Melisa Rollins (Liv Racing Collective) launched a late attack against Cecily Decker (PAS Racing) to win a second time at Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetik. The 2024 champion returned to the top step of the podium in a time of 5:58:43 in the modified 102-mile mountain bike endurance race.

Decker had to stop twice in the final 12 miles to deal with a flat tyre, but was able to finish in second place, 4:47 back. Lauren Stephens (Aegis x LOE) accelerated away from chase partner Sarah Lange to claim third place, 11:31 off the fast time of Rollins.

Stephens had joined Lange on the descent of the Columbine climb and the two rode together for nearly 45 miles, Lange relinquishing in the final miles and finishing 27 back for fourth.

A runner-up last year, Rollins won her second Leadville title, this time wearing the stars-and-stripes jersey as the US marathon mountain bike national champion. She chased from an early crash to catch Decker with 37 miles to go. ‘Diesel Decker’, who held the race lead for more than 55 miles, was the most aggressive rider on the day to build on an early solo lead using an attack at the St. Kevin’s climb. The same area came back with a big sting later with a flat rear tyre to end hopes of a victory.

“It’s really hard to just put into words. We all work really, really hard and I just put so much into this one race, and it sucks. Yeah, it’s hard to just have it all go in one instant. It would have been really cool to just be able to fight with Melissa to the line,” Decker said to organisers at the finish.

“I really wanted to push the pace on [St.] Kevin’s [outbound], see who else wanted to go fast. I think if Melisa didn’t have that crash, she would have been right up there right away.

“But she ended up coming back, obviously super strong. Yeah, we had a pretty epic battle towards the end. I ended up puncturing right at the bottom of St. Kevin’s.”

Rollins has competed at Leadville with her family for over a decade now, taking her first elite win two years ago and then going runner-up last year. This time Rollins won wearing the stars-and-stripes jersey as the US marathon mountain bike national champion.

“This race is so special to me, so I wasn’t willing to give in,” she said at the finish on the live broadcast provided by Life Time.

“I mean, this race is super important to me, it’s super important to my family. It’s super important to everybody who lines up, people who train for a year for this race. They try multiple times to get in. And the fact that we even got to have a race, I felt it like it was my duty to really put it out there, because a month ago, I really truly did not believe it was going to happen.”

Rollins referred to a massive wildfire, the Willow Fire, that burned from July into August, destroying thousands of acres of land, including businesses and homes in Lake County to the west of Leadville. By mid-August, a large area which the original route had passed for three decades had been severely impacted and evacuated, with organisers having to search for a revised route and secure permits. The revised route was confirmed just two weeks ago.

Villafañe, who won Leadville in 2023, finished seventh and held her overall lead in the Life Time Grand Prix standings. Leadville served as the third race in the six-race off-road series. Rollins, who was injured in the spring, did not race Sea Otter and did not complete Unbound Gravel 200 so came into Leadville in last place, but soared up to 16th place overall. Decker remains second overall and Stephens is now third overall.

Columbine creates separations but St. Kevin’s decisive

The elite men were first on the course at 6:00 a.m. local time, with the elite women taking off 10 minutes later, as sunshine broke the darkness of a cloudless sky above the Rocky Mountain town of Leadville, the highest incorporated city in North America at 10,152 feet above sea level.

The modified 102-mile route brought a total of 9,897 feet (3,016 metres) of elevation gain, with cool temperatures of 41°F (5°C) for the early miles.

A large number of the women’s peloton went down in a crash after just six miles, with Rollins one of the last riders to pick herself up, all riders back on their bikes and no major issues noticed on the broadcast cameras.

Another four miles later, on the early sections around the new eastbound direction around Turquoise Lake, Decker was the first rider to make a move, charging to the front and opening a five-second gap to Lange. A group of four formed a solid group behind the duo a few more seconds back – Rollins, Stephens, Hayley Preen (Factor Racing) and Alexis Skarda (Q36.5 Off Road Racing).

Samara Sheppard of New Zealand was then 20 seconds back riding solo between that foursome and a twosome of Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) and Rosa Klöser (Canyon-SRAM). Other early favourites now chasing early were Paige Onweller (Trek Driftless) and former Leadville winner Hannah Otto (Scott Sports USA) to round out the top 10.

Once at the 38-mile time check at Twin Lakes, with the climb to Columbine Mine approaching, Decker continued a fierce pace to open nearly one minute to Lange. A full two minutes behind Lange, the quartet of Rollins, Stephens, Preen and Skarda continued together. Moves had been made by Onweller to connect with Villafañe and Klöser as Sheppard dropped back slightly and a second foursome gave chase another two minutes back.

Decker pushed solo at the front on the roughest part of the Columbine climb, the ‘goat trail’, while behind Rollins made the pass of Lange to ride in second place, 1:30 behind the lone leader. Lange filled the third spot on the climb, one minute behind Rollins while Stephens was fourth, another 1:35 back.

Shortly after making the turnaround atop Columbine, Decker had no one for company at the front, but once on the journey back to Leadville she saw Rollins in pursuit, the gap 1:01. Next on the two-way traffic, Decker saw Lange and Stephens, with larger time gaps building at 5 minutes to third place and 5:25 to fourth place.

On a paved section on the inbound beyond Twin Lakes, Rollins could see Decker. The catch was made with 37.5 miles to go. The gap behind to Lange and Stephens, still together, had grown to 7 minutes, with Lange doing the bulk of the work.

With 11 miles to go, the two carried on, with Decker trying to accelerate away at the base of St Kevin’s dirt section, but a counter move was made by Rollins. Decker appeared to suffer a flat tyre on the rocky base of St. Kevin’s, shown on the live broadcast off her bike, not once but twice, and working on her rear tyre.

Rollins was able to extend her gap on the descent of St. Kevin’s and knew she was alone, looking back a few times. She then pounded out the miles next to the railroad tracks headed into Leadville and on the last dirt section of the Boulevard, and then pavement on Sixth Street.

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