Flavia Oliveira Parks and Pete Stetina win Belgian Waffle Ride Quadrupel Crown series

Published October 17, 2022 06:00AM

The two riders sealed their top step in the series after Sunday’s BWR Kansas, where Oliveira Parks finished third and Stetina was second. The race’s winners, Rebecca Fahringer and Adam Roberge, were not participating in the series.

The Quadrupel Crown standings were based on riders’ cumulative times from BWR California, North Carolina, Utah, and Kansas.

A $32,000 prize purse was split equally between the top five men and women, with payouts of $5,000 – $1,000 corresponding to the finishing place.

Oliveira was joined on the series podium by Ivy Pederson, Amelia Durst, Casey Cohenmeyer, and Yeolim Jo, in second through fifth.

Stetina finished ahead of Griffin Easter, Brennan Wertz, Innokenty Zavyalov, and 19-year-old Ian Lopez de San Roman.

Winning the Quadrupel Crown was a season goal of the 35-year-old gravel privateer, who raced BWR California after breaking his wrist three weeks earlier at Sea Otter. He still managed a fifth-place finish at that race and then won both North Carolina and Cedar City.

“Today had some hiccups with a rough crash and subsequent mechanical for me where I thought it was all over but I was able to chase back,” Stetina said of the Kansas race. “BWR’s style is about technical diabolical sectors that test riders to their limit, each race has a very different flair and damage control is paramount. I’m happy to take what I consider the underbiking series title.“

Oliveira emerged as the dominant woman in the series after Sarah Max, who was leading, crashed out of BWR Utah. Oliveira had her best result at BWR California (second) and a disaster day (a wrong turn added 20 miles and nearly 4,000 feet of climbing) in North Carolina.

Nevertheless, the Brazilian said that every BWR event teaches her something new.

“I do love the series format and all the races,” she said. “It’s challenging for this roadie and I’m loving the process of learning how to do things that are completely out of my comfort zone. It’s exciting to be learning something new, and I get tested and always come out of these races knowing all the weaknesses and things I need to work on and improve upon. It’s very humbling, it’s very exciting, and it’s motivating.”

For next year’s Quadrupel Crown, riders will be able to pick any four Belgian Waffle Ride races they want to count toward the series. So far, seven BWR events have been announced for 2023, with new locations in Arizona and British Columbia.