The format
A stage race, gravel to the core
Days you race, nights you recover, and a general classification that rewards the whole week. The format that made the Tour de France, on the highest gravel in the country.
How it works
Three parts
Point-to-point days
Each stage links a high pass to a mountain town or the ranch. Chip-timed, self-supported with neutral aid, fully swept. Several days across a long weekend to a week, depending on the edition.
General classification
Your stage times add up. Lowest cumulative time wins the overall — the yellow-jersey idea, on gravel. Consistency and climbing both pay.
King & Queen of the Mountains
Timed segments up the marquee passes crown the best climbers, scored separately from the overall. The passes are where the race turns.
Categories
Every rider has a race
An elite general-classification race up front, timed touring waves behind it, with cutoffs built around the altitude for the back of the field. The final list depends on sanctioning and field size.
| Category | Who it's for | Scored by | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elite / Open GC | Racers chasing the overall, women and men | Cumulative time, all stages; KOM/QOM segments | Proposed |
| Age-group GC | Competitive amateurs by age, in ten-year bands | Cumulative time within category | Proposed |
| Touring waves | Riders who want the experience and the finish | Timed, generous cutoffs; completion recognized | Proposed |
| E-gravel | E-bike riders, class rules to follow | Separate classification | Under consideration |
| Half-week | Stages 1–3 or 4–5 for riders without a full week | Own classification | Under consideration |
| Teams | Teams of three or four; the best times on each stage count | Cumulative team time, a grand-tour team classification | Proposed |
| Pairs | Two riders racing together, times taken on the second rider | Cumulative team time | Under consideration |
| Singlespeed, non-binary, adaptive | Riders the sport's bigger events now make room for | Own classifications if numbers allow | Under consideration |
Proposed Minimum age 18 for the GC categories. Younger riders in touring waves with a guardian present is under consideration. Both depend on sanctioning and insurance.
You don't have to win to belong. You have to finish the high country, and at 12,000 feet that is hard enough.
How a stage race is run
Starts, clocks and cutoffs
Proposed Start order. The prologue is an interval start, riders going off one at a time, which gives everyone a first GC time. From stage two, elites start first and the rest go in GC order or in waves, so riders spend the day near others of the same pace.
Proposed Two clocks. Gun time runs from the start signal for everyone in a wave. Chip time runs from when you cross the start mat. Cutoffs are enforced on gun time because they exist to get the whole field over a pass before afternoon storms. Your placing uses chip time.
Proposed Missing a cutoff. A stage race shouldn't send you home on day two. If you miss a cutoff or can't finish a stage, you leave the overall, but you may start the next stage as a stage rider if the medical team clears you. What happens after a second missed stage is still an open question.
Proposed Every evening. Provisional results, a short protest window, then the jerseys: the overall leader, the best climbers, and the category leaders are presented at basecamp.
What you race for
A claim tag and a stamped card
Proposed Finisher recognition is being designed around the history of these roads. Each rider carries a pass card that is stamped at the summit aid of every pass crossed. Finishers of the full week receive a stamped metal claim tag, like the markers prospectors once staked on this ground, with their name and the passes they crossed.
Proposed Equal purse. We intend to pay women and men equally, to the same depth. The amount depends on sponsorship.
What sets it apart
Three things you won't find elsewhere in Leadville
A gravel stage race, not a one-day mountain bike race. These three make that difference concrete. More on what makes it its own.
Proposed
A team race
Enter as a team of three or four. The best times on each stage count toward a team classification, the way a road grand tour works. A club, a shop or a sponsor gets something to race for together.
Under consideration
A week that's handled
An all-in entry covering lodging, meals, transfers, bag service and daily recovery, offered alongside race-only entry. Arrive, race, recover, repeat. Rider services
Pending
A morning for the land
The 2026 Willow Fire burned where some of these roads run. On check-in morning, riders would work on a restoration project organized with the Forest Service. It needs their agreement first. Land, town and air
Raced hard, run right
Self-supported, fully swept
Riders carry their own day, but a contracted UTV support fleet runs every stage with water, tools, mechanical help and a lift for anyone the altitude beats. A sweep vehicle follows the last rider on every stage. Nobody is left on a pass.
Between stages, the field basecamps at the ranch and in Leadville, with mechanics and medical on site. The recovery is part of the performance.
Target: late summer 2027
The inaugural edition is aimed at late summer 2027. Leadville's established races and Breck Epic typically fill late July through late August, so the realistic window is the last days of August into mid-September, before the high passes risk early snow. Exact dates follow the land-management permits.