The momentum for Emily Newsom (PAS Racing) to remove the word 'mediocre' from her vocabulary begins this weekend at Santa Vall, the first event with bonus scores at the Gravel Earth Series. She was sixth overall at the Spanish gravel race, which this year is a two-day stage race with close to 200 kilometres.
PAS Racing brings a full arsenal for the European start of gravel racing, with 15 of 16 riders confirmed on the start list. Only newcomer Cecily Decker, the US rider who won The Rift last year, will be absent. Karolina Migoń, who was eighth in Girona last year and won the season title for the Gravel Earth Series, returns, and this time Morgan Aguirre, who was third at Santa Vall and in the GES standings, has been added to the PAS roster.
"It's just an awesome environment. Everybody is very motivated and eager to work hard, which raises a level for everybody. PAS is very organized but also pretty relaxed, which is so different than what I am used to," Newsom told Cyclingnews about her switch from six years of road racing to a full gravel campaign last year at PAS Racing.
"It was a pretty big jump coming from the road into privateer. It took a bit to get used to, but it is an aspect of it that I really love.
"When we first began racing last year, that was the first thing that stood out to me, for Santa Vall there was zero pressure on any of us to perform. It was early in the year and they just wanted us to go out there and race and have a good time. And we did really well."
'Really well' was an understatement on the women's side, as three PAS Racing women finished in the top 10, Kara Sofie Skovgård Hansen in second just ahead of Newsom and Migoń. The men's squad started slower but then hit stride at GES events The Traka 360, The Rift and Ranxo Gravel with Simen Nordahl Svendsen winning the series overall and Tobiass Mørch Kongstad going seventh overall.
Newsom has focused most of her off-road racing on North America the last few years, winning 2021 Gravel Locos in her home state and then using a runner-up spot at Big Sugar Gravel to secure fifth overall in the inaugural Life Time Grand Prix. That same year she had a heavy road schedule with EF Education-TIBCO-SVB, riding Tour de France Femmes, Setmana Valenciana and earning fifth in the USPro elite women's time trial. Last year with a gravel focus, she was fourth overall in the Tripel Crown of Gravel in the Belgian Waffle Ride series, with third at BWR Utah and eighth at BWR California.
However, she finished a disappointing 15th overall two times in the Grand Prix and was surprised in January to learn she missed selection to return to that series for a fourth consecutive year.
"The main reason I reapplied was because I feel I was mediocre the last two years, and it just doesn't satisfy me whatsoever. I wanted to give it another go," Newsome confirmed to Cyclingnews.
"Yeah, I'm going for the wildcard. I don't know if I'll get it, but it's a point system, so you'll know if you're gonna get in or not, which is great. But then maybe it's not the series for me. Sure, it has all the mountain bike [events], which doesn't really suit me, but I like a challenge."
One of the positives from not returning to the series, which also includes Peter Stetina, Lachlan Morton, Lauren Stephens, Dani Shrosbree and Heather Jackson, among others, will be more flexibility on the calendar for Newsom. She will compete at Sea Otter Gravel and Unbound Gravel 200, which is an effort to score top points for one of three women's wildcard entries for the Grand Prix, but otherwise will add a few new events and plan smarter.
"I'm very excited for the non-Grand Prix races, like Core4 in the Gravel Earth Series in Iowa, and repeating some races where I want to do better. Last year I did way too much in April and May, like 10 races in 11 weeks, and I hit the end of April and was toast," the Texas resident admitted.
"We have this really supportive atmosphere with the PAS team, but we still have our own individual sponsors - for me like Ventum [bike] and Hunt [wheels]. So I feel like I have this no-pressure kind of environment. Obviously, they expect us to perform, but it's not foremost in what they want. The main goal is to be good ambassadors for the brand. And you race as hard as you can race."
All the riders will remain in Spain after Santa Vall for a team camp, which Newsom said was not just about the physical block of training but meeting sponsors and meshing with teammates.
"It's really an opportunity just to get to know all your teammates and then train a lot. So I'm expecting the training to be pretty rigorous, especially after Santa Val."
The full roster of riders joining Newsom at Santa Vall and then camp will be Kongstad, Svendsen, Nils Correvon, Thomas Bundgaard, Seppe Rombouts, Matthew Wiebe, Magnus Bak Klaris, Mads Würtz Schmidt, Anna Kollmann-Suhr, Wendy Oosterwoud, Kyleigh Spearing, Cassia Boglio, Aguirre and Migoń.
