Villafañe sprints to her second triumph of the 2024 series while swenson makes it three wins from four
CABLE, Wisconsin (September 14, 2024) — Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez Villafañe strengthened their grips at the top of the Life Time Grand Prix presented by Mazda leaderboards by both claiming their first-ever victories at the Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival.
Villafañe was the first rider over the finish line in the women’s race after breaking away with Alexis Skarda and Savilia Blunk on the descent of the infamous Firetower climb. That trio continued to build their lead as they raced back into Cable, with Villafane proving the fastest finisher in a three-up sprint which saw Skarda take second and Blunk round out the podium.
Only minutes later, the men’s race reached an equally gripping conclusion. Swenson had been able to sit on the wheels of a five-man chase group for most of the 39.1-mile contest as his Santa Cruz team-mate Tobin Ortenblad launched an early solo attack, and even when Ortenblad was eventually brought back in the closing stages, the Californian had enough left in the tank to lead Swenson out in what proved to be another lightning-fast finale.
Swenson repaid that faith by powering to the line ahead of runner-up Alex Wild and the third-placed Sean Fincham.
With the Life Time Crusher in the Tushar cancelled due to wild fires, Chequamegon is the first event of the series where dropped results have been taken into account on the overall standings – i.e. each riders’s two lowest scores or missed races have been removed from their rankings, leaving only their top two results.
That means Villafañe now sits four points ahead of Paige Onweller (who was the third highest-ranked Life Time Grand Prix rider at Chequamegon, finishing the race in sixth place) on 70 points, and eight points ahead of the third-placed Haley Smith (who did not compete in this race).
Swenson meanwhile, is four points ahead of Lachlan Morton (who also didn’t compete at Chequamegon) on 70 points, with Cole Paton (who’s ninth-placed finish has been dropped) and Payson McElveen (who finished today in fourth) both tied in third, four points further adrift.
Reaction from the Life Time Chequamegon Mountain Bke Festival presented by Trek:
Women’s winner Sofia Gomez Villafañe said: “I’m stoked to finally pull this one off. On paper, I’ve always thought this is one of the races that suits me the most, but up until today I’ve never been able to get things together here. I always thought ‘I’ve won Sea Otter, Unbound, Leadville and Crusher, and not Chequamegon’, so I’m very excited to have ticked this one off the list.
“This summer I’ve kept things a little more chilled in order to have more freshness coming into the last third of 2024, and today was a really good sign that I’m fit and motivated. I’m really excited for the rest of the season.”
Men’s winner Keegan Swenson said: “This win feels good. I was fourth a couple of years ago after crashing right before the finish, and last year came second to Alexey [Vermuelen], so I had my sights on the win this time around. Tobin [Ortenblad] set me up with a nice lead-out and I was able to pull it together.
“It was one of our plans for him to slip away and the other guys hesitated a bit, allowing him to build up a lead of around two minutes at one point. That was a good place for me to be in as it meant I could sit in, and if the other guys wanted to chase, I’d let them chase, or if not, he’d win. That was a great situation for us to be in, and while it doesn’t always work out that way, if you keep trying, and keep pushing, eventually it works.
“I didn’t know I was going to win until I came off Tobin’s wheel. I knew, with the 38-10 gearing I had, it was going to be hard for anyone to come around me, but you never know, and I had to keep my foot on the gas. It’s a fast and tricky finish here with a downhill false flat on grass. The line comes up quick and it was great to get this result.”
Click HERE (men) and HERE (women) for the full race results, HERE for the overall standings.
Extended highlights will be available in the next 48 hours on the official Life Time Grand Prix YouTube channel.
