Paige Onweller secures surprise solo victory at Big Sugar Gravel

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Paige Onweller took the biggest result of her season with a solo victory at Big Sugar Gravel, the sixth and final round of the Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda on Saturday in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Onweller was alone crossing through the 73-mile marker and maintained her lead through the finish covering the 104.1-mile race in a winning time of 5:33:05. She finished the race six minutes ahead of runner-up Emily Newsom and 12 minutes ahead of Alexis Skarda.

The women's series leader coming into Big Sugar, Canadian Haley Smith, held her advantage to secure the overall title in the Life Time Grand Prix. She finished in 13th position, 56 seconds behind third-placed Sophia Gomez Villafane, who was seventh in the race, and 14 seconds behind second-placed Sarah Sturm, who rolled across the line in ninth. 

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"Oh my god, I finished. It was looking hairy for a while, but I made it," Smith said sitting on the pavement just beyond the finish line. "I'm glad it's done."

Race winner Onweller told Cyclingnews she had confidence in the win mid-way into the race, but it hit her when she drive through the strong headwind headed south from Missouri back toward downtown Bentonville. 

"I had to really focus on my effort. Maybe at like nine miles to go, I thought I could win, I got goosebumps," Onweller said at the finish line. "I sacrificed so much to get here and I'm just thankful the back half of the season I felt really good.

"I was around mile 50, and I had finally caught Ruth [Winder], knowing how good I felt. I was working with a group of men, and everyone was rotating through. I just felt strong. I knew that even if I was alone, I could keep the same pace. And that's when I started to think, 'maybe I can do this'. I never wanted my mind to go there because so much can happen in the last miles. I just stayed focused and tried to be smart."

The day's winner said the victory was a memorable moment. "I'm still processing what this means, but I just feel good, and I want to cherish this moment. I worked really worked hard for this. I always knew I was capable."

Newsom put in a special ride, saying "I feel really good that I could deliver today. I know I didn't get first, but I am pretty stoked with second. Paige was super strong today, I'm happy for her."

How it unfolded

The 104.1-miler route that began in downtown Bentonville travelled westward and then north into southern Missouri before looping back to the start-finish area.

Organisers designed one of the most challenging gravel courses featuring 7,000 feet of elevation gain held across rarely-maintained and gravel roads with loose, rocky gravel, a few water crossings and bridges that also made for one of the most picturesque routes on the LifeTime Grand Prix Series.

The peloton set out onto the rolling hills of the Ozark mountain countryside under a blanket of clouds and strong winds blowing 20 miles per hour from the south, which would become a headwind for the finish.

After 20 miles of racing the field split up with small groups of favourites across the course that included overall leader Haley Smith, her closest contenders Sarah Sturm, Sofia Gomez Villafane, and Rose Grant as well as other series riders Ruth Winder, Alexis Skarda, Emily Newsom, Flavia Oliveira Parks, Paige Onweller, Whitney Allison, Hannah Otto, Maude Farrell, Heather Jackson, Evelyn Dong, Rebecca Fahringer, Amity Rockwell, Hannah Shell, Amber Neben and Kristen Legan. Among the leaders were non-series riders looking for individual race honours, Katie Kantzes, Maeghan Eassler, Lauren De Crescenzo, Cecily Decker and Amy Phillips.

Winder stole away to the lead and built a 4:40 margin by the time she reached the. first official checkpoint at mile 37.7 in Pineville, Missouri, where the Little Sugar Creek and Big Sugar Creek merge and form the Elk River. The chase behind had an elite group of Onweller, Skarda, Villafane, Newsom, Oliveira and De Crescenzo. Another minute back trailed the duo of Sturm and Smith.

At mile 55, a group of four had carved some time into Winder’s lead, down to three and half minutes. The foursome of Onweller, Newsom, Skarda and De Crescenzo built time over Villafane and Oliveira, who trailed by another three minutes. Then a group six worked together at 1:44 back - Smith, Evelyn Dong, Hannah Otto, Sturm, Heather Jackson, and Whitney Allison.

Winder was riding at an average clip of 20 mph, in 43rd position overall and in a three-rider group with John Keller, who was third at the inaugural Big Sugar race for pro men, and Judah Gustafson, a 21-year-old collegiate rider from Marian University. Her time at the front ended quickly as Onweller took the solo lead well before the second checkpoint.

"I bonked, hard," was the summary of Winder's race. She would finish 17th.

With under 20 miles to race, Onweller had build a lead of 3:45 over Newsom and Skarda. 

"I was watching Alexis and I could tell I was stronger today on the hills, and she was starting to suffer," Newsom said after the grueling day in the wind. "But I was pretty sure at some point, she wasn't gonna hang on anymore. So I just focused on really trying to stay on the wheels of the guys and not worry about the women. And it just happened."

Passing the limestone cliffs of the Ozarks and back into Arkansas for the final miles, Onweller was well on her way to a signature win.