Sahara Gravel stage 1 recap with Lizzie Hermolle

With Pace

Payson McElveen

Photography, Interviews, Adventure, Basketball, Mountain Biking, Outdoors, Entrepreneur, Athletes, Culture, Current Events, Inspirational, Health & Fitness, Society & Culture, Sports, Gravel Biking, Gravel Cycling, Celebrities, Cycling

4.8 • 767 Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2026

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Stage 1 of Sahara Gravel was 99 kilometers in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. Payson is joined to recap the day by UK Gravel National Champ and today's stage winner, Lizzlie Hermolle. They discuss the profile of the route, an unexpected camel caravan, and the difficulty of riding through the desert sand. Lizzie also discusses her bike setup for the race and provides some background on her recent entry into the gravel world. Instagram: @withpacepodcast YouTube: Payson McElveen Emai...

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Pace McElvin and this is the WithPace podcast.
0:11.7	Well, the start was a bit mental because there was an ambulance that was just like completely in the way of the women when we started.
0:19.0	And then we were behind like an age group guy and then I ended up like toppling over on the first climb.
0:24.6	So it was a bit of a mental stop.
0:26.6	Did you guys pass right next to the camel caravan?
0:30.6	Yeah, that was just crazy, wasn't it?
0:32.6	Luckily they seem super chill.
0:33.6	Yeah, I think like a couple of times like you just kind of like look up and you're like, wow, this is just incredible.
0:42.3	Okay, we are here with Lizzie homily. Hi guys. Um, end of stage one, Sahara gravel. Today was
0:50.9	55 and a half miles and like a little over 3,000 feet of climbing, which...
0:58.3	So 90 kilometers and 1,000 meters?
1:00.4	Yep.
1:01.0	Which seems kind of flat for a gravel race, but it doesn't feel like that.
1:06.9	You won. Congratulations.
1:08.6	Thank you.
1:10.3	We... I saw your name on the list and I saw your UK national champion and I was like,
1:14.6	oh, she would be great to get on the podcast.
1:17.6	And I was kind of thinking of doing it later in the week once you'd had a few days under your belt.
1:22.6	And we were going to do Tiago Ferreira today, who is third, but he's setting an absolute record with a three-hour nap right now.
1:29.9	We wait as long as we could.
1:31.7	So we moved up our plans.
1:33.6	Here you are.
	...

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