Stetina, Villafañe top riders in BWR Tripel Crown as USA Crits road series heats up

Sweeping the three Belgian Waffle Ride events to start 2024, Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) captured the pro women’s title for the Tripel Crown of Gravel while Peter Stetina (Canyon) checked off one of his season objectives by securing the men’s pro Tripel Crown with a fourth-place finish at BWR California.

This year BWR California served as the decisive round in the Tripel Crown of Gravel, grouped with Arizona and Utah events on a more compact seven-week calendar. A series prize purse of $25,500 was split evenly between the top five men and top five women across the trio of waffle-distance races. 

For Villafañe, it was her first time competing at the signature BWR California event and she used a solo victory to seal the Tripel Crown top prize. She said it “lived up to the hype” with varied terrain across 120 miles that included 10,000 feet of climbing.

Australian Courtney Sherwell (Prova Cycles/QOM/Ekoi/Schwalbe/SRAM) held on to second overall with the runner-up spot in California while Cecily Decker (Scuderia-Pinarello) secured third. Emily Newsom (PAS Racing) was fourth and Whitney Allison, who was second overall at the 2023 Quadrupel Crown, took the final Tripel podium spot in fifth.

Stetina used his win at BWR Utah to solidify the lead in the Tripel standings, holding off Torbjørn Røed (Trek Driftless), who was sixth place or better in all three races. Lance Haidet (Specialized), Kyle Trudeau (Slow Twitch GoodLife Racing) and Griffin Easter (Canyon-Opicure Foundation) completed the five-rider podium.

Pair of teenagers win Lake Sonoma MTB

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Vida Lopez de San Roman (Bear Development) and Matthew Marotto (Waite Endurance Development) won the Lake Sonoma MTB, located outside Healdsburg, California. The 26-mile cross-country mountain bike race was a relentless day of climbing, throwing 5,400 feet of elevation gain at the field of 200 riders. It was the third of four events in the 2024 Grasshopper Adventure series, and the only ‘proper’ Mountain bike event of the set.

A US junior cyclocross national champion, Lopez de San Roman was dominant across the series of tight switchbacks and roller-coaster terrain, taking the victory by more than 21 minutes over Avery Masri (King Factory Racing). Leslie Ethridge was another two minutes back in third.

The men’s pro field was a drag race on the second loop of the course between two high school seniors, Marotto breaking away for the win ahead of Justin Peck (Los Gatos Bicycle Racing), who was one minute back. Griffin Hoppin (Flow Formulas/Spinergy) chased the duo and finished third.

The 2024 Grasshopper series concludes on May 11 at the Ukiah-Mendo Hopper, a mixed-terrain 80-mile hilly course in western Mendocino County. The event is the newest addition to the Gravel Earth Series.

Harriet Owen and Alfredo Rodriguez lead USA Crits

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Harriet Owen (DNA Pro Cycling) and Alfredo Rodriguez (REIGN Storm Racing) carry the individual leads in the USA Crits series with two races remaining. 

Owen is without a win in the series so far, but has finished on the podium at the first four races – Sunny King Criterium in Alabama, Rock&Road Criterium in Georgia, Spartanburg Criterium in South Carolina and Athens Twilight Criterium in Georgia.

The L39ION of Los Angeles duo of Alexis Magner and Kendall Ryan trail Owen in the standings, with Magner trailing the top spot by just seven points. Of the first four races, Magner has won in Newnan and Athens while Ryan has won in Anniston and Spartanburg. 

The winner of the men’s race in Newnan, Roderyck Asconeguy Diaz (MC Cycling Team) has a solid hold on second place and is just 14 points behind Rodriguez. Finishing second in Athens, Danny Summerhill (REIGN Storm Racing) is in third place.

Race number five in the collection of one-day races in the southern states of the US will be the La Grange Cycling Classic in Georgia on May 4. The USA Crits Finals will be contested at the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic in North Carolina on May 25. All races are broadcast with a free live stream on the USA Crits web site.

Cyr, Muñoz among Miami Nights riders on new teams for Speed Week

Andrea Cyr and Paola Muñoz are back in action at USA Speed Week this week after their Miami Nights team went out of business 15 days ago. Cyr was given a guest ride with Texas Roadhouse and Muñoz took a spot with the Goldman Sachs ETFs Racing squad. Their former Nights’ teammate Brittany Parffrey was competing at Speed Week for Velocious Sport.

Jonny Clarke, Clever Martinez and Tyler Williams were also part of the Miami Nights squad and restarted their seasons on new teams at Speed Week, Clarke riding for the Austin Outlaws for the rest of 2024, Martinez with Rockland Development Program and Williams with the Miami Blazers.

The duo of Muñoz and Cyr finished as the top two women’s pro riders in the 2023 American Criterium Cup series, Muñoz edging her teammate in the top position. Through the first three races at Speed Week, which began in South Carolina on April 25 at the Greenville Cycling Classic p/b Prisma Health, Cyr led the series standings. Through the fourth event in Peachtree Corners, won by Coryn Labecki (EF Education-Cannondale). Cyr is now second overall, Parffrey is 12th in the series, while Muñoz is 21st overall.

Riders from the other NCL-owned teams, Denver Disruptors and Atlanta Rise, are also finding new homes and have been spotted at Speed Week, including Elizabeth Harden, now with the East Point Track Club and Noah Granigan, formerly with the Disruptors, is racing for Miami Blazers.