Keegan Swenson and Lauren Stephens are the winners of the 2024 SBT GRVL race.
It was a good day for the US’ elite gravel national champions, with both Swenson and Stephens crossing the finish line in Steamboat Springs in their national champion stars and stripes jerseys.
SBT GRVL returned on Sunday, August 18 for its fifth edition. The race rolled out major changes this year, including a brand new ‘Black’ course. Reduced from 144 to 125 miles with an additional 1000 feet of elevation gain, this year’s course was more technical than in years past.
Swenson is no stranger to the top step of the podium at SBT GRVL, having won the previous two editions.
On Sunday, he displayed both the fitness and finesse that he is known for in long races at altitude. At around mile 55, Swenson started to increase his pace in the group of 10 he was with, eventually pulling away from riders like Payson McElveen, Cameron Jones, Pete Stetina, Alexey Vermeulen, Eric Brunner, and Toby Roed with former road and ‘cross pro Paul Voß.
By the Hayden aid station at mile 65, the duo had increased their lead to one minute. For the next 20 miles, they worked together, maintaining a gap of about 1:15 over Jones, Brunner, Vermeulen, Stetina, and Roed. McElveen had dropped off the pace due to back pain.
However, Swenson made a move shortly thereafter, pushing the pace on a steep climb around mile 87. Voß wasn’t able to follow.
“I figured when it got steep I’d give it a little gas,” he said. “I figured I’d squeeze a little there and see how he was doing, and he came off the wheel.”
Swenson would ride the final 40 miles to the finish alone
Ultimately, Voss eked out a top 10 finish, coming in 13 minutes after Swenson.
Eight minutes after Swenson crossed the finish line on Yampa Street, four riders opened up a sprint for the other steps on the podium.
Trek Driftless’ Toby Røed was the first to kick across, despite battling serious stomach upset all day. Behind him, Alexey Vermeulen, Brendan Johnston, and Pete Stetina made up third through fifth places.
For Lauren Stephens, a win at SBT GRVL was five years in the making.
“I’ve been wanting to win this race since they announced it five years ago,” she said. “I’ve been training at altitude for the last four weeks to be ready for this.”
The gravel national champ, who lives in Dallas, Texas, spent the past month training at altitude, racing across disciplines at the Laramie Range Epic cross-country MTB race in Wyoming and the FoCo Fondo gravel race and Littleton Crit in Colorado.
Knowing that the start position was critical in the mass start race, Stephens made sure to find strong wheels to ride with from the get-go.
“At kilometer 16 we make a right turn and I didn’t want to lose position,” she said. “I went in the top 20 wheels there and slowly made my way backwards. But I was able to hold on to a group of men and hit the first climb with no other ladies. From then on it was keeping a group motivated.”
At one point, Stephens only had a gap of 1:15 to chasers Lauren De Crescenzo, Sofia Gomez Villafañe, and Maghalie Rochette. However, she would increase her lead incrementally thoughout the race’s 125 miles. At the Hayden aid station mid-way through the race, her gap had increased to 6.5 minutes with Sofia Gomez Villafañe and Cecily Decker the next riders through.
Leadville 100 MTB champ Melisa Rollins came through the Hayden feedzone three-and-a-half minutes later, followed by Paige Onweller a minute after that.
It would end up being a tough day for two-time SBT GRVL champ Lauren De Crescenzo, who flatted out of second position and chased for nearly 30 miles to regain contact with the front of the race. Her comeback was so impressive that she eventually caught Gomez Villafañe on a long climb out of Hayden during the second part of the race, only to crash a rough, technical descent and fracture her collarbone.
By that point, Gomez Villafañe had dropped Decker and rode to a solid second place finish 13 minutes after Stephens. When Decker rolled through the finish seven minutes later, Gomez Villafañe praised her performance on the day and her progress to date.
“It was impressive to watch her result at the Rift and she had a super strong first climb at Leadville so you can tell things are really coming together for her,” Gomez Villafañe said.
Rounding out the women’s podium were Traka 360 champ Karoline Migon in fourth, followed by Paige Onweller in fifth.
2024 SBT GRVL Women’s Top 10
- Lauren Stephens, 6:17:17
- Sofia Gomez Villafañe, 6:30:12
- Cecily Decker, 6:37:20
- Karolina Migon, 6:42:39
- Paige Onweller, 6:45:17
- Sarah Lange, 6:45:38
- Heather Jackson, 6:50:20
- Emma Grant, 6:52:42
- Kyleigh Spearing, 6:54:48
- Carolin Schiff, 6:56:04
2024 SBT GRVL Men’s Top 10
- Keegan Swenson, 5:41:10
- Torbjorn Roed, 5:49:46
- Alexey Vermeulen, 5:49:47
- Brendan Johnston, 5:49:47
- Peter Stetina, 5:49:48
- Daan Soete, 5:52:20
- Andrew L’Esperance, 5:54:55
- Simon Svendsen, 5:54:55
- Eric Brunner, 5:54:56
- Paul Voss, 5:54:56
Source URL: https://velo.outsideonline.com/gravel/gravel-racing/results-keegan-swenson-and-lauren-stephens-win-2024-sbt-grvl/