Durango’s Cole Paton came up clutch in the final race of the Life Time Grand Prix series.

He finished fifth out of 73 riders in the 104-mile gravel race in Bentonville, Arkansas on Saturday to secure third in the standings.

Heading into the finale, Paton was in third place in a close battle in the points standings. He could’ve ended up between second and fifth in the standings, depending on how he finished at Big Sugar.

Paton finished fifth with a time of four hours, 53 minutes and 43 seconds. Torbjørn Andre Røed won the event with a time of 4:53:38 in a sprint to the finish.

“I was super happy with my ride,” Paton said. “I felt like I was really just kind of pushing the pace all day and I wanted to race really aggressively there. I had mountain bike tires on my gravel bike. So it gave me a lot of confidence through all the rough sections and I just wanted to apply pressure so it was really fun. I usually don't race like that.”

Paton said he gambled by switching to mountain bike tires because leading up to the Big Sugar, he tore up his gravel tires training in Bentonville on the sharp gravel. He knew the slowest possible outcome would be if he punctured his gravel tires.

Paton also said he could push the pace with his mountain bike tires during the race’s technical sections and cause some damage to the other riders.

The course was a nice change of pace for Paton. He said most gravel races are boring and this race was different.

“There was always something going on,” Paton said. “It was a really dynamic route and the way that it raced, it was a really aggressive race because it was just constant battling for position because since there's so much loose rock, if you're not toward the front, there's just debris flying in the field and it can get really dangerous.”

He also said the pace was really high because there weren’t any big climbs to worry about, instead “just a lot of little punches.”

“It's a really hilly terrain. Everyone's just on the gas so that makes the racing really fun,” he said.

Now that Paton’s season is over, he plans to spend a few weeks off the bike and hike and spend time with family. Then, Paton and his girlfriend Savilia Blunk will travel to Girona, Spain in the winter to train and race in the events there. Paton will then return to compete in Grand Prix events, which start up again in April.

bkelly@durangoherald.com