The final Belgian Waffle Ride of 2023 unfolded in Mexico Sunday, with Adam Roberge (Jukebox Factor) and Anet Barrera (DNA Pro Cycling) claiming victories in the 180km gravel events in Querétaro.
Roberge, who won BWR North Carolina and was fifth at BWR Kansas, took home the Quadrupel Crown of Gravel Series title for the elite men. Flavia Oliveira Parks, who did not race in Mexico, accumulated enough points at five of the previous stops to stay ahead of Whitney Allison to take out the women's elite category.
The Quadrupel Crown omnium titles went to riders with the best times across four races of the seven events, and the top five men and women sharing in an overall prize purse of $25,000. The first-place riders at BWR Mexico took home $2,000 each, a share in the $10,000 event prize purse, which was the largest cash payout of the seven-event BWR series this season.
It was a solo win for Barrera, after she missed a turn on the waffle course and chased back to retake the lead and finish in five hours, 43 minutes and 51 seconds. Larissa Rabago Sobrino was second and Adriana Fabiola Corona Garcia was third in the women's division, both well off the pace at more than 12 minutes back.
"It was a really, really hard race, a really technical course but I just stayed really focussed," said the 25-year-old native of Mexico in an interview on a race Instagram post. "I wanted to give it to my team for all the support in [the last] two years."
Roberge and Peter Stetina led a group of five men going through a feed zone at the 60km mark. The duo then charged ahead on the dry, dusty course to battle to the end, Roberge taking the victory in four hours, 45 minutes and 27 seconds. Stetina was just 29 seconds behind while Andrew Dillman, who finished second in the BWR series, was just a little under two minutes further back in third.
“Adam had the legs, I had some of the technique,” said Stetina. “I led into the final technical section and went all in and had a good 20-second gap. I thought I could hold it but just didn't have the legs at this time of year and he slowly time trialled back and I was just mitigating cramps."
Roberge said he had been trying to push the pace all day as he didn't want it to come down to the last climb against Stetina, "I've been there too many times", said the Canadian. While Stetina's smooth handling of the technical section initially gave him an edge, Roberge had the power to first catch and then overcome his regular rival.
‘Finally I just put my head down and I could see that Pete would sometimes stop pedalling so I was 'like OK he is probably cramping'," said Roberge. "It's like a false flat with big big rocks towards the end and I was like that is where I need to make my move … and I looked back and Pete was not there.”
