Peter Stetina (Canyon) and Karolina Migoń (PAS Normal) took victory in a muddy edition of the The Traka 360 on Friday. Stetina led a North American clean sweep of the top three spots in the men's category of the race, which opened up the competition at the Girona-based event that is a focal point for the European gravel scene.
Stetina claimed victory ahead of Canada's Rob Britton (Factor), who was close behind on a day where the weather had cleared but the impact of the earlier heavy rains was felt on the course, which had been shortened to 340km because of the conditions. Giro d'Italia stage winner Chad Haga (PAS Normal) came over the line next to take third, with the former road professional having carved out his credentials as a rider to watch after putting in a flying solo effort on the 360 course in October. Italian rider Mattia de Marchi, who has won the last three editions of the event, was taken out of contention by a mechanical.
Migoń came over the line ahead of Geerike Schreurs, distancing the SD Worx-Protime gravel specialist on an ascent, while last year's runner up Sarah Sturm (Specialized) claimed third.
“I pushed on the last climb, I knew that this was my chance," said winner Migoń in a live-streamed post race interview. "I felt super good and I left Gee [Geerike Schreurs] there and I was just continuing pushing on the flat and I’m surprised that after so many hours I was able to push that much power.”
The Polish rider who is based in Switzerland however, hadn't been feeling so strong all through the 360, experiencing stomach problems earlier in the race but rebounded after taking a solid stop at a feed zone to reset.
Men's winner Stetina and second-placed Britton also had far from a smooth run through the 360, run on a largely gravel route with steep climbs, single-track and sections of hike-a-bike.
“I am over the moon. I did not believe that this was ever possible after the start today. I had a lot of mechanicals in the first 100km and I was more than six, seven minutes behind so we thought the race was gone but Rob had similar problems and we just linked up, and there is no one else you would rather chase with," Stetina said in the on course interview after the event. "We were two motivated riders and I can’t believe that we came back to them and then went through them.”
The experienced gravel racer, who also recently won the Belgian Waffle Ride Tripel Crown after claiming the victory in the Utah, emphasised that there was no easy path through a race like the 360.
“My secret - just embrace the suck. The point is to break," said Stetina.
"If anyone is sad that they are not feeling good, or that they are feeling like they are breaking you just realise that you go through ups and downs the whole day and luckily I had a down earlier in the day and I rallied at the end once we saw those guys, you just have to embrace the bad parts.”
The Traka 360 is the longer of the two events from The Traka included in the Gravel Earth series, with the closely watched 200 taking place on Saturday. The planned Traka 560km was cancelled given the intense rain.
More detail to come when full official results are released
