Gravel specialist Strickland foils WorldTour riders in Dirty Kanza

Image 1 of 51

Colin Strickland (Meteor X Giordana) won the 2019 men’s Dirty Kanza gravel race, crossing the finish line in Emporia, Kansas with his bike raised above his head as he walked across the finish line after just shy of 10 hours of racing.

Strickland was part of a group of eight riders that formed earlier in the race, which included Lachlan Morton and Alex Howes (EF Education First) and Peter Stetina (Trek-Segafredo).

The lead group eventually split up with the Red Bull athlete Strickland riding away solo for over 150 kilometres to finish 9:06 ahead of Stetina. EF Education First duo of Howes and Morton finished together nearly 20 minutes behind Strickland, after Howes suffered a mechanical, to make up the top-four riders.

Speaking to Velonews after the race, Strickland said: "I rolled the dice and was betting on discord and a lack of cohesion behind. I knew I had to get through 40 miles of headwind, and then I would have a ripping tailwind.

"Catch me if you can in a tailwind, I love to go fast."

Former race winner and WorldTour professional Ted King and Stetina’s Trek-Segafredo teammate Kiel Reijnen also finished in the top 10.

Amity Rockwell (Easton Overland Gravel Team) won the women’s race after being part of the two lead groups that broke ahead after 64 kilometres of racing.

Rockwell, Olivia Dillon (Velocio) and Alison Tetrick (Specialized) were within aronud 10 minutes of each other in the final quarter of the race before Dillon punctured and allowed Rockwell and Dillon to pass before Rockwell then pressed on to move into first place and win solo 16:25 ahead of Tetrick, with Sarah Max in third.

Early race leader Dillon eventually finished in fifth place, nearly an hour down on Rockwell.

The 324.6-kilometre event is a gravel/mixed terrain event through the Flint Hills region of Kansas, USA. A total of 2,700 riders took part in the various races in this year’s edition.

YouTube

Watch On

Results