The prediction for an additional dash involving previous Unbound Gravel 200 champions Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialised Off-road) and Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM-MAAP) to settle podium spots in one other elite ladies’s end in Emporia, Kansas turned out to be true, however this time not capable of attain the highest spot.
Their decisive dash this 12 months performed out with Villafañe edging most-recent champion Klöser for third place, then Cecile Lejeune in fifth and 2021 winner Lauren De Crescenzo in sixth.
Nicely forward of a four-rider duel on the end line, two-time Traka 360 winner Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing) stole the present with a solo victory forward of her teammate Cecily Decker. Final 12 months was a historic end for the elite ladies’s race within the 200-mile distance, Klöser gained from a hotly-contested nine-rider dash.
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The winner within the 200-mile endurance check in 2022, Villafañe now has a sweep of the medals at Unbound Gravel 200, including third place to the runner-up spot she took in 2023. Final 12 months, two flat tyres snarled her momentum, and he or she completed fifteenth. Entering into with a debut victory at The Traka 200 and a third-time win at Belgian Waffle Journey California, Villafañe was a favorite in Kansas.
“, from successful to second to I do not even know the place I completed final 12 months, to get again on the rostrum, [also] managed to now be tied with Cecily on the Grand Prix factors, it is fairly candy,” Villafañe stated after the end to race organisers.
“A tremendous, superb race for these ladies that form of took the race by the horns and simply challenged it. It was simply spectacular. I might get updates on my Karoo Hammerhead, and I used to be like, wow, they’re on one. Tremendous spectacular for them, and completely happy to salvage third.”
Whereas Gabby Traxler carried an early solo lead throughout the primary 50 miles of the race and two teams chased, it was on Divide Street simply past mile 40, on the primary main part of tough gravel, the place Migoń made a decisive transfer together with her teammate Decker and US gravel champion Lauren Stephens. Lots of the different favourites from that bunch didn’t react in time, and the trio was off.
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“On Divide Street, it was fairly muddy, and there was simply plenty of carnage – crash after crash after crash, and that form of made these choices,” Villafañe recounted.
“I bear in mind on a kicker, I used to be behind Melisa Rollins, and Cecily [Decker] was like, 5 bike lengths forward, and I am like, ‘Oh, she’s bought this. She’s gonna shut it.’ After which subsequent factor I do know, Cecily is gone.
“After which when you form of get onto that huge street [headed to Alma], you had Rosa [Klöser] saying [Carolin] Schiff is not right here, I am not working. Paige saying Haley’s [Smith] up the street, I am not working. You could not get a cohesive group collectively.”
As a lot as warmth and fatigue factored into the again half of the 200-mile race, teamwork and ways made the most important noise in a decisive transfer within the first half of the race.
By the point Villafañe’s bunch made it via Alma at mile 70 for the primary help station, the trio of Migoń, Decker and Stephens had handed Haley Smith, Kirstine Frida Rysbjerg and Ann-Christine Allik in addition to lone chief Traxler, and so they had greater than 5 minutes to their benefit. Later, Stephens would drop again, and even Decker was distanced from the entrance.
Not solely was time a bonus for Migoń and Decker, but in addition being teammates. Villafañe stated the Specialised riders may depend upon one another as effectively, particularly when she could not push on her personal, and others round helped her dig deeper. A kind of was Annika Langvad, with whom she paired at Cape Epic for the general title.
“This race is so lengthy, it is 200 miles. You may really feel nice in a single minute, and then you definitely really feel not good on one other. So it is truly whenever you’re feeling good that is form of when you’ll want to conceal, except you are actually keen to go for these assaults.
“I additionally had Annika [Langvad], an excellent robust teammate. We tried to go, bought reeled again actual fast. I had Gee [Schreurs], a pseudo-teammate. It was tremendous spectacular trip from her after fracturing her elbow,” she stated. Schreurs and Langvad would end 5 and half minutes behind their fellow Specialised rider, seventh and eighth, respectively.
“I do not come from a street background, so I’ve come a very great distance and I am actually happy with my ways. It is typically about who can get to the end line with the least quantity of watts, and I feel I performed it tremendous conservative, and was actually sensible. I salvaged third.”
Together with third place, Villafañe stays on the prime of the ladies’s standings within the Life Time Grand Prix, nonetheless, now tied with Decker, who moved up as the highest Grand Prix finisher within the discipline.
Villafañe may also take comfort on her efficiency, as her common pace, 19.52 mph, was quicker than Klöser’s successful common of 19.44 mph a 12 months in the past. Nevertheless, the brand new greatest common pace of 20.12 mph, and title, belong to Migoń, at the very least for one 12 months.
