Grasshopper Journey Sequence: Brennan Wertz delivers knock-out punch in three-up dash for third consecutive win at Huffmaster

Former US gravel champion Brennan Wertz (Scott-Skipstone) and Alia Shafi (MAAP-Bike Tires Direct-Arundel) earned season-opening victories Saturday from a pair of three-rider sprints within the elite fields at Huffmaster mixed-terrain race, the second spherical of the Grasshopper Journey Sequence in northern California.

Wertz earned his fourth victory in six editions, however needed to fend off fellow US riders Skyler Taylor (Pinarello-Q36.5) and Marcis Shelton (Aggressive Edge Racing) when the trio got here collectively on the entrance of the race, pacing Leesville Hole and on the lengthy 20-mile descent on Huffmaster Highway to the end.

Wertz’s time of three:50:02, matched by Taylor in second and Shelton going one second later within the dash, set a brand new course report on the 90-mile race.

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“Coming into the tip, it was in all probability essentially the most tactical addition to date. It was Skyler, Marcus and I, and I attempted to get away possibly 4 or 5 kilometres from the end. However these guys are tremendous sturdy, and so they had been positively not giving me wiggle room,” Wertz instructed organisers on the end in Maxwell.

Shelton, who took second on the Grasshopper opener in January at Low Hole, rode with Wertz throughout the primary huge climb, practically 20 miles of asphalt and dust to achieve mile marker 43.

“I used to be on his wheel most of that climb, only a blistering tempo up that and he had me hangoing on by a thread. I finished within the feed zone. He was a gentleman, type of gradual rolled out of the feed zone so I may get again on,” Wertz defined.

“Then we hit it fairly laborious. Skylar bridged throughout to us, after which the three of us continued to select off the opposite guys with us on that final climb.”

On the ultimate descent, Shelton led on the entrance and gained a 20-second hole. Wertz took turns with Taylor to reel again the chief, “I used to be simply type of chilling again there, simply watching”, and he was affected person together with his ultimate surge of velocity.

“Superior solution to kick the yr off. It is one among my favorite programs. It is a native race sequence, so would not miss it,” the California-native added a few third consecutive win at Huffmaster.

Shafi, from close by Portland, Oregon, launched her new MAAP off-road programme at Huffmaster, together with her street group, Fount Biking Guild, closing on the finish of final season. Final yr, she gained the general at Redlands Bicycle Basic and earned a bronze medal on the USPro Highway Championships within the time trial.

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4 girls made a separation from the sphere, a first-time girls’s solely begin at Huffmaster, throughout the primary climb. Larissa Connors would get dropped from the lead trio after the lengthy descent down Huffmaster Highway, leaving techniques to play out within the girls’s race identical to the lads’s.

“I hoped for a dash end [because] I’ve a superb hit on the finish,” Shafi mentioned, who completed ninth in her solely different Huffmaster race three years in the past.

Shafi led the best way in 4:34:20 for the three-way dash, with Flavia Oliveira Parks (Excel Sports activities) going second and Jen Tavé (SpeedBlock-Terun) third. Each Shafi’s adversaries had raced at Grasshopper Sequence occasions for years, with Parks successful Huffmaster in 2024 forward of runner-up Tavé.

“It was my first time coming in for a dash end, in all probability not the very best for me, gotta work on that dash, however it’s laborious to get away wherever else on this course,” mentioned Tavé.

The sequence strikes to the western fringe of Sonoma County for King Ridge on March 28. The primarily paved course could have timed segments throughout the 91-mile route.

Outcomes

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