De Silvestris beats Frederick in sprint finish at inaugural Michelob Ultra GFNY Miami

Miami hosted the highly lauded first edition of the Michelob Ultra GFNY Miami last Sunday, that saw high speed racing and a tight sprint finish

700 riders from over 30 countries tackled the closed to traffic, completely flat and very fast long racecourse of 70.7 miles with start and finish at the Miccosukee Casino & Resort. The event was the official 2024 GFNY North America Championship.

The race started out fast with speeds hitting 50km/h. After aggressive racing for ten minutes, the race was split into three groups with a strung out peloton of 80 riders which stuck together through the first of two loops. After a string of attacks, it was at mile 40 when Chris Frederick (BMC Team) successfully got away and extended the lead to over 45 seconds. In the chase group were 15 riders including Andrea De Silvestris (Officine Mattio) and GFNY República Dominicana runner up Ramon Adames who managed to close the gap to the front.

Four racers sprinted for the win with De Silvestris (Italy) taking it in in 2:42:07 ahead of Chris Frederick (USA) and Ramon Adames (República Dominicana). The chase group of 80 riders came roaring just seconds later.

In the female race, Emma Drabbe (USA) took the win in 02:42:28 ahead of Melissa Gomez (USA). Maria Balatti (Argentina) rounded out the podium in third place.

Chanting and dancing riders turned the awards ceremony at the resort into a cycling party under the Floridian sun. Podium finishers grabbed their national flag from the start corrals and showed their colors with pride.

Next up on the GFNY calendar is the second edition of GFNY Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia’s capital which will take place Sunday, May 12, 2024.

Link to 2024 Michelob Ultra GFNY Miami results: https://gfny.cc/results