Sofia Gómez Villafañe's successful title defence at The Traka 200 on Saturday sent a resounding message as to her leading status in gravel racing, but she hopes it also sends a wider, perhaps stronger, message.
"I’m just so proud that today it came down to two bike riders who know how to handle their bikes, and that’s how the race was won," Villafañe told Cyclingnews at the finish.
She had dispatched Larissa Hartog on a short climb just over 10km from the line but what she saw as the true winning move was made well over 100km before that, and not uphill but downhill.
She and Hartog had forged clear on a technical descent during the early section of hills, and they were never seen again by the rest of the field, riding together for multiple hours before they sorted it out amongst themselves.
"I told her [Hartog] this at the finish line, but all day, all I was thinking about was like 'how cool that it's very likely that today’s Traka 200 is going to be won because of skill, and not on a watts per kg [basis]'.
"I hope that inspires a lot of girls to get out on their bikes, to go play, to learn how to corner.... You’re going to fall here and there, but skills are invincible."
Villafañe had already seen enough of Hartog's bike handling skills to know she'd better try to get a head start before the late stretch of narrow, technical singletrack. On that sharp late climb, she did make her watts count, though her lead only grew on the singletrack and all the way to the line.
"I could tell Larissa was hurting a bit on the climbs, but she’s so strong on the flats, and I didn’t know if I could go an hour out from line. We worked really well together, then we sprinted each other into the last climb," Villafañe explained of her tactics.
"I knew any time I was going over 300 [watts] maybe she was hurting a bit, so I punched it, rode as hard as I could, to get as much time going into the single track."
