Cobe Freeburn’s winning streak ended, but the Durangoan showed he can compete with the best gravel riders in the country on Sunday.
The 23-year-old finished third at Steamboat Gravel in Steamboat Springs, snapping a five-race win streak. However, Freeburn faced much hard competition at Steamboat Gravel and finished third behind 2024 gravel national champion Brennan Wertz and 2024 Life Time Grand Prix winner Keegan Swenson.
Freeburn was proud and very happy about his performance in his first time doing Steamboat Gravel. He finished the 116.9-mile race in four hours, 56 minutes and 26 seconds. Swenson also finished in 4:56:26 in second and Wertz was first in 4:56:19.
“It was cool,” Freeburn said. “It was a really nice community event. Last year they had one big loop for the race and this year it was three laps. It was like a closed circuit, which was nice, but it was a different atmosphere and different time of year. So last year's was in August, so it was a different kind of feel, according to other people. It was nice being near Steamboat for the race. There was a nice big expo; there were a lot of people there, so a lot of energy, which was nice.”
The Steamboat course (three laps around the 37-mile course) was mostly smooth gravel roads, according to Freeburn. There was some pavement, but no single or double track. This made for some fast and technical racing which Freeburn enjoyed.
Freeburn ran narrower, faster tires than he usually does because of how smooth it was and there weren’t many corners. He wishes he had brought bigger gears to run. The gear Freeburn ran and usually runs is big enough so that he can pedal about 40 miles per hour. However, Wertz had a bigger gear than everyone else, which helped him win, according to Freeburn.
About 20 miles into the race, a lead group of Freeburn, Wertz, Swenson and Pete Stetina separated from the other 33 pro men. Shortly after, Alexy Vermeulen and Torbjørn Andre Røed caught up to make it a lead group of six.
Freeburn was surprised that it was a small lead group so early but the leaders were extending the gaps to the riders behind.
On lap 2, the leaders dropped Røed; Freeburn was again surprised with how well he was feeling and the lack of issues he was having.
“The first half the loop was climbing, gradual uphill with kind of rolly bits and I felt really strong there,” Freeburn said. “That was my strongest part of the race, so I was definitely taking a lot of longer pulls there and doing a bit more. Then there was one really steep climb in the middle of the loop where it split up for the first lap and I felt strong there.”
On the last lap, Vermeulen had a big attack on a gradual climb and Freeburn managed to follow before Swenson and Stetina caught up. Wertz was briefly dropped on the climb before he caught up with the leaders on the descent. Wertz battled through a tough headwind better than the rest with his large frame at 6-foot-5-inches.
Wertz attacked the rest of the leaders with less than a mile to go and the other leaders couldn’t react fast enough to track him down. Swenson barely beat Freeburn to the line for second, but Freeburn wasn’t too upset about it as he knew he was tired and didn’t have much left in the tank at that point.
“Top five would have been a great day for me,” Freeburn said. “I wasn't quite sure how I would stack up. I've been doing well at Colorado races, but none of the big names have been in any of those. Getting third is amazing. It's definitely a great result for me. It's probably my biggest result yet in my career.”
bkelly@durangoherald.com
