A podium in the Traka 360 would be a pleasing result for most riders, but for Sarah Sturm (Specialized), her third podium without a win was far from a satisfying result on Friday evening.
After 360km of racing in the surrounds of Girona, Spain, the women's race came down to the final kilometres, with winner Karolina Migon (PAS Racing) attacking in the finale and Sturm duking it out in a sprint against Axelle Dubau-Prévôt (Numéro 31 par Café du Cycliste) for second and third, ultimately losing the sprint and taking third.
Having made it into the leading trio and feeling strong all day, coming last out of the three leaders left Sturm with some mixed feelings.
"This will be my third podium and my second third place. It's a very disappointing result for me, but I don't want to take away from honestly one of the best bike races I've gotten to be a part of and animate," she told Cyclingnews at the finish.
"I also just felt really good all day and really strong. I stayed safe, but got a little frustrated," she said, referring to various incidents where dropped riders from the men's race were caught by the leading female riders.
"There were a couple of mix-ups with a massive group of men. It was actually really chaotic and stressful, but my coach informed me, he said that stuff happens, you just have to try to stay calm and not waste any extra energy."
Whilst men and women have traditionally started together in gravel races, many elite events have moved towards giving the women their own start to avoid male riders influencing the race, but the gap – only 10 minutes at Traka 360, 25 minutes in the Unbound 200 – needs to be sufficient.
"I think it has to be done," Sturm said about increasing the gap between starts, or even having an entirely separate women's race.
"Unbound last year worked with a bigger time gap. Ten minutes we knew wasn't enough, and it wasn't, and it's just chaotic for everybody. The men are trying to race, we're trying to race, everyone's screaming at each other. I just stayed quiet and tried to stay up."
Sturm navigated the chaos well and emerged as one of the strongest riders on the long, gruelling course.
"Once we hit the climbs, the women kind of naturally separated. I wanted to push it. Axelle and I were definitely two of the stronger climbers today, which is funny when Karo ended up winning. She's obviously a gifted climber as well, you kind of just have to be good at all of it, and she was," she said of the Polish champion.
"I was a little more timid on the descents, and I think I lost some time there when I could have attacked on this course. The finish definitely rewards those who are a good descender and good at power. But I mean we're coming into the finish and none of us are really sprinters so I'm like 'oh this is going to be a funny 300 watt sprint' and it was."
Despite frustration at her own result, Sturm praised the racing overall, which was one of the tightest finishes in women's Traka history with three riders all in contention until the very end.
"I will say it's really cool to have this level of competition at Traka, like [compared to] the first year I did it, it's a different race now," she said. "It's sort of like watching the evolution of Unbound as well. To have a proper women's field and for it to come down to a sprint is actually really cool. It's a really important day for Traka and I'm proud of myself for being a part of it."
Even if third wasn't what she came for, the American will leave Spain with positive learnings as she heads towards the big goal of Unbound at the end of the month.
"I think that this has been a really good eye-opening experience for where my fitness is and how I'm feeling for the season," she said. "I always like to kick off the training with Traka 360, honestly, I think it preps you really well. Some people don't agree with that but for me, the more I do this, the more volume the better for me."
