Triumph for Gómez Villafañe and Wilson at Life Time Chequamegon MTB Festival

Sofía Gómez Villafañe reinforced her overall lead in the Life Time Grand Prix series with a gripping lone victory Saturday, holding off a hard-chasing group at the Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival.

There was drama in the men’s race too with Matthew Wilson besting the others with his own solo move, landing his first-ever victory in the series.

Gómez Villafañe had drama early on in the women’s race, hitting the deck with Melisa Rollins and facing a long pursuit.

“Chequamegon is always such an unpredictable race,” she said. “I found myself on the ground after a mud puddle due to losing traction and sadly taking out my good friend Melisa with me. I was able to make it back to the front of the peloton, but she was not.”

Once back she gathered her energy, then kicked clear on the Fire Tower Climb, approximately 23 miles into the race. She opened a 15 second gap with Karolina Migoń, Cécile Lejune, and Sarah Lange driving the chase.

Migoń and Lange kept working well together and reduced Gómez Villafañe’s advantage to 20 seconds, but the latter was too strong. She held on to win, with Migoń outsprinting Lange for second.

They were 15 seconds back at the line, while Lauren Stephens beat Paige Onweller and Cecile Lejeune for fourth.

“At Fire Tower, I made sure to lead as I knew I could likely be fighting for traction as well,” Gómez Villafañe said. “Near the top I was solo as Karolina had to unclip due to losing traction. After that, I was solo and had a consistent effort to the finish.”

Wilson takes control: ‘I felt I had the best legs’

Wilson showed strong form recently in the Leadville Trail 100 MTB, finishing as runner up to Keegan Swenson (Specialized Off-Road) for his first ever Life Time Grand Prix podium finish. He further built on that on Saturday with a driven performance, at first remaining calm when early attacker Martin Blum built a lead of a minute and a half inside the first 13 miles.

Wilson surged on the Fire Tower Climb and while his first effort was contained, he wrested clear with Keegan Swenson, Andrew L’Esperance and Brendan Johnston.

They worked together to hack down Blum’s lead, with Wilson then countering once the junction was made. He pulled out a strong gap, reaching the line 58 seconds ahead of Brendan Johnston and a further second in front of Keegan Swenson.

Torbjørn Andre Røed beat Cameron Jones and 10 others in a hectic sprint for fourth place.

“I tried to get away on the Fire Tower Climb,” New Zealander Wilson said. “Keegan and I got a good gap and thought we might be able to stay away, but unfortunately the whole group came back. But it gave me the confidence going into the final climb of the day.

“I gave it a nudge on the final climb, and four of us got away but I felt like I had the best legs in the group, so I kept riding hard. I was able to get a gap and went full gas to the line and not look back.”

He drew motivation from his recent near miss.

“It feels so good after being so close to winning at Leadville; I was pretty determined to get a win. The only way to prove yourself after coming second is to win.”

Wilson is now fourth overall in the series, with Swenson well ahead with 84 points. Johnston and Bradyn Lange have 76 points while Wilson has 74.

Gómez Villafañe has an even bigger advantage in the women’s series. She has 90 points, with Stephens on 78 and Cecily Decker on 76. Migoń and Lange are fourth and fifth.

Two races remain in the Life Time Grand Prix Series. They are Little Sugar MTB on October 11 and Big Sugar Gravel six days later.