Russell Finsterwald chased for 95 miles, caught Andrew L’Esperance on the final climb, and edged him in the closest finish in BWR history. Haley Batten rode away to win by 13 minutes in scorching desert heat.
SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (February 28, 2026) — The 2026 Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona delivered one of the most dramatic finishes in the event’s history on Saturday, as Russell Finsterwald overhauled long-time leader Andrew L’Esperance in the final 200 meters to win by half a wheel in a lung-searing sprint. In the women’s race, Olympic silver medalist Haley Batten turned the 100-mile gravel test into a solo exhibition, crossing the line 13 minutes clear of the field.
The race unfolded under the hottest conditions in BWR Arizona history, with temperatures reaching 88°F, a fact that shaped everything about the day’s tactical dynamics and turned the McDowell Mountain Park course into a crucible of attrition. More than 600 riders started; many did not finish.
Men’s Race: L’Esperance Lights the Fuse Early
Andrew L’Esperance dispensed with the usual opening pleasantries. Just five miles into the race, he and Chase Wark launched off the front, and the Canadian quickly established himself as the stronger of the two. L’Esperance dropped Wark on a long singletrack section and pressed on alone, building an advantage that stretched beyond four minutes at its peak. It was the kind of move that either looks like genius or folly, and for most of the day, it looked like genius.
Behind, the peloton fractured under the desert heat. Finsterwald found himself in a committed chase group of four riders, and they set about the long, grinding work of bringing the gap down. The math was simple; the execution was not. L’Esperance rode with purpose at the front, pressing the advantage through the technical singletrack sections and fast gravel straightaways that define the BWR Arizona course.
With 60 miles remaining and the chase group making no inroads, Finsterwald made his decision. He attacked solo and committed to running down L’Esperance by himself. It was a gamble built on patience and a belief that the Canadian, after 90 kilometers off the front in searing heat, would eventually crack.
He nearly ran out of road. Finsterwald did not make contact until roughly 10 miles to go. When he did, he immediately tried to dislodge L’Esperance with a series of accelerations. L’Esperance absorbed every one.
“I tried to shake him, but he still had some left in him,” Finsterwald said afterward. “We both knew it was going to come down to a sprint.”
It did. The two riders entered the finishing straight together after 100 miles of racing, and Finsterwald timed his jump perfectly, entering the final stretch first and edging past L’Esperance to take the win by a single second—the smallest margin in BWR history. For Finsterwald, the reigning BWR Quad-Tripel Crown series champion who finished second to Keegan Swenson at this same event last year, the win added another significant chapter to his gravel palmares.
Torbjørn Røed (Trek Driftless) finished third for the third time in four editions of BWR Arizona, crossing the line 4:03 behind the winner. Lunchbox Racing teammates Julien Gagne and Andrew Dillman rounded out the top five.
Women’s Race: Batten Puts on a Clinic
If the men’s race was a chess match resolved by a sprint, the women’s race was a demolition. Haley Batten, the Olympic silver medalist in cross-country mountain biking, used the first singletrack sector to establish her superiority and never looked back.
Racing from a dedicated women’s start wave, Batten capitalized on her technical mountain bike handling skills to gap the field on the loose, rough singletrack. Once clear, she kept the pressure on the pedals through every sector, extending her advantage with each passing mile. Her lead grew to more than 10 minutes at times, with the field rarely able to make a dent.
The margin at the finish told the story: Batten crossed the line in 5:58:13, more than 13 minutes clear of second place. It was a dominant, unassailable performance, and the kind of ride that reminded the gravel world that Batten’s cross-country pedigree translates with terrifying efficiency to mixed-surface racing.
“It was absolutely smokin’ hot out there and the 100-mile course was relentless,” Batten said at the finish. “I’m satisfied with my effort and to ride away with the win. That was hard. It’s hot; I’m pretty fried.”
Behind her, Haley Smith (Factor Racing) and Cécile Lejeune (Trek Driftless) fought a race-long battle for second, with Smith crossing the line at 6:11:22 and Lejeune finishing just 26 seconds later. Alexis Skarda (Scott Bicycles–Q36.5) took fourth and Holly Henry (Broad Street/Bici) rounded out the top five in a strong ride from the Victoria, B.C., rider.
Equipment choices played a role in Batten’s dominance. She ran a RockShox Reverb XPLR AXS dropper seatpost and opted for a split tire setup—a Specialized Tracer 50c in the rear and an Air-Track 2.2 in the front—to handle the loose, punishing terrain. It was a setup built for confidence on a course that punished hesitation.
The Heat Factor
The extreme temperatures reshaped the race in ways both obvious and subtle. The BWR Arizona course through McDowell Mountain Park already demands a particular kind of rider—one comfortable on technical singletrack, fast on gravel, and resilient across 100 miles—but the heat added another variable entirely. Fueling strategies broke down. Pacing calculations went sideways. Riders who started too aggressively paid double for it in the final third.
It was a day that rewarded the patient and the prepared, and both race winners exemplified those qualities in different ways: Finsterwald through his long, disciplined chase and perfectly timed sprint; Batten through her decisive early move and unrelenting tempo across the remaining miles.
The 2026 Belgian Waffle Ride Arizona—now in its fourth edition—confirmed the event’s reputation as one of the most demanding and unpredictable races on the American gravel calendar. It served as the opening round of the BWR Quad-Tripel Crown of Gravel Series, which continues at BWR California in Del Mar on May 3.
Results
Elite Men
| Pl. | Rider | Team | Time |
| 1 | Russell Finsterwald | LOOK | 5:17:38 |
| 2 | Andrew L’Esperance | 3T-Maxxis-Pearl Izumi | +0:01 |
| 3 | Torbjørn André Røed | Trek Driftless | +4:03 |
| 4 | Julien Gagne | Lunchbox Racing | +5:54 |
| 5 | Andrew Dillman | Lunchbox Racing | +7:30 |
| 6 | Luke Mosteller | Bear National Gravel | +11:32 |
| 7 | Chase Wark | Lunchbox Racing | +11:50 |
| 8 | Kyan Olshove | Pinarello | +12:48 |
| 9 | Lance Haidet | Colnago/SRAM/ZIPP/Velocio | +15:01 |
| 10 | Jonas Woodruff | Something DFRNT | +16:51 |
Elite Women
| Pl. | Rider | Team | Time |
| 1 | Haley Batten | Specialized Factory Racing | 5:58:13 |
| 2 | Haley Smith | Factor Racing | +13:09 |
| 3 | Cécile Lejeune | Trek Driftless | +13:35 |
| 4 | Alexis Skarda | Scott Bicycles–Q36.5 | +21:45 |
| 5 | Holly Henry | Broad Street/Bici | +38:19 |
| 6 | Holly Breck | Go Fast | +39:34 |
| 7 | Emily Stapleton | Bear National Team | +54:32 |
| 8 | MJ López Aguirre | Cliff English Coaching | +54:36 |
| 9 | Siena Hermon | Mondraker Bikes | +1:02:46 |
| 10 | Erin Osborne | Momentum Endurance | +1:03:09 |
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