Stetina, Wertz, Rockwell highlight Low Gap opener of Grasshopper Series

Peter Stetina and Amity Rockwell are amongst an all-star solid of professional riders opening the US gravel racing calendar on February 27 when Low Hole opens the Grasshopper Journey Collection in northern California. They’ll tackle a 48-mile course from Todd Grove Park in Ukiah, California, with 6,664 ft of elevation acquire, the vast majority of dust, or mud, and climbing packed into the ultimate 22 miles.

Stetina, final 12 months’s Low Hole professional males’s winner, will likely be joined by Tyler Williams (Miami Nights), who was third final 12 months, Ian Lopez de San Roman, fifth final 12 months, and Brennan Wertz (Mosaic Cycles), who was second in 2022. Former WorldTour professional Levi Leipheimer, who lives in Olympic Valley, California, and Canadian cross-country mountain bike rider Geoff Kabush can even make a begin with the professional males.

Along with Rockwell, who was fourth in 2022, there’s a sturdy subject of professional ladies, all based mostly in California, led by multi-discipline rider and Olympian Katerina Nash, who gained the 2021 Belgian Waffle Trip in California. Additionally anticipated to start out are Six Sigma Hopper winner Flavia Oliveira Parks, Anna Yamauchi, Alison Tetrick (Specialised) and 2023 podium finishers Niky Taylor and Maude Farrell (Pivot / Easton / Pas Regular Studios), second and third, respectively.

Organisers of Low Hole nonetheless had spots open for the sequence at the start of the week, with all juniors receiving a customary 50% low cost. It’s the twenty seventh 12 months for the Grasshopper Collection and Sportful returns as a sponsor for a fourth consecutive version.

The fourth occasion within the sequence, Ukiah Mendo Epic on Might 11, is without doubt one of the races added this season to the worldwide Gravel Earth Collection, the place Rockwell completed second total within the elite ladies’s standings.

Roxo Racing rebrands to Boneshaker Undertaking p/b Orange Seal

Roxo Racing, which started as a home elite crew for ladies in 2021, returns for a second season on the Continental stage and can rebrand as Boneshaker Undertaking p/b Orange Seal.

Whereas the identify of the crew modified for the 2024 season, the 12-rider roster will proceed to be anchored by Canadian Emily Marcolini. She’ll be supported by returning US riders Marjie Bemis, Jaime Larmer, Jacqueline Larouche and Kira Payer in addition to Canadian Ariane Bonhomme, Mexican riders Ana Belen Garza and Romina Hinojosa.

New to the crew are Canadians Ngaire Barraclough, who was a two-time U23 ITT nationwide champion, and Kiara Lylyk, who took the bronze within the 2023 Collegiate MTB Nationwide Championships. Additionally becoming a member of are three-time Mexican time trial champion Andrea Ramirez and Colombian Karen Villamizar, who had a trio of second-place finishes finally 12 months’s Vuelta Guatemala Femenina and was fourth of GC at each Vuelta Colombia and Vuelta Costa Rica. 

The 28-year-old Marcolini had her greatest 12 months in 2022 at DNA Professional Biking, the place she gained levels at Redlands Bicycle Traditional and Tour of the Gila, was within the high 10 of the GC at each races in addition to Joe Martin Stage Race. She crashed out of the Tour of Colombia the final two years and took time without work in 2023 to heal fully from numerous lacerations and a mind damage. 

The ladies’s Boneshaker squad was invited to associate once more with US males’s home elite-level Voler Manufacturing facility Racing p/b Schnur squad for a second season of the NCL Cup Collection. They plan to start the 2024 season on the Valley of the Solar Stage Race and the Tucson Bicycle Traditional stage race.

Three Canadians be part of Purple Walters at XSpeed United

Purple Walters, who earned a stagiaire spot on the Axeon improvement squad three years in the past courtesy of Giro d’Italia winner Tao Geoghegan Hart, returns for a second season on the Canadian males’s Continental squad, XSpeed United. 

In 2021, he hit the highlight as the highest candidate to safe a spot with Hagens Berman Axeon through funding offered by Geoghegan Hart, who started his profession with the event crew and needed to extend racial variety in professional biking.

Walters, who has twice swept the Grenadian highway and time trial nationwide championships, will likely be joined in 2024 by seven North Individuals on the Canadian crew in addition to seven European riders. 

Among the many new Canadian riders on the crew are 18-year-old highway and observe rider David Olejniczak, 21-year-old off-road rider Eric Berg and 27-year-old time trialist Declan Kelly. Zak Coleman of Nice Britain and Leo Doyle of Eire have additionally been added.