Lauren De Crescenzo, John Keller win The ‘Rad 165mi gravel race
De Crescenzo wins women's race by an hour, but finish-line snafu ends with a broken collarbone.
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Cinch pro Lauren De Crescenzo and Specialized employee John Keller won Life Time’s newest gravel race, The ‘Rad, in Trinidad, Colorado on Saturday. De Crescenzo was second overall in the 165-mile race, finishing just two minutes behind Keller.
It was a bittersweet win for De Crescenzo, as she crashed and broke her collarbone at the finishline after getting tangled in the running-event-style finishing tape.
“It certainly was an exclamation point on the season,” De Crescenzo told Vel0News after receiving treatment at Trinidad’s local hospital.
Read also: The Grind: Riding the ‘Rad in Trinidad
Nathaniel Draeger of Taos, New Mexico was the second man and third overall finisher with Life Time’s own Ryan Cross celebrating his birthday in third place in the men’s race. In the women’s division, Serena Gordon (Liv Racing) of Bend, Oregon was second, finishing one hour after De Crescenzo. Hannah Shell of Boulder, Colorado was third.
For De Crescenzo, her dominating win at The ‘Rad continues her 2021 hot streak that also includes victories at Unbound Gravel 200, SBT GRVL, and Gravel Worlds. The 31-year-old told VeloNews that she came to The Rad on a similar, but different, mission.
“I was trying to win the whole race this time,” she said. “Every time the moto would come by I was like, ‘I’m trying to win the overall. That was my goal today.'”
De Crescenzo spent around 10o miles of the 165-mile race riding alone. At one point, she was only 50 seconds back on Keller, but the snafu at the finish line cost her an extra minute.
For Keller, The ‘Rad represents the marquee result he has been chasing all year. At Unbound Gravel, Keller was in the top 10 until a mechanical took him out of contention. At Belgian Waffle Ride San Diego, he was also in top-10 contention and finished 11th, but a results snafu placed him in 11th. And then at SBT GRVL, he was racing well but crashed and abandoned with a concussion.
“I am happy everything went right today after Steamboat,” said Keller, who ended up riding nearly the entire race off the front.
“The plan was to go in the break. I went hard on the first dirt climb and went over the top alone,” said Keller of the climb that came at just 10 miles into the 165-mile course. “I just held what I knew I could do all day based on heart rate and nobody bridged up. The gap was over 10 minutes at one point.”
Read also: How Trinidad, Colorado is transforming itself into a gravel cycling hotspot
Like many gravel races, The ‘Rad offered multiple distances: 38, 99, and 165 miles. The 99-mile race drew nearly three times the number of riders as the full 165-mile distance.
There are also two running races on Sunday.
Full results for all three distances of The ‘Rad can be found here.
