Riders are arriving in Gering, Nebraska, on Thursday ahead of the inaugural USA Cycling Gravel National Championships. The competition gets underway on Saturday with 62 elite men and 22 elite women so far signed up to compete for a total of $60,000 – equally split between the two fields.
The race is also a qualifying event for the UCI Gravel World Championships that will take place in Veneto, Italy, on October 8, 2023. The top three elite men and women automatically qualify for Worlds.
USA Cycling will also fully support each elite winner for the trip to Italy.
Gering, a small town in the far western part of Nebraska, is just across the border from Colorado near the base of the Scotts Bluff National Monument. The elite national championships will both be 131.4 miles long with almost 5,600 feet of elevation gain, and 90% of the course is on gravel roads.
There are national championship races for singlespeed, para and age group categories on the 131.4-mile course, and other age group, para and non-championship categories on 88-mile, 50- and 25-mile courses.
The route includes a series of small rolling climbs and two longer ascents, with a section of rough singletrack near the end that will sap the riders’ strength. Dry, dusty gravel and sandy sections of doubletrack snake through the wide-open plains.
The outright favourite for the men’s race is Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles/SRAM), winner of four straight rounds of the LifeTime Grand Prix – the Fuego XL, Unbound, Crusher in the Tushar, and Leadville 100 – this year.
Other contenders include Peter Stetina (Intergalactic Trash Pandas), Payson McElveen (Allied Cycle Works), and Alexey Vermeulen (Jukebox-ENVE).
Stetina posted on Instagram that he is going to “give my all for a jersey”.
“The terrain in Gering, Nebraska looks dynamic and I’m keen, daresay excited, to experience how this looks and feels,” he said, praising USA Cycling for “the first of a kind prize purse” and “what looks like a proper course.”
Top names for the women’s race include Lauren De Crescenzo (CINCH Racing), Lauren Stephens (EF Education-TIBCO-SVB), and Emily Newsom (Roxo Racing).
USA Cycling Gravel National Championship Entrants
| Zachary Allison (Bike Sports) |
| Sam Anderson (OKC Velo) |
| Leonardo Azocar (Mack cycle) |
| John Becker (First Internet Bank Cycling) |
| Nathan Bigelow (Go4Graham) |
| John Borstelmann (Ventum / Voler) |
| Barrett Brandon (Ventum) |
| Isaac Bryant (Above and Beyond Cancer p/b Bike World) |
| Zachary Calton |
| Eric Colindres (The Olympic Club) |
| Andrew Dillman (Ignition Coach Co.) |
| Griffin Easter (OpiCure Foundation Gravel Team) |
| Cobe Freeburn (Bear National Team) |
| John Frey (Goodlife racing) |
| Joe Goettl (Scheels Utah) |
| Gavin Goode (First Internet Bank Cycling) |
| Noah Granigan (Denver Disruptors) |
| Zach Gregg (Project Echelon Racing) |
| Finn Gullickson |
| David Haase (Attitude Sports) |
| Lance Haidet (L39ION of Los Angeles) |
| Luke Hall (Cannonball) |
| Carson Hampton (Bear National Team) |
| William Hardin (Project Echelon Racing) |
| Coulton Hartrich (No Sponsors) |
| Joey Hassett (Primal – Audi Denver) |
| Alex Hoehn (Above and Beyond Cancer Cycling Team p/b Bike World) |
| Peter Hogan |
| Griffin Hoppin (USA Cycling’s Athlete Development Pathway) |
| Johnathan Hsu (Expeditors) |
| Matt Jablonski |
| Yusuf Johnson (UChicago Velo Club) |
| Ted King (iamtedking.com/sponsors :)) |
| Nathaniel Langlie (Main Street Bikes) |
| Bjorn Larson |
| Joshua Lundgren (Goodlife Racing) |
| Andy Lydic (BMC #itcouldbeme) |
| Payson McElveen (Allied Cycle Works) |
| Chris Mehlman (Endurance Threads/Neversecond/Vittoria/Hammerhead/Maple…) |
| Spencer Miller (First Internet Bank Cycling) |
| Daxton Mock (Bear National Team) |
| Madison Molitor |
| Isaiah Newkirk (Project Echelon) |
| Peter Olejniczak (Project Echelon Racing) |
| Tobin Ortenblad (Santa Cruz SRAM htSQD) |
| Andrew Osterhoudt |
| Ethan Overson (Scuderia Pinarello) |
| Hayden Pucker (Turbo) |
| Max Ritzow (Expeditors) |
| Rane Roatta |
| Trey Shepard (First Internet Bank Cycling) |
| Nathan Spratt |
| Marc Spratt (Voler/Ventum) |
| Mat Stephens (Lauf) |
| Peter Stetina (Intergalactic Trash Pandas) |
| Keegan Swenson (Santa Cruz Bicycles/SRAM) |
| Skyler Taylor (Above Category Racing) |
| Maas van de Graaf (FCCT) |
| Alexey Vermeulen (Jukebox – ENVE) |
| Stephen Vogel (Project Echelon Racing) |
| Brennan Wertz (Mosaic Cycles) |
| Lee Yarbro |
| Morgan Aguirre |
| Whitney Allison (Bike Sports) |
| Crystal Anthony (Liv Racing Collective) |
| Gillian Bennett (ButcherBox Cycling p/b LOOK) |
| Chelsea Bolton (Ventum / Eliel / KAV / ENVE) |
| Lauren De Crescenzo (CINCH Racing) |
| Cecily Decker (Scuderia Pinarello) |
| Tori Dippold (CINCH Racing) |
| rebecca fahringer (Kona Maxxis Shimano) |
| Sarah Flamm (Planet Earth) |
| Christina Gokey-Smith (Matrix Cycle Club) |
| Anna Hicks (Cynisca Cycling) |
| Aria Mundy |
| Emily Newsom (Roxo Racing) |
| Paige Onweller (Trek/WTB/ABUS/HED/SRAM) |
| Jenna Rinehart (Nicollet Bike) |
| Melisa Rollins (Virginia’s Blue Ridge Twenty24) |
| alexis skarda (Santa Cruz Bicycles) |
| Kyleigh Spearing |
| Lauren Stephens ((EF EDUCATION – TIBCO – SVB) |
| Grace Williams (Cynisca Cycling) |
| Caroline Wreszin (CINCH Racing) |
