Defending champions Matt Beers and Sofia Gomez Villafañe dominate at BWR California

Defending champions Sofia Gomez Villafañe and Matt Beers (Specialized) raced the new course at the 2025 Belgian Waffle Ride California in the elite divisions for back-to-back victories last weekend

The Belgian Waffle Ride rolled through San Diego again this year but a change out of Del Mar which brought a great host location.

The new course was 106 miles with Elite riders starting 15 minutes ahead of the rest of the field. There was 7,500 feet of climbing with a mix of 50% road and 50% unroad which threw obstacles including deep sand, singletrack, rocks, creek crossings.

The elite group set off together with Floyd Landis having a brief foray at the front. But just 20 miles into the race, Villafañe attacked and was never seen again by the chasing women's group.

In the front group were Whitney Allison, Siena Hermon, Courtney Sherwell, Flavia Oliveira Parks and Amy Cymerman.

Courtney Sherwell (Santa Cruz SRAM) and Whitney Allison (Bike Sports) pulled due to crashes near Hodges, with Allison having to get medical attention.

Flavia Oliveira Parks (Excel Sports p/b Specialized) who recently finished 12th at The Growler was second around half a hour behind and Amy Cymerman was another 11 minutes behind in third place.

"I liked the new course, I mean the time was still long. I had a worse time going out with the strong headwinds, on the way back I had friends," Villafañe said.

Villafañe has now won all seven BWR events in which she has raced winning the BWR Arizona title for a third time earlier this season. She has now overhauled Peter Stetina's six BWR wins.

2025 BWR California Women's Elite Podium

2025 BWR Women's Top 10

1 Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road) 05:43:22

2 Flavia Oliveira Parks (Excel Sports p/b Specialized) 00:33:10

3 Amy Cymerman 00:44:07

4 Siena Hermon (Mondraker Bikes) 00:55:48

5 Elizabeth Sheldon (CXD Trek Bikes) 01:34:39

6 Carolina Rabbat (CRCA/NYCC Racing) 03:42:44

DNF 4 Courtney Sherwell Santa Cruz SRAM
DNF 18 Whitney Allison Bike Sports

In the men's race, an early selection of 7 riders broke away with 8 riders chasing including Matt Beers, Alexi Vermeulen, Carter, Daxton Mock, Lance Haidet, Jonas Woodruff, Peter Stetina, Russel Finsterwald, Petr Vakoc and Truman Glasgow.

Daxton Mock and Russel Finsterwald were dropped and then the front group whittled down to just Beers, Stetina and Vermeulen.

Matt Beers then attacked on a descent and built up an initial lead of 40 seconds. Behind Stetina and Vermeulen chased, with Stetina getting second and Vermeulen third.

Behind 19-year-old Jonas Woodruff out-sprinted Petr Vakoc (Canyon CFR) and Truman Glasgow across the line to finish in fourth place.

The next event in the series is BWR Utah. Registration is open for the highly anticipated 6th edition of the Belgian Waffle Ride Utah, taking place in Cedar City this May 23 - 24, 2025. The third round of the Quad-Tripel Crown of Gravel Series!

Matt Beers and Peter Stetina's next race is the Traka 360 near Girona in Spain next weekend.