How Melisa Rollins won Steamboat Gravel : DATA Deep Dive

Photo Credit Stephen Shelesky

Steamboat Gravel has long been a staple to the US gravel calendar, especially for the pro gravel circuit. The race stands out for its relentless climbing, smooth/fast gravel, stacked competition, and (with a change in format to a circuit) a taste for a road race on gravel.

This past Sunday, Melisa Rollins- one of my athletes- stepped onto the top step of the podium as the 2025 champion with a grin on her face and a stylish champions cowboy hat to show off.

She started the season with two broken wrists, so not only was this a prestigious win, but it was also a statement: she put setbacks behind her and showed what steady belief in the process and hard work will do.

This win especially stands out to me as it put to practice the tactical discussions Melisa and I have had, as well as the changes we have taken in her training recently.

Race data doesn’t always tell the full story, but in this case, we can actually extract quite a lot to see how the race was won (by the numbers).

The Race : 

Women-only races have drastically changed the tactics for female winners of late, who used to race amongst the mens field. Because of this, a big focus for Melisa and I prior to each race has been chatting through race situations. We work together to lay out parameters and ideal situations, but planning can only do so much. A big part of any race is feeling out where your competition is at day-of.

At SBTG, during first lap, she tested the group with 4min at 328watts (5w/k) on the rollers. This effort ended up gapping the group (as we planned) and giving her the confidence to sit in, now knowing that she was one of the strongest riders in the race. It seems counter intuitive, but when you’re feeling good is when its hardest to stay patient and not waste your energy. 

The next step was to watch the key players, watch for the moment they started hurting or exposed themselves, and then capitalize on it.

Over the course of the race, the group slowly whittled down due to the conditions (wind and heat) and pace. In the second lap the group trimmed quite a bit. Melisa did 30min at 243watts (.86IF) during this section. Long sections of high tempo did grind on the group, but this is when the training sessions we have been focusing on likely paid off. We have been focusing on fatigue resistance sessions that include intensity spread throughout long training sessions. This helps to simulate race stress and load over time and gets the athlete used to performing efforts under fatigue.

The final lap was more even paced with a small group was working together. This was also the peak heat of the race with average temps at 83F, peaking out at 88 on the main climb of the lap. While we haven’t made heat training a massive focus in her training, long summer rides made an impact by keeping her HR drift low even as heat rose.

At this point Melisa was now over five and a half hours in, 313TSS, 219NP, 3700KJ’s, and an average speed over 20mph. She had spent over an hour in Z3, over 30minutes Z4, and over 30minutes in combined Z5/6.

Photo Credit Dane Cronin

Which leads us to the final move… at 115miles, the race made a left hand turn off the loop to head up the lolly pop stick to the finish. At this point, there is a riser on course that we planned to be the key launch point, Melisa hit this hard - 1min at 510watts (180% of LT and 8.47w/kg) and a peak of 604watts. This was her all time best post-3500KJ 1-min power and only a 4% reduction from her all time best fresh power. When she started the move, she was at the back of the group, but after a rider ahead of her lost the wheel, she was forced to go into this move with even more speed and launch space (33mph already when she started her move). One rider was able to catch back on the down hill before the finish after this key move, leaving it down to the two of them for the final.

A bit of cat and mouse took place now that it was just the two of them, but the new priority became winning the final corner. The final corner posed a unique challenge: turning from road to gravel less than 150meters from the line. The sprint out of the final corner was 462watts for 12 seconds with a peak of 644watts, but the win was in the bag by then.

A true masterclass by Melisa of how staying patient and making the matches you use count (to have an impact on the race), thus setting yourself up for the win. Huge congratulations to Melisa!! Massive win and beyond well deserved.

Photo Credit Stephen Shelesky