{"id":737808,"date":"2026-06-15T09:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T09:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/737808\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T09:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T09:33:11","slug":"gravel-earth-series-new-zealand-sweep-of-lost-and-found-gravel-as-ruby-ryan-and-matthew-wilson-clinch-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/737808\/","title":{"rendered":"Gravel Earth Series: New Zealand sweep of Lost and Found Gravel as Ruby Ryan and Matthew Wilson clinch victory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"elk-b73090a4-749f-4854-aaeb-5a809a33543a\">Lost and Found may have been set in Portola, California but the top spots across the Pro Men&#8217;s and Women&#8217;s race were both claimed by debuting riders from New Zealand, Ruby Ryan and Matthew Wilson (Scott Sports USA), who had decided to take a road trip out to the event after Unbound.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson took a solo victory in the men&#8217;s <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/gravel-earth-series\/https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/gravel-earth-series\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/gravel-earth-series\/https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/gravel-earth-series\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/gravel-earth-series\/https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/gravel-earth-series\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Gravel Earth series<\/a> race ahead of Payson McElveen (Allied Cycle Works-Red Bull) while last year&#8217;s winner Peter Stetina claimed third, passing Skyler Taylor (Pinarello) on the run to the line, as he bounced back from a gash to his knee that ended his Unbound endeavours.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-seasonal\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"elk-b73090a4-749f-4854-aaeb-5a809a33543a-2\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"kiosq-b\">Ryan, on the other hand, clinched the women&#8217;s race in a two-way sprint, deciding to hop in the car and make her debut after men&#8217;s winner Wilson suggested she too, should check out the event, and then finding another compatriot out on course to share the day of racing with.<\/p>\n<p>Latest Videos From<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/gmvwmhupgi1715762145.svg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/gmvwmhupgi1715762145.svg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/gmvwmhupgi1715762145.svg\" class=\"rounded-[var(--image--border-radius,0)] block h-[18px] w-auto shrink-0 brightness-0 invert\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/gmvwmhupgi1715762145.svg\" loading=\"lazy\" data-new-v2-image=\"true\" data-original-mos=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/gmvwmhupgi1715762145.svg\" data-pin-media=\"https:\/\/cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net\/flexiimages\/gmvwmhupgi1715762145.svg\" class=\"rounded-[var(--image--border-radius,0)] max-h-12 w-auto\"\/><\/p>\n<p aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"kiosq-b\">&#8220;I rode most of the day with my fellow kiwi Samara Sheppard, who finished second,&#8221; said the mountain biker from New Zealand who is part of the Life Time Grand Prix series. &#8220;We got away at mile 66, and then we were just rotating. It was great to be with her at the end, and it came down to a sprint finish. I think that was my first sprint win, so I&#8217;m happy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"kiosq-b\">Jennifer Tav\u00e9 (SpeedBlock-Ter\u00fan Pro Cycling) then rolled over the line about three minutes back to take third, repeating her result of 2025.<\/p>\n<p>            You may like<\/p>\n<p aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"kiosq-b\">In the men&#8217;s race, through the double-track it thinned down to a group of three \u2013 Wilson, McElveen and Taylor \u2013 but then, at the second-to-last feed zone, Taylor was left behind, and the duo of Wilson and McElveen were out the front.<\/p>\n<p aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"kiosq-b\">&#8220;Then we just rolled turns from there until the final gravel climb,&#8221; said Wilson in a race Instagram post. &#8220;We could see Skyler starting to come up on the horizon. Over the top of that climb I attacked on the descent and got a reasonable gap down the hill and managed to hold that till the entry of the single track.<\/p>\n<p class=\"newsletter-form__strapline\">The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n<p aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"kiosq-b\">&#8220;Once I was in the single track I was back in my home element and able to open up that gap a bit more and get out of sight and I just soloed home back down the hill.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"kiosq-b\">It was Wilson&#8217;s second win in as many weeks, with the rider who clinched a <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/unbound-gravel-decides-life-time-grand-prix-wildcards-with-danni-shrosbree-and-martins-blums-topping-the-table-of-new-recruits\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/unbound-gravel-decides-life-time-grand-prix-wildcards-with-danni-shrosbree-and-martins-blums-topping-the-table-of-new-recruits\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/unbound-gravel-decides-life-time-grand-prix-wildcards-with-danni-shrosbree-and-martins-blums-topping-the-table-of-new-recruits\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">wildcard entry to the Life Time Grand Prix<\/a> at Unbound having also snared a very different <a data-analytics-id=\"inline-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/matthew-wilson-washed-off-the-gravel-bike-after-unbound-and-took-it-straight-to-the-top-of-a-criterium-podium-at-tulsa-tough\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/matthew-wilson-washed-off-the-gravel-bike-after-unbound-and-took-it-straight-to-the-top-of-a-criterium-podium-at-tulsa-tough\/\" data-hl-processed=\"none\" data-mrf-recirculation=\"inline-link\" data-before-rewrite-localise=\"https:\/\/www.cyclingnews.com\/pro-cycling\/teams-riders\/matthew-wilson-washed-off-the-gravel-bike-after-unbound-and-took-it-straight-to-the-top-of-a-criterium-podium-at-tulsa-tough\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">victory at Tulsa Tough<\/a>. There, he washed the mud off his gravel bike, threw on some road wheels and claimed the McElroy River Parks criterium solo.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"elk-results\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"kiosq-b\"\/>ResultsSwipe to scroll horizontallyPro Men top 5<\/p>\n<p>Position<\/p>\n<p>Rider<\/p>\n<p>Time Gap<\/p>\n<p>1<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Wilson<\/p>\n<p>4:59:00<\/p>\n<p>2<\/p>\n<p>Payson McElveen <\/p>\n<p>+53<\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Peter Stetina <\/p>\n<p>+2:22<\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Skyler Taylor <\/p>\n<p>+2:42<\/p>\n<p>5<\/p>\n<p>Mark Morton<\/p>\n<p>+8:10<\/p>\n<p>Swipe to scroll horizontallyPro Women top 5<\/p>\n<p>Position<\/p>\n<p>Rider<\/p>\n<p>Time Gap<\/p>\n<p>1<\/p>\n<p>Ruby Ryan<\/p>\n<p>5:38:05<\/p>\n<p>2<\/p>\n<p>Samara Sheppard<\/p>\n<p>+01<\/p>\n<p>3<\/p>\n<p>Jennifer Tav\u00e9<\/p>\n<p>+2:59<\/p>\n<p>4<\/p>\n<p>Sophie Vitzthum Von Eckstaedt<\/p>\n<p>+5:01<\/p>\n<p>5<\/p>\n<p>Alexandrine Obrand<\/p>\n<p>+26:27<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lost and Found may have been set in Portola, California but the top spots across the Pro Men&#8217;s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-737808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=737808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}