Bradyn Lange (Canyon x DT Swiss All-Terrain Racing) and Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) won the elite races at Sea Otter Classic Gravel on Thursday, both riders part of the invitation-only field of the Life Time Grand Prix therefore taking the top spots on the leaderboards after the opening round.
Lange and Keegan Swenson (Specialized Off-road) came to the final 180-degree, left-hand corner together. The US gravel champion gained daylight as he took the inside line in the tight turn and led the defending Sea Otter champion across the final 100 metres to earn the victory.
The inside line, however, didn’t work as well for the women’s US gravel champion, with Lauren Stephens (Aegis x Land of Enchantment) trying that same tactic on the second last corner but ceding ground as a result. That helped give Villafañe a solid gap to hold through the final corner and past the finish line.
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It was a victory the kept the superb early season run going for the the three-time Life Time Grand Prix series winner. “I’m having a good year” said Villafañe after adding the win to her early season tally, having already scooped up both stages and the overall at Santa Vall, Castellon Gravel, Valley of Tears and The Mid South.
“With the new finish they send us down to the bottom of the track and all the way to the bottom of the corkscrew so I really knew I had to save a bullet for that kick,” Villafañe said in an interview on the Life Time livestream.
Nele Laing (Canyon x DT Swiss) was the first of the four to put the pressure on through that final section, dropping Karolina Migoń (PAS Racing), but then when Villafañe came over the top through the steep section only Stephens could hold her wheel, setting up the two-way battle for the victory.
Villafañe crossed the line with a time of 5:10:39 – a pace slowed by the windy conditions and racing tactics – with Stephens two seconds back. The relative newcomer to gravel, Laing, was third and Migon took fourth, nine seconds behind Villafañe but nearly 30 seconds ahead of fifth…
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