Tour of the Gila: Lauren Stephens wins Mogollon climb opener for women

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Redlands winner Nadia Gontova second while Marcela Prieto third

Lauren Stephens (Cynisca Cycling) climbs to stage 1 solo win at 2024 Tour of the Gila
Lauren Stephens (Cynisca Cycling) climbs to stage 1 solo win at 2024 Tour of the Gila (Image credit: Brian Hodes/Velo Images)
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Lauren Stephens (Cynisca Cycling) climbed to a solo victory on the opening day of Tour of the Gila and took the first leader’s jersey for the UCI women’s category. Nadia Gontova (DNA Pro Cycling), the recent winner of the Redlands Bicycle Classic, finished second, just nine seconds back. Marcela Prieto (Steve Tilford Foundation) secured third, 1:01 off the pace.

The trio of riders had formed the breakaway of the day on Stage 1 Mogollon Road Race p/b Grant County and with half of the 71 miles (114km) covered had pushed ahead of the peloton by as much as 12:50.

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It was Stephens’ fifth appearance at the UCI 2.2 stage race in New Mexico, her top finish in 2015 with third overall and she has never finished outside seventh.

“I knew today that I didn’t want to lose time. My first goal was to stay with Nadia [Gontova]. I had seen how well she had done a couple weeks ago at Redlands," Stephens said. “I’ve trained with her some and know how strong she is. I told myself that if I was feeling good I would attack in the last couple kilometres.

“Nadia attacked as soon as we started the last bit of the climb. I was able to stay with her. I knew I was accomplishing my first goal and it was just icing on the cake to be able to put a little bit of time into Nadia today.”

With the victory, Stephens took the first red leader’s jersey and also the first Queen of the Mountain jersey. Gontova scored the Best Young Rider classification as a consolation prize to her hard work on the climb.

“I knew my best chance on this climb was to go pretty early. I know Lauren has a good kick,” Gontova said at the finish. “Maybe I was a little impatient but at that point, I knew my only hope was to keep the pace high and hope that I could crack her. 

"She was really strong on the day and ended up having a really strong attack at the end. I just couldn’t follow and she rode away. “

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Jackie Tyson
Jackie Tyson
North American Editor

Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. On the bike, she has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast), and spends time on gravel around horse farms in north Georgia.

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