Stella Hobbs and Hayden Christian Win BWR Montana 2026

The second edition of the Hell of the Bozone was always going to be fast. Nobody expected it to be this fast.

For Stella Hobbs, it was a day worth defending. The Montana native and reigning BWR Montana champion returned to the Hell of the Bozone with a title to defend and rode like it, attacking from the opening climbs to thin the field and take control of the race early. Hobbs averaged an astonishing 20.5 mph across the 106-mile course to claim her second consecutive BWR Montana victory, finishing in 5h 07m 39s. Cécile Lejeune crossed second at 5h 15m 10s, securing the overall Quad-Tripel Crown of Gravel Series title in the process. Hannah Shell rounded out the podium at 5h 35m 16s.

In the men’s race, Hayden Christian won his first Belgian Waffle Ride and clinched the overall Quad-Tripel Crown of Gravel Series title in a finish that will be talked about for a long time. Christian crossed the line in 4h 45m 32s, with Elliot Thornblade just one second behind at 4h 45m 33s and Lance Haidet a further second back at 4h 45m 33s. Matthew Saldana and Ryker Brand completed the top five, all five riders finishing within nineteen seconds of each other after more than one hundred miles of racing.

Records are one thing. The racing was another.

Stella Hobbs set the tone early and never let up. “I decided there would be very little downside to blowing up completely,” she wrote afterward. “If I was going to lose, I wanted to lose while making the race as hard as possible.” She crested the first major climb with only Cécile Lejeune on her wheel, and the two traded the front for most of the day before Hobbs opened a gap with roughly 35 miles remaining and never looked back.

The men’s race came down to a contact-filled sprint through the Gallatin Valley Land Trust trail system. Hayden Christian had driven the pace all day to whittle the front group to five contenders, managing a rear derailleur mechanical through the entire second half of the race. When the trail opened up, Elliot Thornblade came around briefly, but Christian committed to the inside line through the final corners and held on.

“Going into the final two corners I saw a gap on the inside, committed to it, made a little contact, and was able to come through for the win,” Christian said. “Definitely not the smoothest way to get it done, but I’m really proud of how I managed the problems and kept myself in the fight until the very end.”

The full results are available through OmniGo Events. FinisherPix photos are live.