Lukas Pöstlberger (Austria, Rose Racing Circle) and Sofia Gómez Villafañe (Argentina, Specialized Off-Road) claimed the elite titles at the Traka 200 on Saturday, each winning by a narrow margin over 202 kilometres of gravel and 2,650 metres of vertical gain around Girona, Spain.
In the men’s race, former WorldTour road professional Pöstlberger was hotly pursued to the line by a trio of national off-road champions: Bradyn Lange (USA gravel champion), Martin Stošek (Czech Republic and European gravel champion), and Wout Alleman (Belgium and European MTB champion), with MTB legend Nino Schurter (Switzerland) not far behind. With six kilometres remaining on narrow, technical singletrack, Pöstlberger held just a 10-second lead. The chasing trio, however, stopped working together in the final kilometres, turning the contest into a sprint for second place. Lange took the runner-up spot, 20 seconds adrift, with Stošek third. Pöstlberger’s winning time was 6:04:42.
In the women’s race, Villafañe and Larissa Hartog (Netherlands) broke clear on a technical descent early on. On the key climb of Els Metges, just past the halfway mark, Hartog was dropped but worked her way back to re-form a leading duo for more than two hours. With 10 kilometres remaining, Villafañe attacked on a punchy climb to go solo, her lead ballooning on the ensuing singletrack to secure her second in a row Traka 200 title. She crossed the line in 6:54:42, with Hartog finishing 1 minute 9 seconds back. Nele Laing (Germany) rounded out the podium in third, 7 minutes 51 seconds down.
The Traka 200 is a key fixture in the worldwide Gravel Earth Series, with the next race on 7 June at Ranxo Gravel in Ponts, Spain.
Photo Credit: Facebook/The Traka
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