{"id":46558,"date":"2021-05-27T19:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T01:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/strong-field-of-professional-women-to-line-up-at-iron-horse-bicycle-classic\/"},"modified":"2021-05-28T01:12:00","modified_gmt":"2021-05-28T01:12:00","slug":"strong-field-of-professional-women-to-line-up-at-iron-horse-bicycle-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/strong-field-of-professional-women-to-line-up-at-iron-horse-bicycle-classic\/","title":{"rendered":"Strong field of professional women to line up at Iron Horse Bicycle Classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sarah
Sarah Sturm, who won the 2019 Iron Horse Bicycle Classic women\u2019s professional road race, smiles as she rides through the Animas Valley. Sturm could contend for the win again this year if her legs have recovered well from a 190-gravel race a weekend earlier. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

As the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic reaches the infamous climbs over Coal Bank and Molas passes Saturday, any number of riders from the professional women\u2019s field could make the winning move.<\/p>\n

Local riders such as Sarah Sturm, the 2019 champion, or Kira Payer could race to the win on familiar roads. But they\u2019ll face tough competition from out-of-town mountain bike stars Erin Huck and Evelyn Dong.<\/p>\n

Last weekend, Sturm rode to a second place finish in the Co2uT Desert Gravel race, which traveled 190-miles of high desert terrain west of Fruita. She said that she\u2019s seeing how she recovers from the effort but is likely to enter the Iron Horse road or mountain bike events.<\/p>\n

Sturm, who won the 2019 edition in 2 hours, 49 minutes, 13 seconds, tipped a number of local women who may play a factor in the 47-mile road race to Silverton such as Ava Hachmann, Emily Schaldach, Ellen Campbell and junior phenom Ruth Holcomb.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Holcomb) is crazy strong right now,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cShe\u2019s been prepping for a European mountain bike season, and she\u2019s always really fun to watch. I\u2019m sure she definitely could have the legs to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Riders
Riders in the 2019 Iron Horse Bicycle Classic women\u2019s professional road race, including Durango\u2019s Ruth Holcomb, far right. Holcomb could contend for the road race this year as only an 18-year-old. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Holcomb, 18, just returned from racing the World Cup mountain bike races in Germany and the Czech Republic with her Bear National Team and just announced she will ride as a freshman for the Fort Lewis College cycling team this fall as she begins her college studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really excited to be racing at home, and it\u2019s just good to take a little rest and get ready for the road race,\u201d said Holcomb, who placed second in the pro women\u2019s Queen of the Mountain omnium competition in 2019 for her combined results in the road race \u2013 an eighth-place finish \u2013 and win in the mountain bike race.<\/p>\n

Holcomb also believes the road race could be won by any number of women.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s everyone from Erin Huck, who\u2019s on the Olympic long team, to a bunch of local girls and just kind of so many fast people,\u201d she said. \u201cI was pretty impressed and excited to see that start list for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huck is also coming off of a spring of European mountain bike racing. Now residing in Estes Park, Huck is considered a favorite to be selected by USA Cycling to compete in the mountain bike race at the Tokyo Olympic Games alongside California\u2019s Kate Courtney and Utah\u2019s Haley Batten.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy good friend Evelyn Dong is signed up for it, too, and it\u2019s kind of just an excuse to meet up and ride bikes and have fun in a cool place,\u201d Huck said.<\/p>\n

\"Evelyn
Evelyn Dong is back at the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic this week as one of the contenders to win the Queen of the Mountain title. (Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Although Olympic selection is looming, Huck said the goal this weekend is to have fun and not become too stressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe promise was that these would be fun, and I can\u2019t be too stressed about that,\u201d she said. \u201cI mean, the reason to do them is just to enjoy riding my bike and have fun and take advantage of kind of the environment that Durango offers because there are so many bike enthusiasts there and it\u2019s impossible not to have a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

One factor in the race that can either help or hinder athletes is the altitude. The summits of both Coal Bank and Molas reach more than 10,500 feet above sea level, challenging even local riders who are used to riding in the high country.<\/p>\n

\u201cI usually don\u2019t have a problem with altitude, so I\u2019m not super concerned about it,\u201d Huck said.<\/p>\n

No matter who\u2019s in the lead group, the pace will pick up early win riders roll out of Animas Valley toward the first climb.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe race always seems to happen around Shalona, it\u2019ll get naturally faster,\u201d Sturm said, adding that she likes how the course is essentially one big climb except for flat sections in the valley and near Purgatory Resort.<\/p>\n

Both Sturm and Holcomb noted that they\u2019d prefer to put time into their rivals on the climbs rather than waiting for a big sprint in Silverton.<\/p>\n

After 47 miles and more than 5,000 feet of climbing at high-elevation, the stretch down Greene Street is \u201ca lot longer than you think,\u201d Sturm said.<\/p>\n

\"Ava
Ava Hachmann of Durango could contend in this week\u2019s Iron Horse Bicycle Classic road race after a strong season with the FLC cycling team (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Hachmann and Payer have both had a successful spring racing campaign on the road racing with the FLC cycling team and could both carry that fitness into the Iron Horse weekend.<\/p>\n

Campbell is another Durango local and FLC alumna who knows the route well. She is back in town for the race, visiting home from Montana.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be awesome to have these women who have been racing at high-level races,\u201d Campbell said. \u201cThe Iron Horse is great for bringing in some riders like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

No matter who wins, many of the women will have another chance to claim victory in the mountain bike race the next day as a part of the Queen of the Mountain omnium. The race will start at Durango Mesa Park before heading into Horse Gulch on trails like Telegraph, Stacey\u2019s and Cuchillo. The new course for this year is likely to create different racing dynamics than the circuit through downtown Durango and the Fort Lewis College mesa used in previous years.<\/p>\n

Campbell mentioned what may be the epitome of the Iron Horse\u2019s significance to the Durango community.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m always excited to do the Iron Horse. Being away from Durango for awhile, I am mostly focused on the fun and riding with friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Durango\u2019s
Durango\u2019s own Ellen Campbell has returned home for Iron Horse Bicycle Classic weekend and is looking forward to the hometown event. (File courtesy of FLC Cycling)<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Olympic hopeful Huck headlines out-of-towners; defending champ Sturm and young Holcomb have eyes on keeping title in local hands<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[657,28,2111,2180,346],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-46558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cycling","tag-headlines","tag-iron-horse-bicycle-classic","tag-road-cycling","tag-sports"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46558"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=46558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}