USA's Morgan Aguirre (Enough Cycling) and French rider Hugo Drechou (Groove Gravel) won the elite category of the Alpine Gravel Challenge on Sunday in Champéry, Switzerland.
The 94km route was one of the final three Trek UCI Gravel World Series events of the 2024 season that qualify riders for the UCI Gravel World Championships in Belgium, October 5-6.
Aguirre finished second in the women's overall behind Swiss mountain bike specialist Sina Frei (Specialized Factory Racing), who took the top honours for the women's 19-34 age category. On the pro women's podium with Aguirre were Annabel Fisher (Classified Ridley Factory Team) and Axelle Dubau-Prévót (Groove Gravel).
On the men's side, Drechou, who won the Oregon Trail Gravel stage race and was fourth at The Rift Gravel, emerged from a three-rider sprint for the victory.
After a little more than 3 hours and 31 minutes, he took a one-second advantage across the line ahead of Petr Vakoč (Canyon Integray L27) and Torbjørn Andre Røed (Trek Driftless). Just the week before Vakoč and Røed went 1-2, respectively, at La Monsterrato in Italy.
The longest of the three routes, the 94km route headed across the Dents du Midi mountain range of south-western Switzerland with 3,190 metres of elevation gain. The first 30km from Monthey was mainly on a paved surface, and included a long 17.5km climb with a few small sectors of dirt and a 6.2% average gradient.
Gravel took over once passing through Champéry, getting a glimpse of the finish line on a circuit near the French border. On that loop, a 10km climb on an un-groomed surface was a key element with a 5.7% average gradient, leaving a shorter third climb before the final 15km back on pavement for the downhill run into Champéry.
Aguirre said she rode at her own pace and let a front group rush away at the start, and used the three main climbs to claw her way back to the front of the women's race, winning in a time of 4:15:56.
"After really trying to kick things into gear this second half the season this one means a lot," Aguirre said on her Instagram account to celebrate her first UCI podium.
"I knew that a race with lots of climbing would play to my strengths, but it’s always hard to know how exactly if the legs will come around after back to back weekends."
She called it "a four-hour TT with some really fast descents" once she moved solo to the front on the third climb.
The week before she finished one spot off the podium at Monsterrando Gravel in Italy, and two weeks before that was seventh at Gravel Grit n' Grind in Sweden.
Only two other events in the UCI Gravel World Series remain for athletes to gain qualifications for the UCI Gravel World Championships: the Sea Otter Europe Girona on September 21 and the Graean Cymru in Wales on September 22.
