Russell Finsterwald won the elite men’s award at the Big Sugar Gravel 2022 in Bentonville, Arkansas, on Saturday. In the finale round of the LifeTime Grand Prix, Finsterwald took a solo victory by 25 seconds ahead of runner-up Keegan Swenson and third-placed Adam Roberge.
How it unfolded
The 104.1-miler route that began in downtown Bentonville, Arkansas, and travelled westward and then north into southern Missouri before looping back to the start-finish area.
Organisers designed one of the most challenging gravel courses featuring 7,000ft of elevation gain held across rarely maintained and canopy-covered gravel roads with loose, rocky gravel, a few water crossings and bridges that also made for one of the most picturesque routes on the LifeTime Grand Prix Series.
The first official checkpoint at mile 37.7 in Pineville, Missouri, where the Little Sugar Creek and Big Sugar Creek merge and form the Elk River.
The second checkpoint at mile 73.8 had the riders in the predicted headwind as they pushed by a local brewery nestled in a tiny hamlet located less than five miles from the return across the Arkansas border.
The peloton set out onto the rolling hills of the Ozark mountain countryside under a blanket of clouds and strong winds blowing 20 miles per hour from the south, which would become a headwind for the finish.
A small group formed in the opening 15 miles of the race with series leader Keegan Swenson, Russell Finsterwald, Logan Owen, John Borstelmann and Peter Stetina, followed by a large group further back.
The front group swelled at the 20-mile marker to then also include Michael Garrison, Cole Paton, Lachlan Morton, Griffen Easter, Bradyn Lange, Alex Howes, Jordi Meeus, Adam Roberge, Brennan Wertz, Nicholas Roche, and Alexey Vermeulen.
The leader group settled in with 12 riders at the 55-mile mark with the selection including Paton, Borstelmann, Stetina, Roberge, Swenson, Vermeulen, Roche, Howard Grotts, Owen, Howes, Easter and Finsterwald.
A lone attack came from Borstelmann before the 72-mile marker and he gained nearly two minutes on the chase group in the last section of the race. However, he wasn’t able to maintain that lead in the closing 30 miles.
More to follow…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CyclingNews RSS Feed…