Rebecca’s Private Idaho has delivered its eleventh year of gravel racing, with Sarah Max and Griffin Easter sweeping up overall victory in the women’s and men’s categories of the event’s Queen’s Stage Race. They both won the first two stages and then held onto enough points by making the podium in the final headline event.
It is the eleventh year of the long-running Sun Valley gravel event in Idaho – spearheaded by powerful gravel force Rebecca Rusch – with the initial gravel race in 2013 having evolved to include the Queen’s Stage Race. The event is made up of three timed stages run over four days, from Thursday August 31 to Sunday September 3.
Max, sitting in 12th in the Life Time Grand Prix series, was embroiled in a tight battle for overall honours with Cecily Decker, who has added gravel racing to her skiing in recent years. Decker ultimately took second overall with Ami Stuart third in the women’s category. The men’s overall couldn’t have come down to a finer margin with Michael van den Ham and Alex Howes both pushing overall leader Easter hard in the final stage, a 103 mile long gravel race. Though third place in the final stage was still just enough to claim overall victory.
“A battle to the end,” said Easter in an Instagram post. “Hung on for the overall GC. The past two years I made my move in the “El Diablito” section and solo’d to the line. This year was NOT the same. Michael van den Ham and Alex Howes made this edition of Rebecca’s Private Idaho a tactical chess match each of the three stages. A big cheers to you both for making the race a true race.”
The three stages of the Queen’s Stage Race covered 186 miles with 10,646 feet of altitude gain, starting with a tough 35 mile course on Thursday, a timed hill climb on Saturday and on Sunday a gravel race which is the headline event of Rebecca’s Private Idaho. To find out how each of the three timed stages of the Queen’s Stage Race played out read on and don’t forget to scroll through the galleries too.
Stage 1 – The Harriman Trail
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