrew L’Eperance and Julien Gagne. Alexis Cartier At one point, the group swelled to some 85 riders.
Two groups back, the lead women joined big groups of chasing men. Gomez Villafañe made the first selection, as did Emily Newsom, Hannah Otto, Courtney Sherwell, and Caroline Wreszin.
Unfortunately, two-time BWR UT winner Whitney Allison was taken out in a crash at mile 14 and spent the rest of the day chasing to her eventual seventh place finish.
The race finally split apart during the ‘truck trail’ section around mile 35, where Roberge attacked, with Stetina the first chaser, then Alexey Cartier. Other riders followed solo and in pairs or trios.
A seven-mile singletrack sector followed the truck trail, where some riders had regrouped into smaller bunches. Gomez Villafañe rode the section solo, wishing, she said later, that she had pre-ridden the technical trail. In the men’s race, riders battled for position, eventually coming back together for the 15-mile road section that followed.
By mile 60, Gomez Villafañe’s lead seemed unshakable. The nearest chasers were Sherwell and Eva Poidevin, some 10 minutes back, followed by Otto, Wreszin, and Allison, each about one minute apart.
Stetina started to apply pressure leading into the final climb. With 24 miles to go, he attacked, with L’Esperance following. At the top of the climb, with two dozen miles of descent and rolling terrain remaining, Stetina was one minute up.
He managed to hold off four very motivated chasers to win his BWR Utah for the third time.
“The day was very complicated with freezing temps, strong winds, rugged singletrack, and motivated riders taking their chances,” Stetina said. “I’m proud how I managed it all, but holy hell I died a thousand deaths in those final 20 miles holding off a group of four chasers.”
Roberge, who finished just over a minute later, complimented his colleague on the performance.
“That was WorldTour Pete,” he said.
Gomez Villafañe was calm and collected at the finish, where she solo’ed in about 13 minutes ahead of second and third place finishers Sherwell and Newsom. She credited her training with coach Carmen Small for her rapid rise in gravel racing dominance.
“I’ve naturally always been good at punchy VO2-type efforts,” she said. “With the Life Time Grand Prix and gravel taking off I have had to up my endurance. I till don’t do anything crazy, haven’t even done a six hour training ride this year. My coach is really good at putting hard days back to back to back, and even now we’re really changing the way that I’m training. I’m seeing a lot of benefits and making small adjustments every year and keep getting better.”
---------------This article comes from reprint.
