'Not proud of my mistake, but proud of my performance' - Lauren Stephens disqualified at Leadville 100 after posting third best time for elite women

After crossing the finish line with the third-best time for elite women in the Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetikin on Saturday, Lauren Stephens (Aegis Cycling Foundation) never made it to the podium. Instead, Stephens was disqualified, her result and split times all gone.

"Following an official review after the conclusion of the Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetik, Lauren Stephens has been disqualified on account of her taking aid outside of a designated crew location. As a result, every rider who initially finished in fourth place onwards has been moved up one place in the final standings," read a statement that was sent to media, including Cyclingnews, a little over six hours after the reigning US gravel national champion gave her initial post-event interview.

It was a long-anticipated first-time start at Leadville Trail 100 MTB for Stephens, who had packed her calendar with off-road races in Colorado to prepare for Leadville – going third at SBT GRVL, third at Firecracker 50, winning FoCo Fondo and going fourth in Leadville Stage Race.

One other prominent first-timer at Leadville 100 was Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing), the California-based rider a former cross-country mountain bike world champion. She not only beat a world-class field that included defending champions Melisa Rollins, Sofia Gomez Villafañe and Hannah Otto, but recorded the fastest time of any woman on the course, 6:48:55.

"I've been doing this for so long that, you know, if you're not having fun, then don't do it," Stephens said after the race on the live stream. "I want to win this race. And that was my goal here, was to win. I mean, you got Kate Courtney on the top step with Melisa Rollins, and then me. So I'm pretty excited for the result today."

It turned out she received no results, but she added, "I just try to be the best version of myself, I don't race for results".

All the riders from position four to 36 were bumped one position higher, with Cecily Decker (PAS Racing) moved into third.

Carter Summit

So what really happened? Stephens was forthright.

"My crew fed me a 500ml bottle at Carter Summit aid station. Now that I re-read the elite tech guide, I see 'crew' is only allowed at crew locations, which doesn't include Carter Summit aid station," Stephens explained to Cyclingnews on Sunday.

"Life Time asked me if I did this and I told them the truth. I misunderstood the rules and thought it was OK. Of course I would never break a rule intentionally. I have apologised to Life Time and to those competitors that I have had communication with. I'm not proud of my mistake but I am proud of my performance."

During the live streaming of the race, Stephens was seen missing three different water bottle handoffs as she passed through one crew area, having descended Columbine and headed to Powerline. She was almost three minutes behind Courtney in second place and holding off Rollins, who had her in her sights.

"You know, I was a little disappointed, but I still had a little bit left in the bottle I had, and I had carried some extra gels for the calories, so I don't think it really played into the day," she said at the finish about the missed bottles.

After handoff miscues, Rollins closed back to catch and ride with Stephens in the chase, the duo barreling down the long power section headed to the return climb of Powerline. That steeper side on the way back of four miles averaging 10% was an opportunity for Stephens, who hoped Courtney would tire.

"Yeah, for sure, we were working together. And, you know, I just told her that we wanted to keep it steady, and Powerline was going to be the time where we could see if we could bring her back. So we just wanted to keep it steady and see how close we could have it coming into Powerline," Stephens said of the grinding ascent where she put in a gap to the defending champion.

"I knew I was stronger on the climb, so I definitely just pushed my own pace on the climb and and I hoped that that would take me all the way to the finish, but Melisa was able to fight back and actually caught me with just a few miles to go."

It was about 10 miles before Rollins made the pass on Boulevard that the riders had gone through Carter Summit, one of the official race aid stations for competitors. However, in the elite tech guide, which is emailed to athletes, areas where athletes 'crews' can provide support are different than 'aid stations'.

There are seven opportunities for participants to rehydrate and restock nutrition at designated 'aid stations' on the 104-mile course, three of those spots the same on the out-and-back route. Riders could also provide their own support, or crew, at four designated areas on the course, at Outward Bound, Twin Lakes, and two alternative locations, noting they would pass each area twice on the course.

A special note was posted on the event website to warn, "crewing outside of these 4 locations is against official race rules and will result in disqualification of your rider".

Stephens admitted confusion and said of her preparation that, "next time I'll include studying the rulebook".

The Texas-based rider remains in Colorado to take part in Breck Epic, the six-day mountain bike stage race in Breckenridge that stacks up 220 miles and 40,000 feet of elevation gain. Among her other targets later in the year include riding with Aegis at the inaugural Maryland Cycling Classic Women, September 6, and going for a third US gravel national title on September 20, this year being held at La Crescent, Minnesota.