Matt Beers finally cracked the American gravel code and wins Belgian Waffle Ride California in an impressive victory on Sunday, April 29 in San Marcos, CA. For the women, it was another notch in the belt for Sofia Gomez Villafañe, who pulled off the win despite an early flat and finished over 15 minutes ahead of Courtney Sherwell. Both Beers and Gomez Villafañe ride for The Specialized Off-Road Team.

Sofia Gomez Villafañe also won the BWR Triple Crown of Gravel Series, and interestingly was able to do so on 3 different Specialized bikes including the Crux at BWR Arizona, Diverge STR at BWR Utah, and the Roubaix SL8 at BWR California. In the Men’s race, Beers was almost caught by ENVE rider Alexey Vermeulen, finishing under a minute behind.

Matt Beers pushed the pace early on in the race and was able to breakaway at mile 51 and go solo for the remaining 69 miles. “I timed it just well enough, I was hurting up Double Peak.” said Beers. For most of the day Beers was chased by a large and talented group that included Ian Boswell, Alexey Vermeulen, Lance Haidet, Lachlan Morton, Peter Stetina, Toby Roed, Carter Anderson, Petr Vakoč, Brendan Johnston, Truman Glasgow, and Griffin Easter. Alejandro Valverde, who was thought to be a big factor in this race, suffered an early flat and could never recover.

2024 Men’s BWR California Top 10

1. Matthew Beers (Specialized Off-Road) 5h 28m 37.55s

2. Alexey Vermeulen (ENVE/Q+M) 5h 29m 14.34s

3. Petr Vakoc (Canyon Integray L27) 5h 31m 07.53s

4. Peter Stetina Canyon (Waffeleurs & Ale drinkeurs) 5h 32m 48.15s

5. Brendan Johnston (Giant Off Road Team) 5h 34m 07.32s

6. Torbjorn Andre Roed (Trek | Driftless) 5h 34m 49.39s

7. Lance Haidet (Specialized/SRAM/Velocio) 5h 38m 07.57s

8. Lachlan Morton (Ef easy pos)t 5h 42m 16.22s

9. Kyle Trudeau (Slow twitch Goodlife Racing) 5h 42m 18.12s

10. Carter Anderson (Ventum/Kuhl) 5h 45m 39.16s

2024 Women’s BWR California Top 10

1. Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-Road) 6h 15m 28.58s

2. Courtney Sherwell (Prova Cycles/QOM/Ekoi/Schwalbe/SRAM) 6h 30m 45.07s

3. Caroline Wreszin 6h 30m 48.12s

4. Heather Jackson (CANYON CLLCTV GRVL) 6h 32m 22.86s

5. Isabel King (SCOTT/SHIMANO) 6h 44m 17.66s

6. Cecily Decker (Scuderia Pinarello) 6h 45m 39.37s

7. Whitney Allison (Bike Sports) 6h 47m 04.59s

8. Emily Newsom (PAS Racing) 6h 52m 12.81s

9. Cassia Boglio (Liv Brazillian Butterfly Racing p/b Willing & Twin Peak)s 6h 59m 33.04s

10. Rebecca Fahringer (Easton Overland) 7h 00m 21.25s

2024 BWR Route

You can see all of the epic BWR courses since 2012 HERE

Visit BWR