A hard crash a few weeks ago left Kira Payer banged up and unable to ride her bike for a while.
“I was out with a concussion and broken collarbone,” she said. She recovered from the concussion, but her collarbone was still broken on Saturday when she lined up for the 2023 Iron Horse Bicycle Classic pro women’s road race, attempting to defend her title from last year.
She said she wasn’t sure how it would go. “This was my first full effort back,” she said.
Payer, however, went with Sarah Sturm and Michaela Thompson when Sturm started pushing the pace early. Around Shalona Hill, the three had put a gap between the peloton.
“Every year, the pro women go slow through the valley, so I sat in front and drilled the pace,” Sturm said. “That was the selection.”
Sturm said she wasn’t expecting it to be just those three riders at the front, but no other women joined them, so the they worked together.
On Coal Bank Pass, however, Payer and Sturm were able to drop Thompson near the beginning of the climb. Payer then got a gap on Sturm with some hard work, but also some bad luck for Sturm.
“I executed my plan – a full gas effort up Coal Bank,” Payer said. “I’ve been practicing KOM hunting in Malibu.”
Payer is an FLC student, but said she spends her winters training in California now.
While Payer was going hard, Sturm dropped her chain.
“It was probably an operator error,” Sturm said, noting that this is the one road she does every year and doesn’t usually ride with two front chain rings.
Sturm almost caught Payer on Coal Bank, but had to use a lot of energy to catch back up and wasn’t able to overcome her.
“I’m pretty disappointed because I felt really good,” Sturm said.
Payer, meanwhile, kept her foot on the gas to keep Sturm from catching her.
“I sent it pretty hard down Molas and then put in a strong dig in the last mile to keep that separation,” Payer said.
Payer ended up winning the 47-mile race from Durango to Silverton in 2 hours, 30 minutes and 28.5 seconds to defend her title from last year.
Sturm finished second, for the second year in a row, in 2:31:13.1 and Thompson crossed third in 2:35:59.2.
“I’m stoked (Thompson) was riding so strong,” Sturm said, noting that she’ll join her and Ellen Campbell as a guest on their team in some gravel races this summer.
Sofia Waite finished fourth in 2:39:10.4 while the rest of the top 10 included Erin Osborne (2:39:26.1), Kaylee Blevins (2:40:10.0), Campbell (2:43:17.6), Isabella Rich (2:43:19.6), Lauren Aggeler (2:48:32.6) and Vicki Chavez (2:49:09.8).
Payer’s boyfriend, Caleb Classen, also won the pro men’s road race on Saturday.
“He pushes me pretty hard,” she said. “He’s made me a lot better rider.”
While Sturm was disappointed on Saturday, arguably the biggest race of her season is next week in Kansas: Unbound Gravel, which she called the “Tour de France of gravel.”
