2021 Gravel Power Rankings : Wrap-up

power rankings 2021

Skip the prologue and go straight to the results

Listen to the 2021 wrap-up podcast


2021 was another dumpster fire. The first Power Ranking event happened in June

The power rankings tracked every event in America with over 500 riders, 30% dirt and 50% drop bars. Read about how the rankings are calculated in excruciating detail. We count the overall size of the event for inclusion into the rankings, but we weight the events based on the size of the competitive field.  

Below is our pre-year guess at how the year would play out. As you can see, many of the events were cancelled and we did not have CO2UT on our radar.

date

name

state

2019 size (total)

2019 field (points)

Event Website

Jan 23 MODIFIED

Texas Chainring Massacre

TX

497

347

spinistry.net/calendar

Feb 6–14 MODIFIED

Old Man Winter  

CO

662

281

oldmanwinterrally.com

Mar 13 VIRTUAL

Mid South

OK

1455

1093

midsouthgravel.com

Mar 14 CANCELLED

Croatian Buck Fifty 

NC

527

167

croatanbuckfifty.com

April 10 CANCELLED

Rough Road 100  

IL

499

420

roughroad100.com

April 24 CANCELLED

Rasputitsa  

VT

864

864

rasputitsagravel.com

June 5

Unbound  

KS

2712

1189

unboundgravel.com

June 6 CANCELLED

Lost & Found    

CA

1235

448

lostandfoundbikeride.com

June 26

Coast to Coast 

MI

526

375

micoasttocoast.com

July 10

Crusher in the Tushar  

UT

567

567

tusharcrusher.com

July 18

BWR California

CA

1495

827

belgianwaffleride.bike

Aug 1

Rooted Vermont  

VT

442

258

rootedvermont.com

Aug 8

Boulder Roubaix  

CO

928

189

dbcevents.com/roubaix

Aug 15

SBT GRVL  

CO

1117

439

sbtgrvl.com

Aug 21

BWR: N. Carolina

NC

-

-

belgianwaffleride.bike

Aug 22

Gravel Worlds  

NE

502

310

gravel-worlds.com

Aug 29

Vermont Overland  

VT

784

784

vermontoverland.com/overland/

Sept 1–5

Rebeccas Private Idaho  

ID

1041

524

rebeccasprivateidaho.com

Sept 18 
CANCELLED

Grinduro California  

CA

974

847

grinduro.com/california

Sept 25 BWR: Utah   UT     belgianwaffleride.bike

Sept 27 CANCELLED

Mountains to Meadows 

CA

-

-

quincymountainstomeadows.com

Oct 2

Barry Roubaix  

MI

3090

890

barry-roubaix.com

Oct 10

UnPAved  

PA

631

221

unpavedpennsylvania.com

Oct 23

Big Sugar  

AR

-

-

bigsugargravel.com

Oct 31

BWR: Kansas  

KS

-

-

belgianwaffleride.bike


The Events

There were 15 events in 2021 that met our criteria for inclusion in the power rankings. BWR California should have an asterisk here. We are fairly certain it was the largest gravel event of the year, BUT… Because the timing system was nuked by a freak thunderstorm hours before the event, the results were tabulated by hand from a video feed of the finish line. Obviously not all number plates were able to be read and tabulated. For our purposes, we can’t guestimate how many riders were actually at the event, we just have to use the numbers we have and accept that the BWR is being undercounted as a penalty for its screw-up. 

power ranking events 2021

 

The event are given a weight score based on the size of the competitive field. In most cases, this is different than the total event size. For example, in BWR events we count the full Waffle ride, but we do not count Wafer and Wanna riders who ride a different course and distance. Below are the relative weights of the ranked events. 

power ranking events weighted

As you can see, BWR California carries the most weight, even though the total number of riders across all distances was less than some of the other events. CO2UT is an outlier here with only about 150 of their 850 riders choosing to compete in the long course. Vermont Overland is another notable event since it only has one distance, their weight is the same as their total event size.


The Results

Women

  1. Lauren De Crescenzo
  2. Moriah Wilson
  3. Sofia Gomez Villafane

Men

  1. Ian Boswell
  2. Peter Stetina
  3. Adam Roberge

Full results


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