FoCo Fondo Turns It Up for Year 11

At 6 a.m. on Sunday, July 19, before Fort Collins has fully woken up, the elite men’s field will roll out of New Belgium Brewing and into the open range of Northern Colorado. A regional heat wave has settled over the Front Range, but the forecast hasn’t thinned the start list. If anything, it has sharpened it.

FoCo Fondo Presented by Fat Tire is back for year 11, and this edition may be the deepest the event has seen. Two-time defending women’s champion Lauren Stephens (Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment) returns to the start line. Robin Cummings (Nine Lives Cycling Collective) is back to defend their gender expansive title. Former WorldTour professional Gavin Mannion lines up in the men’s field, and late entries Courtney Sherwell (Santa Cruz SRAM Kenda Tires) and Alexis Skarda (Scott Bicycles/Q36.5/Shimano) bolster an already formidable women’s race. The full elite race streams live on the Bike Sports YouTube channel beginning at 6 a.m. MT on Sunday, July 19.

FoCo Fondo isn’t a typical stop on the gravel calendar. It’s a gravel ride, a gravel race, and one big bike party. The whole thing is staged at New Belgium Brewing in a city cyclists call Gravel Graceland for the terrain radiating out in every direction. The party atmosphere masks a course that is genuinely serious.

The Course: Cooperation, Then Combat

The 118-mile Triple Dog Dare route carries the $15,000 prize purse and the coveted bolo tie cutoff. Co-founder and course designer Zack Allison breaks it down:

“The course is a big mix overall with tactical B-road sectors early on before heading straight out to the mountains. A longer paved section allows those who are positioned poorly for the B-roads to make an effort to reconnect, just in time for the private ranch sector and primary climb of the course, running miles 51–69 and topping out at 8,000 feet. It might seem like forever with the finish at 118 miles, but the top riders will easily knock out those remaining 48 miles back to New Belgium in under two hours.”  – Zack Allison, FoCo Fondo co-founder

The early B-road sectors and treated gravel reward cooperation. Riders who read the terrain well will work together, saving themselves for the private ranch section and the climb to 8,000 feet. That’s where the field gets shelled and where the day’s selection is made.

Griffin Easter (OpiCure Gravel p/b Orbea and Castelli SOG) took the men’s title in 2024 and is back in 2026 alongside a field that includes Diederik Deelen (Castelli SOG/ENVE, Netherlands), Caleb Bottcher (ENVE/Shimano/Neversecond, LTGP Wild Card), Benjamin Perry (Guava x Castelli S.O.G.), Kennett Peterson, Michael Garrison (SpeedStudio p/b Basso), Josiah Wildman (Respira), and Chaz Hogenauer (Rio Grande Cycling).

The Women’s Field: Top Notch

Whitney Allison, who co-organizes the event alongside Zack and races it herself, is unambiguous about where she thinks the day’s most compelling racing will unfold:

“The course, the aid amenities — they’re all designed around giving every rider a fair shot at one of those podium positions. We don’t allow outside aid in order to provide an equal chance at the podium no matter the support or sponsorship a rider has, and to reduce vehicle traffic and increase rider safety. Being bike racers ourselves and wanting to see riders be as successful as possible, the aids are intentionally designed around times when riders are at low speeds, at the top of climbs so you can strike the balance of what you carry. The course is so draftable — a great opportunity to cooperate with your competitors until just the right moment. As a biased person, I think the women’s field is top notch.”  – Whitney Allison, FoCo Fondo co-organizer

Stephens is joined by a women’s field that has grown significantly in depth heading into race weekend. Sherwell, second in the 2025 edition, makes her return. Skarda arrives as a late entry and an immediate podium threat. Cécile Lejeune (Trek Driftless), Charlotte Clarke (Ventum, NZL), Mairen Lawson (Aegis x Leaders of Enchantment), Brianna Samuhel (MBO Simmonds Racing), and a deep Fort Follies contingent round out a field that will push Stephens harder than anything she faced in her two previous wins.

The Non-Binary Field

FoCo Fondo has offered an equal non-binary/gender expansive prize purse and a separate elite category since its earliest years, long before it became a talking point on the broader gravel circuit. Defending champion Robin Cummings, the 2025 non-binary CX world champion, returns alongside Katheryn “KJ” Phillips (Artemis Racing), Safety Tregelles (Herd Racing), Cade Spritz (Nine Lives Cycling Collective), and Kylee Rood (Goldilocks GRVL), among others. The $15,000 purse is split equally across the men’s, women’s, and non-binary/GE fields, with no asterisks.

Racing in the Heat

Temperatures are forecast to reach the low 90s by early afternoon, and the event is ready for it. Elite fields roll at 6:00, 6:05, and 6:10 a.m., more than 20,000 pounds of water is staged across the course, an additional water stop has been added at mile 20 of the 60- and 100-mile routes, and roaming medical and SAG support will be active throughout the day. The full heat plan is at focofondo.com. The top riders should be through the exposed climb and descending back toward Fort Collins before the worst of the afternoon heat; in 2025, the men’s podium was back before 11:30 a.m.

More Than a Race

The race is only part of what draws riders to Fort Collins each July. The full weekend, July 16–19, is built around New Belgium Brewing, with a Thursday Tap Talks speaker series, a Friday kick-off party at The Lyric Cinema, and a two-day Bike & Outdoor Lifestyle Expo open to the public on Saturday and Sunday. A costumed team relay on Saturday benefits Friends of FoCo Fondo, the event’s 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which this year adds para athletes to a scholarship program that already supports BIPOC, women, and non-binary riders.

At the finish, riders are greeted with icy towels, cold watermelon from longtime cycling supporter Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant, and a post-ride Fat Tire. Podium ceremonies roll through the afternoon as each category finishes, and the beloved bolo tie cutoffs, awarded to riders who complete the 118-mile route within competitive time windows, have become one of the most anticipated moments on the gravel calendar. There’s a Spinal Tap theme running through year 11, a custom original song, and a finish festival that stretches well into the afternoon. The racing is serious. The event refuses to be.

Register, Then Watch It Live

Registration for all five route distances (12, 32, 60, 100, and 118 miles) is open at bikereg.com/foco-fondo, and kids ride free. Then see how the race plays out: the elite broadcast goes live at youtube.com/@bikesportsco at 6 a.m. MT on Sunday, July 19.