Grasshopper Adventure Series: Alex Wild survives seven-rider sprint to win Low Gap elite men's opener

Alex Wild (Cyclesport.com) and Jen Tavé (SpeedBlock-Terun) won the Low Gap elite races on the long course Sunday on the opening round of the California based Grasshopper Adventure Series mixed-terrain series.

Wild positioned himself well on a seven-rider drag race to the line and edged 22-year-old Marcis Shelton by half a wheel for the victory. A group of three other U23 riders comprised the top five, Caden Kroettinger in third, Dan English (Trinity Racing) in fourth and Yoann Perrodin (Team Mike's Bikes p/b Equator Coffees) in fifth. From among the lead group, two more Team Mikes' Bikes riders, Eric Colindres and Jack Duncan, finished just one second behind Wild.

Defending champion Peter Stetina (Canyon) finished 15th, having suffered a flat tyre while in a small lead group on the steepest climb of the day, and could not make up the gap with less than 20 miles to go.

"The course had some steep climbs but not enough for the group to fully separate so it came down to a seven-up sprint to the line. I managed to position myself well and snag the win by just a tire width and hold it down for the masters racers," Wild said.

"Ice bridges" and "deep freeze action" caused organisers to neutralise the first seven miles of the race, with overnight temperatures in Ukiah, California dipping below freezing.

Wild, a 30-year-old mountain bike rider from San Jose, said the younger riders hit the front on the first descent of the 59-mile race after the opening climb, but a lead group reformed through the valley.

"It was a group of three of us after Pete [Stetina] flatted on the climb. Again it came back together between the climbs and the last climb was only 4% so not enough to make a difference," Wild recounted on a social recap.

"Knowing it would come down to a sprint, I knew there was a little bump before the long drag to the line. I wanted to make sure the group stayed together and that I was in second or third over the bump. Managed to position well but jumped a bit early, hung on barely by just a tire width at the line."

Tavé, who won the overall Grasshopper Adventure Series title starting with fourth place last year at Low Gap, had to catch Larissa Connors not once, but twice, and then gained a three-minute gap on the final gravel descent and paved return on Masonite Road to earn the victory.

Laurel Quinones (Marin Service Course), who was third at Ukiah-Mendo Gravel Epic last year, finished 1:34 behind Connors for third. Alex Obrand (L39ION of Los Angeles) was fourth and Fiona Moriarty was fifth.

Last year Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing) won the first two rounds of Grasshopper races, and she went on to take victory at Leadville Trail 100 MTB and UCI Marathon Mountain Bike World Championships. She did not take the start in Ukiah this year, and instead two-time Leadville winner Connors raised the stakes for the reduced elite women's field.

"Jen didn't catch me until the sketchy bridges on the big loop, but I was expecting her. We rode together for a while, then when things kicked up I was about to open another small gap, knowing it had an expiration date in the near future. After gutting myself up dirt Masonite the pin popped out of my leg grenades and the explosion was truly magnificent," Connors said.

Tavé caught Connors a second time on the last climb as the two were part of a group of five men. Across the top and on the descent Connors lost contact and "rolled on for second, happy with a hard day out free of mechanicals".

While the elite fields were compact, a total of 536 registered riders competed on a chilly day across all categories, including a large number of juniors. A portion of the proceeds from Low Gap go to the NorCal Cycling League and their GRiT program as well as Monarch Racing Team.

Monarch dominated the junior women's podium, with 15-year-old Olive Markman winning ahead of Jordyn Cooper and Fernanda Campbell. A trio of Sycip/Devout Coffee teammates found the junior men's podium, led by Shane Curits with the win and followed by Elijah Fisher and Oliver Seufert in second and third, respectively.

The five-race Grasshopper Adventure Series continues on February 28 for Huffmaster in Maxwell, California.

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