Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder: Stetina and Gordon take early GC leads

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Peter Stetina (Team Ruined Gravel) won the opening stage of Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder in the men's open division on Wednesday, while Serena Gordon (Liv Racing) took victory for the women's open group. 

The first stage was 122km and 2,072 metres of climbing to the top of Santiam Pass, full of hard and technical riding to set the tone for the race, but it was maybe a different set of riders that rode to the top than would have been expected. The pace was hot in both fields, but it was Eddie Anderson (Alpecin-Fenix) and Stetina who stretched things out for the men before they hit the technical section of the Cascade mountain course.  

By the end of the trail, Geoff Kabush, Tristan Uhl, and Joshua Berry were chasing storm and feeling good about their chances, until three mechanicals left Kabush to fight on his own. Stetina smelled blood and continued to pile on the watts and extended his lead over some brutal climbs and ripping descents. By the race's end, Stetina had eight minutes over Anderson, and 16 minutes over Kabush. 

The women’s race saw local favorite Gordon, who was second overall in the women's division last year, take the tape in a competitive women’s field. She pushed the effort and capitalized on her local knowledge to pressure the other women through the technical sandy single track section. 

Gordon was able to gap Sarah Sturm (Specialized) by a few minutes in the race, with  Rebecca Fahringer (Kona Maxxis Shimano) chasing behind. The next few hours found the women pushing themselves in a time trial effort over the up-and-down terrain, but Gordon able to extend her lead and make it to the line with a 10-minute lead over Fahringer, who had a late pass on the final descent of Sturm, who would finish third, another 29 seconds back.