SBT GRVL Commits to Separate Start for Elite Women in 2025

SBT GRVL has become the latest gravel race to announce that, moving forward it will adjust its mass start format to include separate start lines for the elite fields.

The Colorado gravel race made the announcement via social media on Wednesday, August 21 just three days after the 2024 event.

Before announcing the change to the public, GRVL Events owner and SBT GRVL co-founder Amy Charity sent an email to the women who raced in the elite category this year. In it, she acknowledged both the changing landscape of gravel racing, as well as the growing demand for women’s-only start lines at marquee gravel races.

As a former professional cyclist and event owner, I’m aware of how the sport of gravel racing is evolving. It has always been a discipline rooted in community, fun, and collective experience, and has also become a professional sport with prize money, significant sponsorship dollars, and the means by which many of you make your living.

I wanted you all to be the first to know that beginning in 2025 we will be separating the starting times of our most competitive course into separate categories for our Elite fields for all GRVL events. We have reached this decision after much deliberation internally as well as listening and speaking with many of you throughout the year. Thank you for your patience and cooperation as we continue to navigate the logistical complexities and challenges that may emerge as we transition to this new format. 

Charity was admittedly an ‘outlier’ when it came to her stance on separate starts at SBT GRVL, favoring the mass start format that has long defined gravel races. She viewed separate starts as contrary to the principles of equity that the race was founded on.

“Would it still be fair to everyone if one group had a separate start? Would that turn it into a road race? And then, what about the other issues, like drafting.

“I didn’t want to make rules that I couldn’t enforce,” Charity said.

However, after the women’s start at year’s Unbound Gravel was deemed a success — elite racers were happy with it and it didn’t have a negative impact on amateurs — Charity said that she and her team started discussing it for SBT at a deeper lever. Due to a stricter than normal permitting process for the 2024 event, however, she wasn’t able to institute any changes this year.

Most riders were thrilled to hear the news about the changes in store at SBT GRVL, both for the integrity of the race and for the future of the sport.

“There’s no doubt that event organizers want to promote women in their races so I really applaud them [SBT GRVL] for making quick changes,” said Trek Driftless’ Paige Onweller. “I feel frustration that this is our current reality, but I’m also thankful that we have a growing number of strong women racing and we’re in a position to advocate for these separate starts.”

After Sunday’s race, some women expressed frustration at the finish line — and beyond — after Lauren Stephens won having been in a group of men that included her husband for the majority of the race. In the absence of a rule against it, Stephens technically wasn’t doing anything wrong.

But some riders found it so off-putting it made them consider not attending the race in the future. The new start line format announcement helped quell those misgivings.

“I’m really excited and grateful to see the separate start news,” said Haley Smith, who also rides for Trek Driftless. “Honestly, this makes me want to do more GRVL events. After my experience at Steamboat in the mass/mixed field, I wasn’t sure that I would be coming back. But now I feel excited to add these events into my calendar.

“We’ll actually get the chance to race each other as opposed to just trying not to die and futilely watching some women ride away with pre-arranged male domestiques. Racing will be fun now. It’ll actually be a game. I can’t wait.”

Sarah Sturm, who didn’t attend SBT GRVL this year but has in the past, also said that the changes would impact her decision whether to race again in Steamboat Springs.

“I’m really happy about the women’s only start change at SBT. They were one of the last of the big U.S. off-road races to offer this for pro women and it was definitely time to do so with a competitive field size and what feels like yearly controversy in the pro women’s race. It allows us to have a more fair race, and discourages men from interfering.

“These rules and procedures are a big part how I choose which events I want to race when I’m putting my calendar together and now I’ll be considering SBT for next year.”

Stephens, who races for Cynisca Cycling on the road, didn’t comment on her decision to race alongside her husband. She did say she sees a “benefit in both formats of racing.”

“Mass start races have made me a better bike racer and allowed me to prepare for European racing at home,” she said. “Women’s only starts provide a more prominent platform for us to showcase our racing talents and increase exposure for our sponsors.”

Advocates of a separate pro women’s race have long said that it will facilitate increased and improved media coverage, which then drives support for women’s racing. Charity said that this year she witnessed firsthand how difficult it is to provide robust and equal coverage of the women’s race when it’s mixed with the men’s.

It was one of many factors, she said, that led to the “tipping point” of committing to a change in the future.

Onweller agrees that the most important outcome a reformatted start line can have is the elevation of women’s gravel racing.

“We’ve seen women have new opportunities when this is implemented,” she said. “I really believe it allows more women to enter the sport, which is ultimately my goal and a lot of other women’s goal who are advocating for this.”