Barry and Clarke fastest at 2024 UCI Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo

300 riders participated in the event organized in part by multiple UCI Gran Fondo World Champion Bruce Bird in the Blue Mountains in Ontario at Canada’s only UCI Gravel World Championship qualifying race

On Saturday, the second edition of the Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo, starting at the start at the Osier Bluff Ski Club was a challenging 120 km course with 1,309m of climbing for 19-59 age categories containing a start and finish loop and three local laps of 36.5km. The event in Ontario’s lake region is a true Gravel paradise.

Men over 60 and women over 50 skipped the last loop to go back to the finish for a race distance of 83 km.

Ashlin Barry (EF Education – Onto) USA Junior National Road and Time Trial Champion won in a time 3:17:04, former Canadian pro Benjamin Perry (Groove Gravel) was second 10 seconds behind and American Brennan Wertz, UCI Highlands Gravel Classic winner was third (Mosaic Cycles) 58 seconds behind.

Devon Clarke sucessfully defended her title winning the women’s race in 3:46:39, Maghalie Rochette (Canyon CLLTV) was second 8 minutes behind and Anna Hicks was third 13 minutes behind.

Matthew Harris (Morning Glory Cycling Club) won the the shorter 83 km Medio gravel race in a time of 2:38:14.

In the women's Medio gravel race, Elly Moore was the fastest in a time of 2:48:03.

Riders finishing in the top 25% of their UCI age/gender category automatically qualify for the 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships.

The 2024 UCI Gravel World Championships are scheduled to be held in Belgium on October 5-6. The courses will commence in Halle and finish in the city centre of Leuven where the best riders in their category can again battle for the coveted rainbow jersey.

Link 2024 UCI Blue Mountains Gravel Fondo Results: https://racetiming.ca/rr3eventpage.php?EventId=2417