Article by Rebecca Reza, RadioTour Photos Courtesy of Velo Images/Brian Hodes for Tour of the Gila

Silver City, NM — Lauren Stephens crested the climb atop Mogollon to celebrate the first stage victory for Cynisca Cycling at the 2024 Tour of the Gila. Nadia Gontova finished just behind in second for DNA Pro Cycling, with last year's stage winner, Marcela Prieto (Steve Tilford Foundation) in third. The victory marks Stephen's second on the road this season since winning the Clasica de Almeria in Spain a month ago.

Stephens swapped roles coming into Gila this week after directing ROXO Racing team last year in Silver City, notably when Gontova was racing for the team.

"It was really exciting because I have done some training with her over the past year so I'd say we're pretty good friends," Stephens said. "I knew today that I didn't want to lose time. My first goal was to stay with Nadia. I had seen how well she had done a couple weeks ago at Redlands."

Gontova arrived in Silver City after earning the biggest palmare in her career thus far, winning the overall title at the Redlands Bicycle Classic earlier this month. The Canadian burst on to the pro scene after winning Oak Glen last season at Redlands. ROXO signed her shortly after, taking her to the Vuelta Colombia Femenina where she celebrated her first UCI stage victory.

"I've trained with her some and know how strong she is," Stephens said. "I told myself that if I was feeling good I would attack in the last couple kilometers."

Seventy-one riders took to the start today in Silver City as the pro women rolled out for the 71.2 mile trek ahead for the opening stage Wednesday. The field had stuck together until the first intermediate sprint, which was won by Tashkent Women's Pro Cycling Team Margarita Misyurina. The team from Uzbekistan is racing their second year at Gila after their debut in 2023.

Competitive Edge Racing's Galen Bolard took a solo flyer soon after, escaping the field to gain up to a four-minute gap before DNA Pro Cycling picked up the chase soon after the second and final intermediate sprint of the day. The wind was starting to pick up just slightly, as teams began to organize approaching the right turn onto NM highway 159, beginning the final climb to the finish.

An unfortunate cross of the wheels caused a good portion of the field to crash, with the top contenders and teams escaping most of the carnage staying close to the front. DNA continued to drive the pace before Cynisca Cycling took over, lead by 2X Redlands stage winner, Mara Roldan. The pace had obliterated what was left of the field, leaving less than 10 riders to fight for the win.

2023 Mogollon Stage Winner, Marcela Prieto, had made the split, along with Gontova who was sitting on Stephen's wheel. As the group was approaching the final climb, Gontova launched a fierce attack. Stephens was quick to respond, jumping on her wheel, followed by Prieto. The tempo turned out to be too much for the Mexican climber, as she watched the duo slip away from her grasp.

"It was a hard day on the climb, after a short while I wasn't able to keep that pace to the finish," Prieto said. "I am happy with the result. Third place is not bad, I'm happy to give another try tomorrow. Hopefully I will improve a little but of course I will try until the final day."

Further up the road, Stephens was happy to sit on Gontova's wheel allowing her to do all the work in the final few kilometers. Despite her best efforts, Gontova was not able to shake Stephens off her wheel.

"I knew my best chance on this climb was to go pretty early. I know Lauren has a good kick," Gontova said at the finish. "Maybe I was a little impatient but at that point, I knew my only hope was to keep the pace high and hope that I could crack her. She was really strong on the day and ended up having a really strong attack at the end. I just couldn't follow and she rode away. "

As the two were nearing the one-kilometer to go mark, Stephens launched her final attack riding away from Gontova to celebrate her victory.

"Nadia attacked as soon as we started the last bit of the climb," Stephens said. "I was able to stay with her. I knew I was accomplishing my first goal and it was just icing on the cake to be able to put a little bit of time into Nadia today."

Stephens earned two jerseys for her victory today, the first red leader's jersey and the first Queen of the Mountain jerseys for earning top points on the finish line. Nadia Gontova leads the Best Young Rider classification heading into stage 2.

Racing resumes on Thursday for the women, starting at 10:20 MDT after the men at Fort Bayard.

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Scheduled for April 24-28, 2024, Tour of the Gila is an iconic American road cycling race that is renowned across the globe for its five challenging stages. As a UCI-sanctioned stage race, Tour of the Gila is the proving ground where pro and elite amateur racers showcase their talent. Also sanctioned by USA Cycling, Tour of the Gila attracts amateur cyclists wanting to experience southwest New Mexico's notoriously steep and scenic roads while testing their physical limits. Since 1987, Tour of the Gila has highlighted the state's rich history and landscape, including the region that inspired the creation of the Wilderness Act, its robust farming, ranching and mining heritage, a growing creative community, and mountains that make for a cyclist's dream playground.