Gravel Earth Series: Geerike Schreurs takes impressive solo win as Tobias Kongstad sprints to victory at CORE4

Geerike Schreurs (Specialized-Off road) crushed the CORE4 race in Iowa City, going solo for most of the 120-mile (193km) gravel race while Tobias Kongstad (PAS Racing) sprinted to victory from a group of five in the men’s race at the penultimate event of the Gravel Earth Series. Each made it to the top step on Saturday after finishing second last year.

Schreurs, racing with a broken right shifter, finished with a time of 5:49:10 and claimed her third victory in the GES. Crossing the line 18:32 later, Emily Newson took second. Crystal Anthony (Flow Formulas, Kenda, The Black Bibs) was third, 5:51 later.

Launched in 2022, CORE4 calls itself “the next level in gravel racing.” Taking place around and within the metro of Iowa City, the dynamic course goes through champagne gravel, speedy pavement, singletrack, bike paths, remote and rugged B roads, and even river and waterfall crossings.

An early crash on a B road led to the first split in the elite women’s peloton with Schreurs and Newsom pulling away, building a gap of one minute after 10 miles of racing.

Behind the pair, a group of four, Anthony, Flavia Oliveira Parks, Peta Mullens and Gabrielle Trexler joined together in a chase group. The situation stayed the same until the challenging water crossing and hiking section where Schreurs found herself solo.

Schreurs put her head down, and powered on, growing her gap from three minutes after around 30 miles of racing to 10 minutes by the aid station at mile 77.

Behind, Traxler dropped out of the chase group, leaving the three to battle for the remaining podium spots.

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In the men’s race, Kongstad claimed the victory with a time of 5:15:34, three seconds ahead of Cole Davis (SpeedStudio p/b Basso), who was second. Adam Roberge (Felt UN1TD) took third, one second further back.

The first split also happened early in the elite men’s race, with a group of 15 pulling away after a crash on a minimum maintenance road (MMR) in the first mile. Michael Garrison (SpeedStudio p/b Basso) took a solo flyer, but a broken wheel took him out of the equation.

The front group lost a few riders after hike a bike section following the waterfall crossing, leaving seven riders off the front after 20 miles in. Joining Kongstad, Davis and Roberge in the move were Daxton Mock (Trek Driftless), Chase Wark (Lunchbox Racing), Benjamin Perry (Guava x Castelli S.O.G), Hayden Christian (Trek / Maap Pro.fwd) and last year’s winner Julien Gagné (Lunchboxracing).

Cooperation was not perfect, as the group attacked each other for the rest of the race, with first Christian falling off the pace, and then Wark dropping out in the final 10 miles. The five riders sped to the finish line with Kongstad first around the corner and first across the line.

GES concludes in two weeks with a new event, The River by The Traka, a 160km route in Bouillon, Belgium

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