Alejandro Valverde and American Heidi Franz dominate at Hutchinson Ranxo Gravel
The UCI Gravel qualifier in northern Spain last weekend hosted 709 riders from 22 different countries in Ponts on a splendid course in rural Catalonia for a challenging 166 race with 2,000m of elevation
Last year, the race was a great success with Carlos Verona (Movistar) winning the men’s race in the ideal gravel paradise. Marta Romeu was the female winner in 2022. Curious if their average speeds of respectively 34.7 and 30.2 km/h can be beaten.
Apart from the 166km qualifier distance, there are also shorter courses of 67 and 104km which are not qualifiers.
Of course, Alejandro Valverde was the big favourite at the start of the 2023 edition of the Hutchinson Ranxo after switching to gravel racing earlier this year and his impressive win in the first UCI Gravel race of the season. Other famous riders at the start were Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar), Samuel Sanchez, Olympic Road champion in Beijing 2008 and former Formula 1 World Champion Alain Prost.
A group of 25 riders quickly split up from the peloton with all favourites. In the women's race, American Heidi Franz made an early move to go solo quickly after the start.
The decision in the men’s race came late in the final when good old Alejandro Valverde made a two-minute gap to Ivan Garcia Cortina winning in 4h50:16, 2m16 to Garcia Cortina with CX rider Kevin Suarez Fernandez as overall third at almost 3 minutes for a complete Spanish podium in an average speed of 34.3 km/h.
Heidi Franz was caught back by British cyclocross rider Anna Kay halfway in the race who even went solo, but it was finally Franz again winning with a 4 minute gap to Kay for the female win with Spanish Claudia Galicia Cotrina as overall third at 6 minutes for a very international podium in an average speed of 29.1 km/h.
Link to 2023 Hutchinson Ranxo Gravel Results: https://sportmaniacs.com/es/races/hutchinson-ranxo-gravel-2023