Swenson, Villafane dominate in the desert at Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona

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Sofia Gomez Villafane and Keegan Swenson won the 122-mile ‘waffle distance’ of the inaugural Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona on March 5, 2023. The field for the women came down to three riders at the front of the race until Villafane hit the gas with 40 miles to go to earn a solo win ahead of Anna Yamauchi and Alexis Skarda. Swenson, who won BWR Utah in 2020, countered a blistering attack by Christopher Blevins in the final two miles to secure his victory.

“It was a good one. It was a pretty epic last 10 miles,” Swenson said about the one-on-one battle with Blevins. “We pretty much attacked those last climbs, in the neighborhood, I brought him back, it was a lot of cat and mouse. An awesome day.”

For Villafane, who was second overall at the 2022 Life Time Grand Prix, she crossed the finish line in Cave Creek in 6:55:55, and just seconds before a huge gust of wind knocked down the overhead, inflatable finish arch. 

“Holy smokes, it was a crazy day. I had some mechanicals [early], had to get my bike working again. I really wanted to attack, and I went for it with 40 miles to go,” Villafane, the Unbound 200 women’s champion, said at the finish line.

BWR Arizona, the “hell of the north desert’, is the first of seven events this season and opens the series for the 2023 Quadrupel Crown of Gravel, offering an overall prize purse of $25,000 shared among the top five Waffle men and women. The Quadrupel Crown will be contested in a points-based omnium format with San Diego in April and Kansas in October being mandatory. Riders competing for the Quadrupel honours and prize purse will be scored based on the total points of their top four (Quad) races. 

The opening event covered 122 miles of terrain from the Tonto Forest mountains and washes to single-track in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains, pushing riders’ limits with 8,400 feet of elevation gain on a fully-marked course with traffic control and stocked aid stations. Fifty percent  of the course was pavement which was used to transition among nine sectors of “unroad” - a mix of single track, truck trails, gravel, rocks and sand.

Villafane takes solo win

Once the sun began to radiate in full across the Sonoran desert in the early-morning hours, the women’s field quickly spread out on the first paved climb. On the turn from Bartlett Dam Road to the next longer climb, Villafane and Skarda were setting the pace for the elite women as part of a small bunch of 12-15 riders, and once the duo hit the dirt, they had a solid lead of a full minute over third-placed Yamauchi.

Once the riders were 34 miles into the ride, the same three leaders held their positions, with Cecily Decker riding in fourth, 11 minutes back, and Whitney Allison in fifth, headed to McDowell Mountain Regional Park.

Yamagucci rode alongside Villafane as the duo headed into the second aid station, and with a slowdown and a sharp turn onto dirt in that area, they rejoined Whitley headed to the second half of the race. Behind them, Allison closed the gap to Decker.

A long 16-mile section of dirt roads passed through McDowell Mountain Regional Park and marked the halfway point of the race, the lead trio marking each together at mile 68. Villafane attacked from the front group on the pavement and had a solid solo lead of just over seven minutes as she turned on the final dirt section of the course at mile 105. 

Villafane never had to look back to see if anyone was close, winning solo at the line. Yamauchi trailed in second place while Skarda rode alone for third. Allison finished fourth, saying at the conclusion she had been sick all week and was surprised she completed the event. Decker completed the top five.

Swenson counters late attack by Blevins

The men’s BWR Quadrupel Crown series champion Stetina set the pace for the men as the favourites formed a lead pack of a dozen riders, cresting the first climb of the day 16 miles into the race and hitting the first rough surface of road in the desert. 

On a long singletrack section at mile 24, Christopher Blevins led a group of four riders that included Swenson, Howard Grotts and Torbjørn ‘Toby’ Røed at the front of the race, with Lance Haidet and Alex Hohn trails over a minute back in fifth and sixth. Alex Howes was part of another group of chasers that included Ian Lopez de San Roman, well off the pace, and Stetina a long way behind already and chasing the top 10. 

By the second aid station, just short of the halfway point, the quartet continued on to the singletrack terrain of McDowell Mountain Regional Park. Through the narrow, sandy, twisting path they were caught by Haidet, Russell Finsterwald and Cody Cupp to make it a seven-rider lead group. Cupp was the first to drop off the pace and a solo charge by Stetina paid off as he joined the leaders by the 100-mile mark as the seventh rider.

Coming off the last sector of dirt, Swenson and Blevins blew open the front pack and blasted to the front of the men’s elite field, Røed chasing in third place with a gap of 50 seconds. Røed, the 2022 USA Cycling men’s varsity collegiate road race champion, held on for third place. Stetina and Grotts rounded out the top five.

"Full gas from the gun like a proper bike race, heaps of sketchy trail and still plenty of fast gravel/pavement to make it tactical," said Swenson said on his Instagram feed, noting how it all came down to a "cat and mouse" battle with Blevins. 

"We attacked each other relentlessly the last few miles. In the end I got the better of him in the sand wash just before the finish but man that was an epic battle!"