Cole Paton and Candice Lill Stomp Home at Life Time Little Sugar MTB

US XC marathon national champion Cole Paton added another major win to his palmares Sunday, racing to a stomping victory in the Life Time Little Sugar MTB.

The Washington rider was always to the fore in the 64-mile event, pulling out an advantage after the 34.3-mile checkpoint. He extended that to guarantee victory, eventually racing in with a Mathieu van der Poel-style standing salute.

“Everything just finally came together. It has been a hard season,” he said. “So, so stoked.”

Bradyn Lange raced in 1:12 later and skidded to a halt, warmly congratulating the winner. Mountainbike marathon world champion Andreas Seewald of Germany completed the podium, finishing 3:47 in arrears, with Australia’s rider Brendan Johnston fourth but over seven minutes back.

Canadian Owen Clark and Coloradan Brayden Johnson completed the top six.

In the women’s race, South African Candice Lill was even farther ahead of her rivals, beating US champion Melisa Rollins by 2:20 and Hannah Otto by 6:35.

Another American Alexis Skarda was fourth and South African Hayley Preen was fifth.

“It was really a big day out,” Lill said after her 55-mile solo. “These last 10km, I was like, ‘can the finish line come?’ But I really enjoyed it.”

‘I’m just really proud it all came together’

Paton’s win was a show of consistency, with the 28-year-old always keeping tabs on his big rivals. He was just one second behind early leader Lange at the 5.3 mile checkpoint and was right beside Daniel English when the Coloradan led through the next.

Paton’s biggest deficit across the eight checks was 26 miles in when he was four seconds adrift of then-then leader Clark. He appeared to be biding his time but things would soon change, with an acceleration in pace seeking himself, Johnson and Clark distance the rest of the field, leaving the next riders more than half a minute adrift.

The elastic snapped further soon after that, Paton pushing ahead and opening a 15-second gap over Johnson and almost a minute over Clark. Lange was 1:21 adrift at that mile 43.2 check, sitting back in fifth, but made a stomping comeback to jump up to second place by mile 52.2.

He consolidated his runner-up slot from there, while Seewald was also well on course for his eventual podium slot.

Paton may have been dominant but he said staying out of trouble was one of the big elements to his win.

“I just have to do as well as I possibly can at these races. Anything can happen, especially at this one,” he said. “There is so much room for a technical, or a puncture. So I just really wanted to ride smart and efficient and make sure I am not taking any unnecessary risks. And it is never over until it is over.

“I was just trying to drive all the way through the finish. To get max points is huge for me, so hopefully that helps me move up a little bit [in the Life Time Grand Prix series]. But the win just transcends that. Giant has made such an effort get me this new bike here..

“So many people have been really believing in me through a lot of lows this year. I am just really proud that it all came together and super grateful.”

’This is the driest, the gnarliest I have seen this course’

Lange gave Paton a hug at the finish and later said he was delighted with the result.

“It was good. This is the hardest race of the year, just relentless. I am super stoked for Cole. We wanted to go one-two in a Grand Prix race all five years. So stoked for him, and happy with my second.”

He said he also avoided mechanicals in the race.

“The conditions are super dry this year. I have been racing here for seven, eight years, and this is the driest, the gnarliest I have seen this course,” he stated. “So it definitely suits riders like me and Cole.

“Just keeping air in the tires is a huge part of this and we saw it out there, everyone was just flatting. It is a gnarly course.”

As for world champion Seewald, the race was just his second since taking the world title. He was proud to show off his rainbow jersey, but said he got his feeding wrong towards the end.

“I am actually feeling quite done. It was a super, super hard race,” he said. “I actually felt good in the first half, for a long time, and always thinking that there would be some possibilities to move up and not stressing. Then one moment I realized that, okay, the front is getting quite far away and there is not really space to overtake often.

“So I stressed a bit, I hit some rock, it was really tricky to get some liquid in. I messed up this a bit, cramps started and the last hour was a really, really hard fight to just finish.

“I did not know the middle part of the course and I was always thinking, okay, there will be some more chances to move up, some more chances to drink from the bottle. I just waited and waited and didn’t have the gels I planned, so I messed up the nutrition quite a lot.”

Still, all that in mind, he said he was very happy with how things turned out.

‘I absolutely love this’

Lill won the Cape Epic earlier this year and has plenty of experience in off road competition. She didn’t wait long to drop her rivals, being already almost a minute clear of Rollins after 13.2 miles. She padded that advantage out to two minutes over the next 11 miles but the hard work almost unraveled after a bike issue.

“I had a mechanical. I lost some air in my front tire,” she said. “And what I probably should have done is it might have sealed on its own, but I started looking for the hole to plug it and basically lost a whole bunch of air.

“So basically I rode from the start of the BC40 loop to the tech zone, the last tech zone on a very flat front wheel. It was a lot of damage control. I could never really push over the limit, just be really gentle with the front wheel. So when I got that wheel at the second tech zone I was really happy to be able to ride the proper single track to the finish.”

She soon pulled ahead again and finished over two minutes ahead of Rollins.

The latter also had an issue, but said it wasn’t too serious.

“I did have a little sidewall slash but I was able to get rolling again. It didn’t affect my pacing, so that was good,” she said.

“I am really happy with second. I think any time on the podium in Bentonville, there is a lot of luck involved and you also have to have good legs. And I had both of those today. So I am really happy.”

Otto, too, was pleased with the race. She’s had an at-times difficult year but said she has learned a lot and believes she is a better athlete as a result. She’s also got a strong appreciation for what she and others get to do.

“At the end of the day we choose to be out here. This is a choice, to get to go and race,” she said.

“If you are choosing to be here, you should be happy to be here. I absolutely love this. When I stand on the start line, a thought I remind myself of is there is nowhere else I would rather be today.

“When it gets hard, that is a great thing to keep you going.”

It is, and that outlook saw her end up on the podium after a very tough day’s racing.

Leaderboard tightens in advance of Big Sugar showdown

Keegan Swenson didn’t compete in Sunday’s race due to his participation in the UCI Gravel World Championships. His advantage over Lange is now just six points, with Johnston four points further back.

Women’s leader Sofia Gomez Villafane also travelled to Australia for the UCI Gravel Worlds. She will head into the concluding Big Sugar next weekend 13 points clear of Cecily Decker. Lauren Stephens is 17 points behind.