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Former American professional bicycle owner Levi Leipheimer is making an attempt to restore the dwindling US.. street racing scene with a complete $156,000 (£125,000) prize pot for his street race, Levi’s GranFondo.
Hung on April 19, it accommodates a chain of occasions hung on a unmarried day in Sonoma County, California. The development expenses itself as now not most effective the richest but in addition the hardest street race in the United States, with its blue riband ‘Growler’ tournament that includes 4,226 metres of vertical mountaineering over its 138-mile (222km) period.
In step with the organisers, the Growler is “a highly competitive monument that easily rivals some of the toughest stages in the Tour de France”.
The primary riders house, each female and male, will obtain $25,000 each and every, with a complete $78,000 prize fund for the top-10 finishers in each classes making up that massive total pot.
There also are shorter and more straightforward occasions, with all talents catered for, starting from 10 miles as much as 120 miles.
Levi’s GranFondo isn’t a UCI-rated tournament, however its really extensive prize pot will permit it to rank along the ones which are. And there aren’t many. After the cancellation of the Joe Martin Level Race and the Maryland Vintage, simply two UCI street races had been held within the U.S. in 2024: the Gran Premio New York and the Excursion of the Gila- – each UCI 2.2 rated.
Distinction this to ten years in the past when riders may choose between, amongst others, the Excursion of California, Excursion of Utah and the United States Professional Problem – all top-ranked UCI occasions.
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Remaining 12 months’s Levi’s Gran Fondo was once gained via two riders who would generally be discovered on the head of U.S. gravel fields, with Lauren De Crescenzo and Keegan Swenson taking the honours within the girls’s and males’s occasions, respectively.
Each Swenson and De Crescenzo might be again this 12 months, together with Soudal-Fast Step rider and native hero Luke Lamperti.
Leipheimer has an in depth palmarès, having gained the Critérium du Dauphiné, the Excursion de Suisse and a bronze medal within the Beijing Olympic time trial in 2008. He was once additionally 2nd within the Vuelta a España that 12 months.
It was once his purpose, he mentioned in a observation, to “reinvigorate domestic road racing” within the U.S.
Praising new give a boost to from Skipstone, an area vineyard, he mentioned: “By investing in our roots, and the foundation of professional racing we will support and inspire the next generation of US athletes,” he mentioned.
“When we started this event in 2009, my goal was simply to bring people together and share the roads that shaped me as an athlete. Now, with this partnership, we are able to complete the circle, giving back in a meaningful way to help the sport that allowed us to become America’s premier gran fondo.”
