Preston Blackie crested the final hill and turned on the jets.

The 36-year-old Whitehorse cyclist outsprinted rivals Joel Macht and David Gonda to the finish line Saturday afternoon to win the Southern Lakes Yukon Gran Fondo.

Blackie’s time of 4:59:36 around the five-leg 173-kilometre course was one second ahead of Macht and two seconds ahead of Gonda.

The course record is 4:42, set by Stephen Ball and Ian Parker in 2012.

“I didn’t expect to win the race,” Blackie told the Star. “My objective was to show up and do as good as I can. I would have been OK just being in the top group.”

Thanks to a flurry of attacks by Macht and Gonda on the uphills, the lead peloton was down to just three with 35 kms left in the race.

“I was hurting at that point,” said Blackie, who rides for Gastown Cycling, a Vancouver-based club.

“I think we all were. The afterburners were on early and it took a lot of energy to stay with the lead group.”

Blackie didn’t attack late, saying it would have been a waste of his last drops of precious energy.

When he crested the final hill one km away from the finish line, Blackie knew he had it in the bag.

“I knew I could beat them in a sprint, but I couldn’t climb with them,” he said.

“I started to go on the top of the hill and it was a full-out sprint to the finish.”

The race, formerly known as the Southern Lakes Loppet, enjoyed a record turnout this year with 128 cyclists participating, including 61 teams. The name change to gran fondo – an Italian term for long-distance bike race – better identifies the event, said organizer Simi Morrison.

Trena Irving was the top solo female cyclist, earning victory in her category with a time of 7:32:26.

“I found this race hard this year,” she said, noting she came across two bears on the first leg of the race.

“The winds were incredible, so that added a very big challenge for riders.”

Irving, coach of the local U Kon Echelon club, spent much of the race breaking wind for her pupils.

“I felt like pulling the pin at Jakes Corner because of the wind, and then I knew it was chip seal for the rest of the way,” she admitted.

With her 10-year-old daughter Ava Irving-Staley scheduled to cycle the race’s fifth leg, Irving dug deep and continued however.

Drew Osborne split the race with his cousin Jess Wood, finishing last among mixed duo groups.

“I was impressed with the quality and seriousness of many of the riders,” Osborne said.

“The race spread out very quickly, more quickly than I expected so by the Carcross Cutoff it seemed like you were riding by yourself at times.”

Male solo rider Alex Rapp was the last cyclist to finish the race in 9:26, earning him the infamous Crooked Wheel award.

The race traverses the area of the Southern Lakes, hitting the communities of Carcross, Mount Lorne, Golden Horn, Marsh Lake and Tagish.

The race started and finished in Carcross Saturday, with a mass start occurring at 10 a.m.

A total of 24 male solo riders participated, a change likely due to the date change, said Morrison.

“The race took place two months earlier than usual,” she explained. “We had a record low 51 cyclists last year and that’s why we had to change it.

“We figured that if we did it before the Kluane Chilkat International Bike Relay, we’d have more people and that’s exactly what happened.”

One rider crashed during the third leg and didn’t continue – the first incident in race history, according to Morrison’s memory.

The post-race awards party took place at The Bistro on Bennett, with proceeds going towards the Flying Caribou Recreation Society.

Next year’s race will start and finish in Mount Lorne.