Lauren De Crescenzo (The Feed-Argonaut-Castelli-Maxxis) opened her 2026 gravel marketing campaign on acquainted territory in Georgia, returning because the two-time elite ladies’s winner of Homegrown Gravel Journey, supported by Wahoo. A number of dicey mud sections put her in unfamiliar conditions, nonetheless, leaving her with a runner-up end and a battered left arm.
The early prognostication was for a battle in opposition to Emily Newsom, making her first begin with a brand new Ventum-BikeTiresDirect setup, it doesn’t matter what the course situations. Heavy rain within the days main as much as the 100-mile race factored into how the 2 riders would survive to the ultimate 1.5 miles to resolve the win. Newsom would earn the victory in her first look in Franklin, Georgia, ending in 5:34:10, 30 seconds forward of two-time winner De Crescenzo.
The elite ladies began quarter-hour after the lads on a foggy Saturday morning with 8,500 toes of elevation acquire on faucet throughout gravel and tough pavement in Georgia and Alabama. Due to heavy rains within the days main as much as the race, the opening part of 1.5 miles of gravel was diverted because the Chattahoochee River had overflowed its banks.
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The flooding was excessive sufficient that contributors and spectators staying on the close by campground had been moved to increased floor the night time earlier than by native authorities.
The primary encounter with heavy mud for racers got here 17 miles afterward the primary gravel sector in Alabama. That’s the place De Crescenzo misplaced management of her bike whereas driving on the entrance of the lead group of eight.
“It was a extremely slippery, muddy part, and I attempted to take the excessive line on the left. Then I slid and bought caught up in a barbed wire fence. It occurs,” De Crescenzo stated as she took maintain of the ripped left sleeve of her jersey and revealed deep scratch marks from her shoulder to her wrist.
“I did not crash. I simply bounded off barbed wire.”
As soon as remounted, De Crescenzo went to work for the subsequent 30 miles, working her approach again to the entrance.
“I gave her a minute-and-a-half lead. Yeah, for the final a part of the race, I simply did that factor I at all times do, put my head down. The race had exploded a little bit bit, with folks scattered throughout. I used to be capable of catch folks one after the other, and finally caught as much as Emily and Sierra Sims [Team Winston-Salem].”
Newsom stated she did not see how her competitor slipped within the muddy part of gravel, however knew she went down laborious. And it wasn’t till De Crescenzo clawed her approach again to the entrance that Newsom might see the blood on her arm.
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“I actually did not need to journey 75 miles alone, and I actually did not suppose I might maintain Lauren away for 75 miles,” Newsom instructed Cyclingnews after her debut win at Homegrown Gravel.
“Two ladies bridged to me, and we labored very well collectively. Lauren caught us about mile 50, and we dropped the opposite [rider]. I might inform she bought ripped up by barbed wire, and I might inform she wasn’t feeling nice. It was fairly epic.”
Newsom stated she let De Crescenzo push the tempo on all of the rolling hills, gravel and tarmac, saving her reserves for a brief, sharp 6% gradient on the end line.
Nonetheless, the lead moto they had been following turned off pavement with 1.5 miles to go and onto the beforehand flooded and debris-filled street alongside the river, having missed the signal for deviation. The riders adopted, and that’s the place Newsom discovered her benefit.
“Once we bought to the river street that they did not have us go down on the way in which out, we had been like, what will we do? So we’re like, guess we’re alleged to go that approach now. So we took the river street, it was truly fairly sloppy and a little bit bit chaotic as a result of the moto type of bought caught behind a pair cyclists [from other ride distances].
“It ended up being actually good for me, as a result of I like muddy chaos. I got here out first and sprinted up the hill, and managed to win it. I am tremendous happy with myself. I believe I had extra enjoyable than she had, as a result of she was struggling.”
Having lived within the Atlanta space for a number of years, De Crescenzo had an unofficial fan membership on the end space, together with an emergency room physician from the world. She had him assess her wounds, which he stated wouldn’t require stitches or scar.
“That is just a bit flesh wound and my head is okay,” De Crescenzo stated, smiling with a runner-up customized pottery mug and a examine for prizes. “Emily was tremendous robust right now. She had a very good low season, a really good low season, clearly.”
The duo will sq. off once more in two weeks at The Mid South in Oklahoma, which returns after the occasion was cancelled final 12 months because of wildfires and heavy smoke within the space. De Crescenzo received the race three consecutive instances from 2022 to 2024, whereas Newsom has completed prime 10 annually.
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