Casper Asgreen made a rare appearance Saturday at an American cycling event in a remote area of northwest Arkansas, along with hundreds of amateurs on Little Sugar Gravel, a short route offered in the Big Sugar Gravel event, He neatly changed his cowboy hat into a Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl pro kit.

He and teammate Mattia Cattaneo were sipping coffee before the green flag waved at Little Sugar Gravel, and there was no sign of the anxiety and stress of a long road season.

This was more of a holiday.

"I rode a bit yesterday, about 50 kilometers, and the roads are really good. I can see why gravel is so popular here," the 2021 Tour of Flanders winner told Cycling News at the start of the 50-mile gravel event. The event is part of the Big Sugar Gravel and the final round of the Lifetime Grand Prix series.

"Me and Mattia Cattaneo will be riding Little Sugar. Ilan (Van Wilder) has a knee problem and unfortunately will not start.

The Quick Step trio stopped in Bentonville, Arkansas two days ago to ride their new Specialized Diverge STR gravel bikes.

"When they sent me the tickets, I looked them up," Asgreen said of his unfamiliarity with Big Sugar and the Lifetime Grand Prix Series.

"I like the idea of the whole series being held at the beginning of the year, especially since it's the beginning of the year. I think it's a good concept, and a lot of people showed up."

Asgreen said that the Lifetime Grand Prix Series is a "great event.

The young Dane was thrust into the international spotlight in 2021 when he won two one-day classics in one week, the E3 Saxo Bank Classic and the Flanders Classic. He followed that up by winning the Danish Time Trial Championships and finishing 7th in the ITT at the Tokyo Olympics. This year he placed third in Strade Bianche.

The stop in Arkansas is a bit of a vacation for Asgreen, as his last race in the US was a points prize at the 2019 Tour of California. Asgreen doesn't mind if he once again goes unnoticed by the gravel crowd.

"Well, I ran with some of them yesterday, and some of them tagged along and greeted me," he said of the majority of the American crowd's lack of recognition of him and Cattaneo. 'Since Flanders, I've gotten more attention and more sponsor commitments. But I'm enjoying it. I take it as a compliment, because it comes with success."

The Quick Step crew will head to Morgan Hill, California, for wind tunnel testing of time trial equipment at Specialized's headquarters before stopping in Los Angeles for a visit to Oakley.

"It's fun because we get to go places we wouldn't normally go; it's not like one race, but it's a fun day of training. But it's part of the job, and I'm certainly having fun doing it."

Cattaneo is back in the US for his second gravel event since completing the Belgian Waffle Ride Kansas last year.

"It's always good to discover new places. Because you never know with gravel racing."

The duo finished sixth and seventh in Little Sugar, and didn't rush into the race on a windy day.

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