Matthew Beers Takes Gravel Worlds In Dramatic Sprint Over “Mate” Keegan Swenson

Matthew Beers wins Gravel Worlds. Photos: Kevin Mackinnon

With what’s believed to be the largest prize purse ever for a gravel cycling race ($100,000), today’s Gravel Worlds 150-mile pro race was always destined to be competitive. And gravel fans got that, with exciting sprint finishes deciding both races. We’ll get to the women’s race in our next post – for now we’ll focus on the men’s race that saw a pair of “mates” decide who would take home the $17,500 check for the win through a sprint to the line, which was ultimately won by South Africa’s Matthew Beers.

The day was most certainly competitive, but some last minute rain changed the complexion of the event dramatically. A series of MMR (Minimum Maintanance Road) sections of the course would prove decisive.

“The first one, I think everyone thought was going to be OK, then it just went a little bit pear shaped,” Beers said after the race. “And then we had the second one which really split the race up … And, then there was one with maybe 20 miles to go – it was quite slippery and a few guys went down and Kee (Keegan Swenson) and I went through clean and we just put the hammer down.”

That MMR section whittled down a group that had numbered about eight to just four – one of the men who went down in the crash was Brendan (Trekky) Johnston, who would have to spend some time fixing his bike before riding in solo to finish eighth.

The other two who managed to escape from that final MMR section were Unbound champ Cameron Jones (NZL) and Canadian Adam Roberge. Those two fell victim to the Swenson and Beers’ experience, which proved pivotal in the closing stages of the race.

“I think we read the race very similarly and we know when to go – we race together a lot,” Beers said after the race. “So we know when we’re feeling good and he can always rely on me and I can always rely on him in these situations.”

“Once we got the gap we just agreed to take it all the way to the line, and then we’d race and see who had the better finish,” Swenson said after the race. “The big dog was going quick today, but I’m stoked on the second place.”

Keegan Swenson.

“I don’t like leaving it to a sprint, but I’ve been working on my sprint quite a bit because of this – races come down to sprints quite often,” Beers continued. “Keegan’s been preparing for the World Mountain Bike champs – that’s a big goal of his, so he’s really skinny and lean at the moment, so maybe I had the upper hand. I’m a bit bigger – it was awesome to go to the line and eventually get one sprint on him.”

Swenson was as surprised as the rest of us on how difficult the conditions turned out to be.

“I expected a little bit of mud, but not enough to pack up like it did,” he said. “It worked out – every time we came out of the mud and went full gas and tried to make some separation, the group would get smaller and smaller and slowly whittled down through the day. Luckily there wasn’t a ton of mud – it was only two sections that were really bad, and the rest was just a little bit greasy.”

“Greasy” was enough, though, especially considering how tough many of the athletes found those muddy sections. Once Beers and Swenson had managed to ride themselves clear, it was left to Jones and Roberge to have their own sprint to decide the final spot on the podium.

Jones and Roberge sprint to the line …

With Jones coming out ahead.

Lauf Gravel Worlds Men’s 150 Mile Elite Results

You can find full results from today’s race here.

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