Scott Funston wins a mechanical-large Wild Horse Gravel
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This write-up originally appeared on Velo News
Cyclocross racer and Colorado Mesa University almost-graduate Scott Funston (Blue) gained the third Wild Horse Gravel from a entrance team of three in an occasion that included 6-time Leadville winner Dave Wiens, entire world specific pursuit winner Ashton Lambie, and Olympic medalist Bobby Julich, among the other folks.
Nick Gould (Mazda-Lauf) and Nate Maddox were next and third on a day that observed several a rider flat or drop their chain on a tough, backcountry class in western Colorado.
Funston place his ‘cross abilities to use to catch an attacking Gould on the closing prolonged downhill.
“Cyclocross is my key point,” claimed Funston, for whom Wild Horse was his second-ever gravel event. “I am incredibly enough on the bicycle. The distance is what gets me.”
While somewhat shorter at 65 miles, Wild Horse Gravel highlighted 5,500 ft of climbing on a training course that topped out at 8,200 ft.
How it performed out
Soon after a neutral start off, racers wound up the pace from the little city of De Beque, Colorado, with Jake Magee (Vantage Freight) stringing out the group as before long as the race good commenced.
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Gould was aggressive early, getting a solo flyer with the chase taken up by Wiens and Lambie.
In just 10 miles of racing, the entrance group was down to about 10 riders.
Magee would be 1 of several riders sidelined with a flat tire. Tony Olson (Rio Grande) broke a wheel, having him out for the working day. Chris Schroeder was 1 of a handful of riders on 1x bikes who would drop a chain, and be pressured to cease and set it back on by hand.
A number of collegiate riders from the close by Colorado Mesa College designed a sturdy exhibiting, including Troy Fields.
As the class ongoing to climb and the highway narrowed into the width of a two-keep track of, Fields, Funston, and Gould discovered themselves alone off the entrance.
The stiffest climb of the day arrived about 15 miles from the end, in which the quality pitched to over 20 p.c and pressured lots of riders to walk.
Gould was able to fall Funston on this climb.
“Nick pushed the rate up the hill,” Funston reported. “He was beginning to get away from me, then we hit the walls at the top rated, and although I kinda arrived again to him, but I did it a little as well aggressively and I paid for it. So he experienced perhaps 10 seconds on me above the best.”
When most riders walked, Funston and Gould stayed on the bicycle.
“The $1,200 was the only matter that stored me on my bike,” Funston claimed with a chortle, referencing the winner’s prize money. “Let me convey to you, any other time, I would have been off my bike.”
Fields would suffer bicycle difficulty, while, which experienced him sitting down down at the mechanic’s tent atop the course’s substantial level.
On the rapid descent that followed, Funston caught Gould and the pair rode jointly, contemplating that perhaps a two-up dash at the race’s homebase of The Substantial Lonesome Ranch would be how the winner would be established.
As an alternative, however an additional mechanical arrived into play. Blazing in excess of a cattle guard, Gould’s chain popped off. As other people had done numerous instances in the race, Gould stopped and hopped off to set it again on. However, Gould experienced a chain guard on his bike, and he was unable to only place the chain back on. Instead, out came his multitool to loosen the chain guard, and up the street went Funston.
“The dropped chain was a bummer, but I graduate higher education up coming week, and I don’t have a career nonetheless,” Funston mentioned. “So I gotta make some funds by some means. I just time trialed it in. It was the longest 7 miles of downhill I have at any time performed. On these rollers, I was so shot, I was just carrying out it’s possible 300 watts more than the major.”
At day’s conclusion, it was ample to notch Funston’s to start with gravel win, with the prize funds a nice university graduation existing to himself.
2022 Wild Horse Gravel
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Scott Funston (Blue)
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Nick Gould (Mazda-Lauf)
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Nate Maddox
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Daxton Mock
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David Wiens (Topeak-Ergon-Canyon)
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Matt Nieman
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Tyler Jones (Type Bikes and Skis)
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Joe Goettl (Scheels Utah)
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Ashton Lambie (Jukebox Cycling)
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Ben Delaney (VeloNews)
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