Payson McElveen and Melisa Rollins win Leadville Stage Race
+European Championships, Red Bull Hardline, and Tour de France Femmes
Payson McElveen and Melisa Rollins outrode worthy competition to win the three-day-long Leadville Stage Race. Many riders use the stage race as preparation for August’s Leadville Trail 100, as the multi-day race uses portions of the full Leadville 100 course.
On the first day McElveen gained a gap on the stage that started in Leadville, climbed Sugarloaf, and rolled solo to the finish at Twin Lakes. McElveen won with a nearly 3 minute gap over Torbjorn Road and Daniel Van Der Walt.
The women’s race on stage one came down to a battle between Rollins and Kate Courtney, who sprinted to the line together with Courtney taking the win by 1 second. Lauren Stephens finished third.
Stage two also saw a battle between those two riders, with Courtney again outsprinting Rollins after the Columbine climb and Sofia Gomez Villafane finishing third.
Stage two was an out-and-back course up and down the feared Columbine climb. Roed was able to eke out almost a minute on McElveen by the finish, with Van Der Walt finishing in third again.
During the third and final stage, McElveen and Roed gained a gap on the steep climb up Powerline and the Red Bull rider was able to gain a couple seconds on the line to maintain overall victory. In the women’s contest, Courtney gained a gap on Rollins on Powerline, but last year’s Leadville Trail 100 winner was able to bridge across and counterattack. Rollins took the overall GC victory over Courtney by just over 24 seconds, with Gomez Villafane finishing in third.
The 100 mile race takes place in two weeks on August 9.
More Racing News
The European XC mountain bike championships took place this weekend in Melgaço, Portugal. Jenny Rissveds doubled up to take wins in both the XCC and XCO. In the men’s XCC, Luca Schätti was victorious, and Tom Pidcock took a dominant win in the XCO.
In Wales, the infamous Red Bull Hardline challenged the world’s top downhill racers. Asa Vermette of Durango, Colorado took the win in the men’s category at just 18-years-old. Louise Ferguson won the women’s category as the first-ever female rider to make the finals. Race rules dictate that riders must do a top-to-bottom run in order to race the finals, which a woman has never accomplished until now.
Former mountain biker Pauline Ferrand-Prevot animated stage 1 of the Tour de France Femmes when she attacked up the punchy final climb in the Bretagne region. It looked like the Frenchwoman would be the first yellow jersey holder of the 9 day race, but her Visma-Lease a Bike teammate Mariana Vos powered ahead just before the line. Fellow mountain bikers Puck Pieterse and Mona Mitterwallner are also in the race, with Pieterse finishing sixth and Mitterwallner in 31st on day one.
On Sunday’s stage two, Ferrand-Prevot and Pieterese could not chase back the powerful attack of Mavi Garcia, both finishing 3” back in 8th and 9th places respectively.
