SOFÍA GÓMEZ VILLAFAÑE AND MATTHEW WILSON TRIUMPH AT THE LIFE TIME CHEQUAMEGON MOUNTAIN BIKE FESTIVAL
| Sofía Gómez Villafañe claims the 2026 title of the Life Time Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival. Matthew Wilson takes maiden Life Time Grand Prix win with a thrilling late attack. Sofía Gómez Villafañe extends her lead in the Life Time Grand Prix overall leaderboard, and Lauren Stephens moves into second heading into the penultimate round. Men’s overall leaderboard sees major shakeup but Keegan Swenson still holds onto top spot. Cable, Wisconsin (Saturday, September 19): Sofía Gómez Villafañe and Matthew Wilson take thrilling wins at the Life Time Chequamegon Mountain Bike Festival. In the women’s race, a lead group established themselves early, but after an early crash, Melisa Rollins and Sofía Gómez Villafañe were made to chase before the latter was able to rejoin the race leaders. The pace of the leading women’s group remained high, and the group stuck together until Sofía Gómez Villafañe launched a decisive move, shortly after mile 23, up the iconic Fire Tower Climb, putting 15 seconds into her competitors. Karolina Migoń, Cécile Lejune, and Sarah Lange led the chase. Karolina Migoń and Sarah Lange began to reel the race leader in, with the duo managing to bring the gap down to just 20 seconds. Paige Onweller and Lauren Stephens gained ground and joined Cécile Lejune as the third group of chasers. Sofía Gómez Villafañe crossed the finish line alone with a time of 2hr 14min 11sec, with Karolina Migoń and Sarah Lange just 16 seconds behind her. Lauren Stephens, Paige Onweller and Cécile Lejune rounded out the top six with a three-up sprint to the line. In the men’s race, Martins Blum started strong and pulled a gap of 1 minute and 30 seconds over the chasers in the first 13 miles. In the group behind, Matthew Wilson launched an attack up Fire Tower Climb, which was brought back initially, but the New Zealander was determined and got away with Keegan Swenson, Andrew L’Esperance and Brendan Johnston. The quartet rode hard to bring the gap to Martins Blum down, with Matthew Wilson using the catch as a launch pad for the race-defining move and claiming his maiden Life Time Grand Prix race win. Brendan Johnston rode to his Series best results in 2026 with second, and Keegan Swenson claiming the final spot on the podium just two seconds behind the Australian. Torbjørn Andre Røed won the 12-man sprint for fourth, closely followed by Cameron Jones, who rounded out the top five.  Women’s results 1- Sofía Gómez Villafañe (2hr 14min 11sec) 2- Karolina Migoń (2hr 14min 27sec) 3- Sarah Lange (2hr 14min 27sec) 4- Lauren Stephens (2hr 17min 04 sec) 5- Paige Onweller (2hr 17min 04 sec) Men’s results 1- Matthew Wilson (1hr 57min 51sec) 2- Brendan Johnston (1hr 58min 49sec) 3- Keegan Swenson (1 hr 58 min 51 sec) 4- Torbjørn Andre Røed (1hr 59min 10sec) 5- Cameron Jones (1hr 59min 10sec) VIEW FULL RESULTS HERE |
