Harsh weather accompanies US gravel season openers at Low Gap and Old Man Winter – Gallery

Whereas professional highway racing season is underway from the nice and cozy climates of Australia, the Center East and southern Spain, the opening chapters for North American gravel dismiss comfy climates and plunge into the chilly and moist northern months of north California and Colorado. 

Peter Stetina (Canyon) and Kate Courtney (Rivian/Allied/Pink Bull) grabbed the glory in Ukiah, California on January 26 on the opening spherical of the Grasshopper Journey Collection, 5 occasions on faucet by means of Could 10. This previous weekend it was Noah Granigan (Miami Blazers) and Lauren De Crescenzo (Issue/The Feed/Wahoo/PERC) who took victories in windy circumstances at Previous Man Winter Bicycle Rally in Colorado.

By mid-February each the UCI Gravel World Collection and Gravel Earth Collection will probably be again in full swing on two continents. Within the US, the BMC Rock Cobbler returns for a twelfth version with “shenanigans” on elements of the course, no podium on the finish and a severe route of near 100 miles from Bakersfield, California. 

The Gravel Earth Collection will make a debut within the Philippines at Attck Unrstrktd on February 9. The large 240km enterprise takes place in hilly terrain north of Manila from Talavera and gives the primary base factors for the collection. The multi-day Santa Vall occasion returns on February 15-16 from Girona, with 10% bonus factors within the scoring. Stage 1 is 80km with 1,100 metres of climbing and stage 2 provides one other 500 metres of elevation achieve on the 114km route.

In a cross-over season that started in October 2024 with the European Gravel Championships in Italy and Gravelista in Australia, the subsequent occasion for Gravel World Championships computerized qualification is Castellon Gravel Race in Spain on February 15. The 97km distance qualifier presents 72% gravel, which begins and ends simply north of Valencia in Llucena.

Stetina and Courtney win Low Hole

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The twenty eighth version of the Grasshopper Journey Collection started with what organisers name a ‘Hopper Traditional’, the 47-mile Low Hole occasion in Mendocino County. Dry circumstances and freezing temperatures greeted the 500-plus opponents for the standard mass begin, the place elite racers quickly made separate on the opening monster climb on Orr Springs Highway, nearly one-third of the day’s 6,150 toes of elevation achieve packed into the primary 9 miles. 

Stetina gained for a second time in three years, the quick circumstances taking him 2 hours, 33 minutes, and simply 31 seconds forward of Matthew Wiebe. One other one minute again was Jurd Hurd for third. Final yr Stetina completed second in a touch to the road behind Christopher Blevins.

“Freezing (fortunately dry!) circumstances did nothing to dampen the communal stoke that’s palabale on the beginning line of this perennial season opener. At 47 miles, it’s brief within the grand scheme of issues, which makes it the right tuneup regardless of the place one finds [oneself] in late January,” Stetina posted on Instagram following the occasion.

“It’s necessary to start out the yr off with momentum and I’m happy to take the [win]. Maybe extra importantly, I nonetheless discovered some minute particulars to take care of earlier than the largest worldwide races are within the crosshairs.”

Courtney scored her fourth consecutive ladies’s victory, ending in 2 hours, 49 minutes, 36 seconds, with 10 minutes to spare on the line. From the chase, Chloé Mauvais and Leslie Ethridge sprinted to the road, with Mauvais the very best of the 2.

Carina Nottingham took the win within the U-19 feminine class in a time of three:31. Yoann Perrodin gained the U-19 male class, his time of two:41 placing him in tenth total among the many professional riders. 

For a 3rd yr in a row, an revolutionary program pairing U-19 feminine riders with grownup mentors attracted 31 contributors. With 62 whole under-19 aged rides, Grasshopper Journey Collection is working onerous to create the subsequent technology of gravel riders.

The Hopper motion continues with the Huffmaster in Maxwell, California on February 22.

Granigan and De Crescenzo conquer wind and climbs at Previous Man Winter

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Previous Man Winter Rally out of Lyons, Colorado returned for an eleventh version Sunday with a 75-mile course throughout Boulder County, racking up 5,000 toes of climbing by means of canyons with a primary timed part on the Rowena path and the second timed part to Linden with twisty gravel on Wagonwheel Hole headed to Previous Stage. The route is historically difficult with icy sections that dictate off-the-bike abilities and melting snowpack that makes for muddy single monitor.

This yr the air temperatures have been properly above the freezing mark, however vicious winds blasted throughout the Entrance Vary for probably the most difficult editions but. 

Granigan repeated for a second males’s title on Saturday, stopping the clock throughout two timed segments with the very best whole and holding off Stephen Schaefer by 23 seconds. Final yr he conquered the epic muddy circumstances of the course, and this time needed to combat climate of a distinct sort, wind gusts of 40-60 mph.

By the point De Crescenzo accomplished her experience, her mother and father held up the inflatable arch so it would not blow away within the robust gusts. She used working abilities within the first timed section to overhaul four-time champion Erin Huck, occurring to win by 29 seconds. 

“Previous Man Winter was the right strategy to kick off the season and shake out the cobwebs. The race was top-notch, and section racing all the time provides an thrilling dynamic,” De Crescenzo informed Cyclingnews.

“The wind was insane and solely acquired stronger because the day went on, with 62 mph gusts within the afternoon, and racers have been nonetheless battling by means of it. Once I crossed the end line, my mother and pop needed to maintain up the arch to maintain it from blowing away!”

Huck, a MTB Olympian and winner of the primary Previous Man Winter race in 2015, had a 30-second lead on her fellow Life Time Grand Prix competitor heading on the Rowena Go. De Crescenzo stated she used her highschool cross-country working roots to make up all that point and move Huck on a two-mile uphill part of snowpack. 

“This occasion holds a particular place in my coronary heart—it was one among my first huge gravel wins in 2018 whereas coming back from my TBI, so taking the W yesterday made it much more significant,” stated De Crescenzo, now two-for-two within the early-season gravel race after a seven-year hole when she gained in 2018.