Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz) main the way in which (Picture credit score: Life Time)
Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialised) on the Chequamegon MTB Competition introduced by Trek(Picture credit score: Life Time)
The whole males’s and girls’s professional podium on the Chequamegon MTB Competition introduced by Trek(Picture credit score: Life Time)
Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialised) and Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz) gained the Chequamegon MTB Competition introduced by Trek on Saturday. The occasion marked the fourth race of the Life Time Grand Prix introduced by Mazda.
Within the girls’s class, Villafane completed the race in 2:16:22 and beat Alexis Skarda and Savilia Blunk in a dash to the road.
“I’m stoked to lastly pull this one off,” mentioned Villafañe in a Life Time Grand Prix media launch. “On paper, I’ve at all times thought this is among the races that fits me probably the most, however up till as we speak I’ve by no means been in a position to get issues collectively right here.”
The rider is now main the general Life Time collection standings by 4 factors forward of Paige Onweller after the fourth race of what is going to this 12 months be a six race collection. Villafañe is hoping to maintain the momentum going after altering her strategy to the latter a part of the season.
“This summer season I’ve saved issues just a little extra chilled in an effort to have extra freshness coming into the final third of 2024, and as we speak was a very good signal that I’m match and motivated,” mentioned Villafañe. “I’m actually excited for the remainder of the season.”
Within the males’s class Swenson crossed the end line after 2:00:01, beating runner-up Alex Wild and third-place Sean Fincham, each ending only one second again. Swenson took the dash victory from a bunch of six a after a lead out from teammate Tobin Ortenblad, who had been reeled again in after an earlier solo assault.
“It was certainly one of our plans for him to slide away and the opposite guys hesitated a bit, permitting him to construct up a lead of round two minutes at one level,” mentioned Swenson in a race media launch. “That was a very good place for me to be in because it meant I might sit in, and if the opposite guys needed to chase, I’d allow them to chase, or if not, he’d win.”
The pay-off of the chase group making the catch and it being Swenson that took victory for the staff is that he now additionally holds a 4 level lead within the general Life Time Grand Prix collection over Lachlan Morton (EF Schooling-EasyPost), who missed the occasion as he’s at the moment making an attempt to interrupt the round Australia file.
“I didn’t know I used to be going to win till I got here off Tobin’s wheel,” mentioned Swenson. “I knew, with the 38-10 gearing I had, it was going to be arduous for anybody to come back round me, however you by no means know, and I needed to maintain my foot on the fuel. It’s a quick and difficult end right here with a downhill false flat on grass. The road comes up fast and it was nice to get this outcome.”
The race celebrated its forty first anniversary, providing the sphere a 40-mile route by the Northwoods of Wisconsin. It began from Hayward and was routed throughout the American Birkebeiner Ski Path, with back-to-back climbs and a large number of terrain serving up a race of attrition earlier than the winners had been topped on the Nice Corridor in Cable.
The ultimate two occasions within the Life Time Grand Prix collection are The Rad Dust Fest in Colorado on September 28 and Huge Sugar Gravel in Aransas on October 19.
