After a victory at Unbound Gravel 100, there was no time to rest for Tiffany Cromwell (Canyon-SRAM) as she headed from Kansas to Finland for her next off-road competition. This time, however, she puts on both a helmet as racer and a cap as event promoter for this Saturday’s inaugural FNLD GRVL, the official label for Finland Gravel.
The Australian splits time this year on her schedule between road and gravel events. After the UAE Tour and a heavy Spring Classics season, she has gone three-for-three on gravel including two UCI Gravel World Series victories at Seven in Western Australia and The Gralloch in Scotland. At Unbound 100 she put her head down across the mud-filled course and won by more than 26 minutes.
“Obviously I’m always happy to take a win. I just played like let’s-go-hard game because I had no idea where I was compared to the other women,” Cromwell told Cyclingnews after her conquest in the Flint Hills.
“Next we have Finland gravel. It’s our event, so super excited for that. Yeah, it’s quite a heavy gravel block right now and but it’s good.”
The event will be held Saturday in Lahti, an hour away from Finland’s capital Helsinki. There are three distances, all with aid stations and course markings, and the longest one is the 177km Midnight Sun route, with a €20,000 prize purse split evenly between the top five men and top five women.
An A-list of riders have confirmed to support Cromwell at the inaugural running of the Finland event, including Carolin Schiff, fresh off her titanic victory at Unbound Gravel 200, second-placed men’s rider Petr Vakoc, seventh-placed Peter Stetina and Jasper Ockeloen, who was 10th, all four with Canyon. Other gravel specialists headed from Unbound 200 include Rob Britton (Factor Bikes), who was 16th, and Angela Naeth (Castelli Cycling), who was 12th.
“For me, gravel is about finding new frontiers and exploring new parts of the world. I make a point to do an international gravel adventure each year and when FNLD popped up it was an easy yes. I never raced there on the road and have always wanted to experience the country,” Stetina told Cyclingnews. “The fact that Canyon friends Tiffany and Valtteri are aligned makes the choice even easier! I can’t wait to see what they’ve cooked up.”
Other elite riders riding the Midnight Sun route are former men’s WorldTour veterans Nicolas Roche and Alex Cataford as well as current pros Heidi Franz (DNA Pro Cycling) and Chloe Hosking (Hosking Bikes).
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