Melisa Rollins (Blue Ridge TWENTY24 of Virginia) won the elite women’s Leadville Trail 100 MTB in Colorado on Saturday, crossing the finish line alone in 7:10:10. 2023 champion Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized) recovered a nearly 11-minute deficit with 20 miles to go to finish second, 3:53 behind.
Michaela Thompson (Orange Seal/Specialized/Shimano) was overtaken by Villafañe towards the end of the race and finished third, just 22 seconds behind the defending champion.
A week ago, Rollins won the three-day Leadville Stage Race, which is held on the same course as the one-day mountain bike endurance race. She was in top form, leading the second half of the 104.3-mile race.
The Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetik is part of the six-race Life Time Grand Prix and became the third event in the off-road series when Crusher in the Tushar was cancelled in July.
Rollins will work her way up from her highest-scoring 20th place overall and will attempt to break into the top 10 that will qualify athletes for a share of the season-ending $300,000 prize pool, split equally between men and women.
Women’s overall leader Haley Smith finished 10th on Saturday and will add 21 points to her total, although that may be one of the two points she gets to throw away. Villafañe will add 33 points to her score in third and will most likely move up. Thompson will make a big jump from her 23rd place overall. All of the women in the top 10 of the Leadville race are Grand Prix competitors this year.
How it developed
The start in Leadville, 3,066 meters above sea level, began at 6:20 a.m. for the elite women, who this year started five minutes after the elite men and another 10 minutes before the other divisions. This year’s course was 167 kilometers long, with an elevation gain of 3,700 meters, a new singletrack section near the start and a long paved section that was eliminated.
Most of the out-and-back route remained the same, with the signature climb to the summit of the Columbine Mine, at 12,499 feet above sea level, marking the halfway point and turnaround point.
Thompson, from nearby Durango, set the pace at the front of a group of nine women who had a 50-second lead over nine others. The lead group consisted of Thompson, Rollins, defending champion Villafañe, Erin Huck, Ellen Campbell, Sarah Lange, Deanna Mayles and Alexis Skarda.
Over the next 10 miles up to the Powerline climb, Rollins took the lead while Villafaňe dropped 25 seconds and Thompson was another 10 seconds back. What was once a compact lead group was now a scattered line of riders spread out over the climb.
Rollins, Thompson and Villafaňe formed a solid trio in the new singletrack area and extended their lead over two pursuers, Campbell and Mayles, to 3:30 on the first pass of Twin Lakes.
On the climb to Columbine, Rollins was able to gain a three-minute lead over Thompson, while Villafaňe lost a further 1:15 minutes.
On the return leg of the out-and-back leg, Rollins maintained her lead over Thompson. Campbell was now within three minutes of Villafañe, and Lange was closing in on him, with Mayles now in sixth place.
Rollins was getting faster and faster. When she opened up the climb back from Powerline, the 28-year-old, who splits her time between road and gravel, increased her lead over Thompson to almost 7 minutes and over Villafañe to 11 minutes.
On the final two hills over Carter Summit, the chasers narrowed their lead and Villafañe passed Thompson, but Rollins had enough time to cross the finish line alone and take the win.
