After crossing the finish line with the third-best time for elite women in the Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetikin on Saturday, Lauren Stephens (Aegis Cycling Foundation) never made it to the podium. Instead, Stephens was disqualified, her result and split times all gone.
“Following an official review after the conclusion of the Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetik, Lauren Stephens has been disqualified on account of her taking aid outside of a designated crew location. As a result, every rider who initially finished in fourth place onwards has been moved up one place in the final standings,” read a statement that was sent to media, including Cyclingnews, a little over six hours after the reigning US gravel national champion gave her interview.
One other prominent first-timer at Leadville 100 was Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing), the California-based rider a former cross-country mountain bike world champion. She not only beat a world-class field that included defending champions Melisa Rollins, Sofia Gomez Villafañe and Hannah Otto, but recorded the fastest time of any woman on the course, 6:48:55.
Carter Summit
So what really happened? Stephens was forthright.
“My crew fed me a 500ml bottle at Carter Summit aid station. Now that I re-read the elite tech guide, I see ‘crew’ is only allowed at crew locations, which doesn’t include Carter Summit aid station,” Stephens explained to Cyclingnews on Sunday.
“Life Time asked me if I did this and I told them the…
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