Alex Grant (Gear Rush) and Evelyn Dong (Pivot-Stan's No Tubes) prevailed in one of the fastest editions of Crusher in the Tushar against fields stacked with notable road talent.
More than 600 riders competed in the 111km-long gravel race in Utah's Tushar Mountains, including new US national road champion Alex Howes (Education First Pro Cycling), criterium champion Travis McCabe (Floyd's Pro Cycling) and U23 champion Lance Haidet (Aevolo Cycling); along with Team Tibco's Laurens Stephens and reigning "Queen of Kanza", Amity Rockwell.
Stephens went out hard, opening up a solo lead only to be caught and passed by Dong with 10 miles to go, just after cresting the race's major difficulty dubbed the Col d'Crush. Dong opened up a sizable lead while Stephens had done enough to secure second with Sarah Max (Argonaut-ENVE) following in third, three minutes later.
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"I definitely didn't expect to win coming into this, having never ridden this course before," said Dong. "It's my first time. A lot of my training is like this, high altitude riding, this is what I love to do. In that sense, this pretty much feels like home."
Amy Charity, Aimee Vasse, Mindy Caruso, Scotti Lechuga, Hanna Muegge, Amity Rockwell and Kae Takeshita rounded out the top 10.
The same climb proved decisive on the men's field, and it was there that Grant launched the decisive attack about halfway up the 2500 ft. climb, dropping fellow leaders Howes and Eddie Anderson (Axeon-Hagens Berman). 39-year-old Grant opened up a 90-second lead by the crest and continued to extend his lead over the next 20km to finish three minutes before Anderson with Howes a further minute adrift.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/crusher-in-the-tushar-gallery
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