The host village
A basecamp already on the ground
Most stage races build a host village from nothing. Grand Tour Gravel starts with the home field in place: Leadville, and a private ranch with a lodge, guides and a support fleet already running there.
Two anchors
The town and the ranch
Leadville
The highest city in North America, at 10,152 feet, and a National Historic Landmark district that already hosts the Leadville Race Series every summer. Lodging, dining, medical, and a community that knows how to run big mountain events. Start, finish and expo live here.
Sugarloaf Mountain Ranch
A five-bedroom, 5,000 sq ft lodge on 1,000 private acres on Turquoise Lake, surrounded by wilderness, with Mount Elbert and Mount Massive from the decks. A stage host, a rider retreat, and terrain no other permit-holder can reach.
Stay-and-ride, built in
An operation that already runs
The pieces behind the basecamp exist today. Leadville Offroad Adventures runs guided tours, a support fleet and the lodge now. Grand Tour Gravel turns that into a race village: real beds and food between stages, UTVs running support on course, mechanics and guides who know every pass and hazard firsthand.
A chunk of what a new race usually has to buy, this one already owns. That is why the plan is credible and the first edition is close.
Basecamp partners: Sugarloaf Mountain Lodge · Leadville Offroad Adventures.
The village is the difference
No other race starts with a ranch, a lodge and a support operation already at the start line.