Stage racing isn’t just for the roadies.
Just outside Bend, Oregon, the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder kicked off this week, with five stages of backwoods gravel racing on tap.
On stage 1 from Sisters to Blue River, Eddie Anderson (Alpecin-Fenix) and Pete Stetina (Canyon) set an early hot pace on a technical section that stretched out the groups. Behind, Carl Decker, Josh Berry, Tristan Uhl (all Giant), and Geoff Kabush (Yeti) found themselves chasing. The quartet was confident they could still catch until all three Giant riders struggled to keep air in their tires, and Kabush was left alone to chase.
In his element with lots of climbing, Stetina kept the gas on and opened up the gaps to Anderson and Kabush, finishing more than 8 and 16 minutes ahead of them, respectively.
In the women’s race, Serena Gordon and Kaysee Armstrong (both Liv) pushed until a mechanical sidelined Armstrong. From there, Gordon expanded a 2-minute gap at mile 30 into a 10-minute lead at the finish. Becca Fahringer closed in on Sarah Sturm on the last descent to take second.
Check out the gallery below of the action from Oregon.
Stage 1 Women
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Place
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Name
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Time
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Sex
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Category
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Cat Place
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Gap
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Speed
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Bib
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Team
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|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer | ||||||||||||
| Female | ||||||||||||
| 1 | Serena Gordon | 4:15:41 | F | Open Women | 1 | — | 15.1 mph | 254 | Liv Racing | |||
| 2 | Rebecca Fahringer | 4:25:52 | F | Open Women | 2 | +10:11 | 14.6 mph | 1 | Kona Maxxis Shimano | |||
| 3 | Sarah Sturm | 4:26:21 | F | Open Women | 3 | +10:40 | 14.5 mph | 243 | Specialized | |||
Stage 1 Men
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Place
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Name
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Time
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Cat
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Cat Place
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Gap
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Speed
|
Bib
|
Team
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pioneer | |||||||||||
| 1 | Peter Stetina | 3:33:50 | Open Men | 1 | — | 18.1 mph | 159 | Team Ruined Gravel | |||
| 2 | Edward Anderson | 3:42:26 | Open Men | 2 | +8:36 | 17.4 mph | 5 | Alpecin-Fenix | |||
| 3 | Geoff Kabush | 3:50:40 | Open Men | 3 | +16:50 | 16.8 mph | 82 | Yeti, Maxxis, Shimano, Fox, Stans-NoTubes, Velocio, GU, PRO, Lazer, CushCore | |||
Full results of the 2021 Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder stage 1.
Serena Gordon won stage 1 of the Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder.
Becca Fahringer was second on the day, from Sisters to Blue River.
Kerry Werner and Tristan Uhl rip around a corner.
Matthew Fox was fourth on the day, behind Pete Stetina, Eddie Anderson, and Geoff Kabush.
Oregon Trail Gravel Grinder takes riders on a five-day loop. Riders camp each night as the event travels through remote parts of Oregon.
Sarah Max and the rest of the riders found no shortage of scenery during stage 1.
Eddie Anderson leads Pete Stetina early on in the day. By the stage’s end, the gaps were huge.
While the racing is intense at the front, many participants simply enjoyed the challenge and the beauty of the route.