Belgian Waffle Ride – Joe Goettl and Flavia Oliveira Parks snap up solo wins in Utah

By published

Carter Anderson and Courtney Sullivan claim the runner up spots

Image from a race in the Belgian Waffle Ride series last year, at North Carolina
Image from a race in the Belgian Waffle Ride series last year, at North Carolina (Image credit: Belgian Waffle Ride)

Joe Goettl (GoettlMedia/Pain Academy/Good Life) and Flavia Oliveira Parks (Excel Sports p/b Specialized) both rode over the line at the Belgian Waffle Ride Utah to claim solo victories in the Cedar City race.

Goettl (Cinch Cycling) won the 116 mile (187km) race in five-and-a-half hours, finishing with a gap of nearly four minutes to Carter Anderson (Ventum Racing) in second and Griffin Hoppin in third.

"This race truly holds a special place in my heart the inaugural edition in 2020 being my first top 10 in a big gravel race. This lit a fire in me to work towards getting on the top step one day," said Goettl in an Instagram post after claiming the win.

Oliveira Parks also crossed the line solo with a time of six hours, 13 minutes and 55 seconds, carving out a gap of nearly 15 minutes to Courtney Sullivan (Mamis p/b Incycle) and then it was Melissa Aitken a further three minutes back in third. Amy Cymerman was next over the line, while Courtney Sherwell (Santa Cruz SRAM) was fifth, pushing on for a long solo effort after a crash early in the event to at least get in the extra training before Unbound, with the race's new timeslot delivered to make it a tune-up event for the big battle to come.

It was also the third event of the Quad-Tripel Crown of Gravel Series, with Oliveira Parks moving up to second on the women's leaderboard in the series behind Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road). 

Russell Finsterwald (Trek-Driftless), who wasn't in Utah, continues to lead the men's category with Nate Knowles (ProTerra Racing), who came sixth at Utah, moving up to second spot. The crown will be decided in Montana at the end of June.

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite men's top 5
PositionRiderTime
1Joe Goettl5:29:29
2Carter Anderson+3:59
3Griffin Hoppin+3:59
4Kyle Trudeau+5:27
5Sean Topel+5:43
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Elite women's top 5
PositionRiderTime
1Flavia Oliveira Parks6:13:55
2Courtney Sullivan+14:17
3Melissa Aitken+17:20
4Amy Cymerman+21:34
5Courtney Sherwell+52:01
Simone Giuliani
Simone Giuliani
Australia Editor

Simone is a degree-qualified journalist that has accumulated decades of wide-ranging experience while working across a variety of leading media organisations. She joined Cyclingnews as a Production Editor at the start of the 2021 season and has now moved into the role of Australia Editor. Previously she worked as a freelance writer, Australian Editor at Ella CyclingTips and as a correspondent for Reuters and Bloomberg. Cycling was initially purely a leisure pursuit for Simone, who started out as a business journalist, but in 2015 her career focus also shifted to the sport.

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