Sofia Gomez Villafañe wins Sea Otter Traditional Fuego XL for a second time(Picture credit score: Life Time)
Keegan Swenson wins Sea Otter Traditional Fuego XL for a 3rd time in males’s professional division(Picture credit score: Life Time)
Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles-SRAM) received for a 3rd time at Life Time Sea Otter Traditional Fuego XL mountain bike race whereas Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialised Off-road) defended her professional girls’s title in Monterey, California on Friday. The endurance MTB race, protecting 70 miles (112km) served because the opening spherical of the seven-event Life Time Grand Prix.
Whereas greater than a dozen elite males rode on the entrance of the race on the ultimate lap, Swenson delivered a profitable blow with just some miles to go and glided solo throughout the road in 4 minutes, 15 seconds, going 3:26 sooner than his profitable time final yr.
Alexey Vermeulen (ENVE-Issue Bikes) completed 48 seconds again in second whereas South African Matthew Beers (Specialised Off-road) was third, one other 18 seconds again. Cole Paton was fourth and Brendan Johnson fifth.
The ladies’s race noticed Villafañe in a two-rider battle with Alexis Skarda (Santa Cruz Bicycles-SRAM) on the second-half of the race, and like final yr, Villafañe attacked on the ultimate climb again to Laguna Seca for a solo win. Her time of 4:42:23 eclipsed final yr’s mark by almost 13 minutes. Actually, all the ladies’s riders went sooner than Villafañe’s profitable time final yr.
Skarda couldn’t pull off a repeat as runner-up, nonetheless, as she was caught and handed by New Zealand newcomer Samara Sheppard (Specialised) and Hannah Otto (Pivot Cycles) within the closing miles. Sheppard took second simply 15 seconds forward of Otto. Haley Smith surged for solo fourth, seven seconds forward of Skarda, who settled for fifth.
The way it unfolded
All elite riders made two circuits of a 33.8-mile (54.4km) route, the identical Fuego XL course as final yr with punchy climbs, flowy single observe, plus latest rains making the ruts on hearth roads even deeper. The course traveled to the east and north of Fort Orrd Nationwide Monument on the west coast of California, piling up 9,422 toes (2,872 metres) of elevation achieve. The ultimate 6km climb leads towards the signature start-finish on the pavement of the Laguna Seca motorsports observe.
On the midway level of the lads’s race, 12 riders have been strung out in a quick line as they headed on a second cross of the circuit, defending champion Swenson driving second wheel. Additionally within the group have been Alexey Vermeulen, Matt Beers, Sean Fincham (Maxxis Factoy Racing), Alex Wild, Cole Paton, Finn Gullickson, Brendan Johnson (Big), Marcis Shelton, Ryan Standish (Orange Seal-Kenda MTB) and Payson McEleveen (Allied Cycle Works – Purple Bull). A bunch of 4 trailed within the chase – Taylor Lideen (Allied Cycle Works), Torbjørn Røed (Trek-Pearl Izumi), Petr Vakoč (Canyon) and Zach Calton.
Vakoč was in a position to bridge to the entrance group with 15 miles to race, whereas Lachlan Morton made an enormous transfer in his chase. With 10 miles to go, and on the ultimate climb, the tempo quickened and entrance group shattered. Beers had the lead cross the ultimate checkpoint, towing Swenson and Vermeulen. Grotts, Fincham, Paton and Wild had dropped again as a second group solely 12 seconds again, however dropping extra time.
Vermeulen, Beers and Paton have been the one ones to maintain Swenson in view, however he sailed away.
The ladies began 5 minutes behind the lads with their very own mass begin, and Villafañe wasted no time on the opening uphill part of pavement to take the lead place to the primary singletrack path. The defending champion managed a small lead early, however Stephens and Skarda joined her close to the tip of the primary of two laps. Villafañe set the tempo because the three-rider practice held a gradual tempo after two hours of racing and set off on a second lap.
Simply 36 seconds behind, Sheppard led a bunch of 5 riders, Huck, Rinehart, Otto and Newsom, their chase additionally trying fairly tempoed below the cloudless, blue sky. Greater than a minute again, Haley Smith rode solo.
Midway via the ultimate lap Skarda continued the battle with Villafañe on the entrance of the ladies’s race, whereas Sheppard, Rinehart, Huck and Otto rode collectively, virtually three minutes off the tempo. On the ultimate climb, Villafañe stepped on the accelerator and took off, gaining two minutes over Skarda and rode away for one more victory.
The highest 10 professional women and men at Fuego XL are all a part of the invitation-only 60-rider area for the 2024 Life Time Grand Prix. The highest 5 finishers at every collection occasion document factors on a better scale than different finishers. From the very best factors totals compiled in 5 of the seven occasions, winners can be decided after the ultimate race, Large Sugar Gravel in October.
